As U.S. forces encountered the rapidly evolving armor of their German
opponents, it became clear the the M10 tank destroyer and its 76.2mm gun
were insufficient and in need of replacement. Their solution was to
install the more powerful 90mm gun onto the M10A1 chassis in an open top
turret: the M36, which first appeared in June 1944. Its first live
action was in fighting on the French-German border that October, but if
faced more concerted fighting as the German forces launched a desperate
counter-attack in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. Over a
thousand M36 vehicles had been manufactured by the time of the German
surrender in May 1945, and after the end of hostilities many were given
to allies such as France, which used it in the First Indochina War. It
is even said to have been used in the Japanese development of their
first domestic post-war tank: the Type 61.