Meanwhile, the Italian campaign was launched, and M3 guns saw action from the day of the Sicily landing on 10 July 1943. That day the 37 mm guns demonstrated once again both their effectiveness against pre-war tanks—when they helped to repel an attack by Italian Renault R 35s—and inability to cope with modern threats in a subsequent encounter with Tiger Is from the "Hermann Göring" division. The Italian theater had a lower priority for reequipment than Northwest Europe, and some M3s were still in use in Italy in late 1944.