This desire for mobility restricted use of larger-caliber guns greater than the 37mm. They sought a lightweight gun which could be moved about the battlefield by a crew of 4 to 6 personnel. In January of 1937, the US Army Ordnance Department assigned the infantry branch to oversee design work. In the 1930's, the German gun had the capability of destroying any tank in service anywhere in the world. Two of the field guns being evaluated were the French Hotchkiss 25mm and the German Rheinmetall 37mm gun. In the development stage, the US War Department, like most national militaries, first looked at foreign guns that met the weapon standards and purchased them or co-opted the desired elements into the existing system to make for a pseudo-indigenous end-product. The system was required to weigh less than 1,000 lbs, able to be towed by the standard jeep and field a projectile that could pierce tank armor of the then-current tank systems of the 1930's. Even before World War 2, the United States Army had already begun development of an anti-tank gun.
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