 The limited traverse of the gun was mitigated by the Matador driver turning the vehicle.A battery of Deacons were issued per anti-tank regiment as a mobile reserve but by the end of the North African Campaign in May 1943 were obsolete and were replaced by US M10 tank destroyers before operations began in Europe.On 21 November 1941 at Sidi Rezegh in Libya, during Operation Crusader, J Battery, 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery with its 2-pounders resisted a German counter-attack by Panzer IV tanks.