anti-tank weapons This section includes panzerfausts, PIAT & bombs, 2.36" bazooka rockets, 3.5" bazooka & rockets, other various rockets, anti-tank grenades, and anti-tank rifle ammunition. V by B.J. The muzzle velocity was about 790 m/s (2,600 ft/s) as opposed to 750 m/s (2,500 ft/s) for the KwK 40 L/43. Around the same time, the Panzer IVs 7.5 cm KwK 40 L/43 gun and the nearly identical Sturmkanone (StuK) 40 L/43 began to be upgraded with barrels that were 48 calibers long, or L/48, which remained the standard for them until the end of the war. The only active-service use of the taper or squeeze systems was in the anti-tank class, where three weapons (2.8cm/2.1cm, 4.2cm/2.8cm and 7.5/5.0cm) entered service. Nicknamed Ur-38,it was a Polish-made firearm and one of the first of its kind. The only way to improve the performance of a conventional gun is by increasing the muzzle velocity, and this can be done m a variety of ways. German infantry anti-tank weapons (part 1) August 18 2018. This was an expensive and complicated solution, suited only to large weapons produced in limited numbers, and much research was begun to try and overcome the torque defect of the copper driving band, with the additional incentive of trying to find a material in less critical supply. You can also find our stunning replicas of the Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck, both finished to a very high standard. [6] The Panzerfaust often had warnings written in large red letters on the upper rear end of the tube, the words usually being "Achtung. The following weapon, the Faustpatrone klein, 30 m ("small fist-cartridge") weighed 3.2 kg (7.1 lb) and a total length of 98.5 cm (38¾ in); its projectile had a length of 36 cm (14¼ in). Unlike the Americans' original M1 60 mm Bazooka and the Germans' own heavier 88 mm Panzerschreck tube-type rocket launchers based on the American ordnance piece, the Panzerfaust did not have a trigger. It was the PaK 40 which formed the backbone of German anti-tank guns for the latter part of World War II. German Anti-Tank Tactics is a Codex Entry featured in Battlefield 1.It is unlocked upon destroying all Field Guns in the chapter Over the Top in the mission Through Mud and Blood.. Development of the PaK 40 began in 1939 with development contracts being placed with Krupp and Rheinmetall to develop a 7.5 cm anti-tank gun. [1][2] German Anti-Tank Weapons: Panzerbuchse, Panzerfaust AND Panzerschreck (The Propaganda … The longer barrel and larger projectile produced the required level of kinetic energy to pierce armour . Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. German Anti-Tank Weapons: Panzerbuchse, Panzerfaust AND Panzerschreck (The … A forerunner of the Panzerfaust was the Faustpatrone (literally "fist cartridge"). View a complete list of man-portable Anti-Tank weapons used in World War 2 can be found here. Not surprisingly The Pak 36 began to be replaced by the new 5 cm Pak 38 in mid 1940. The main class comprises guns built specifically for antitank missions and falls into three groups—guns of conventional German design, guns built with tapered-bore tubes, and captured antitank weapons. There are a total of [ 132 ] Anti-Tank Weapons entries in the Military Factory. The Pak 40 was effective against almost every Allied tank until the end of the war. Dates indicate the year when a particular shell type entered production, not necessarily the year of availability to combat units. West German infantry used rifle grenades until the second half of the 70's, after which they were replaced by more advanced and long-range anti-tank weapons. Some captured guns were used by the Red Army. This action makes the weapon recoilless. German Anti-Tank Weapons: Panzerbuchse, Panzerfaust AND Panzerschreck (The Propaganda Photo Series) [De Vries, Guus] on Amazon.com. One or two improved designs were undergoing routine development with the intention of bringing them into service as and when the need arose. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Development of the original models led to a wide variety of guns. It may be said that this was one of the strangest and ineffective anti-tank weapons ever made. The addition of tungsten-core shells (Pzgr. [17] In February 1945 such use of captured Panzerfäuste was recommended in a directive by Marshall Georgiy Zhukov. Flag images indicative of country of origin and not necessarily the primary operator. From pistols to machine guns to grenades to semi … Probably because of these results, period intelligence publications (“Handbook on German Military Forces”) gave ~770 m/s as the PaK 40 APCBC muzzle velocity, although post war pubs corrected this (Department of the Army Pamphlet No. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! The 10 cm (3.9 in) diameter of warhead was a shaped charge of 400 g (14 oz) of a 50:50 mix of TNT and tri-hexogen. German infantry anti-tank weapons (part 1) August 18 2018. Flag images indicative of country of origin and not necessarily primary operator. However, the Japanese went with a different design, the Type 4, loosely based upon the American Bazooka. As for the PaK 40, the desire for commonality again appears to have prevailed since the APCBC charge was reduced to 750 m/s, even though case ejection failures apparently were never a problem in the PaK version of the gun. Well researched. If there's one thing that you can say positive about the Wehrmacht, it was that it always supplied its ground troops with first-class weapons. In April 1942, Wehrmacht had 44 guns in service. The first and most simple technique is to increase the size of the propelling charge or to develop a more efficient propellant, while still operating the gun at the same pressure. However the warheads were too small to be effective and the pistols were not accurate at any range. During the Second World War, German designers were able to create highly sophisticated for that time anti-tank rocket launchers. The longer cartridge case allowed a larger charge to be used and a higher velocity for the Armour Piercing Capped Ballistic Cap round to be achieved. Next came the Weicheisen (FeW) soft iron band, the use of which was restricted to large calibre high-velocity guns. When used against tanks, the Panzerfaust had an impressive beyond-armour effect. Around 23,500 PaK 40 were produced, and about 6,000 more were used to arm tank destroyers. There are a total of [ 132 ] Anti-Tank Weapons entries in the Military Factory. 1 Artillery (U) dated August of 1955-this document was originally classified). The weapon, when correctly fired from the crook of the arm, could with its shaped charge warhead penetrate the armour of any armoured fighting vehicle of the period.[7]. The first formal documentation of this decision appears on May 15, 1943 (“7.5cm Sturmkanone 40 Beschreibung”) which details a side by side comparison of the L/43 and the L/48 weapons. In practice about 1 metre of air gap was required to substantially reduce the penetrating capability of the warhead, thus skirts and sandbags were virtually entirely ineffective against Panzerschreck and Panzerfaust, but the additions did overburden the vehicle's engine, transmission, and suspension systems. The name applies to a series of guns, the first one officially called the 8,8 cm Flak 18, the improved 8,8 cm Flak 36, and later the 8,8 cm Flak 37. [17] Similarly they were used by the Polish People's Army. The propellant was of 54 g (1.9 oz, 830 grains) of black powder, the metal launch tube had a length of 80 cm (31½ in) and a diameter of 3.3 cm (1.3 in) (early models reportedly 2.8 cm (1.1 in)). Of the earlier model, 20,000 were ordered and the first 500 Faustpatronen were delivered by the manufacturer, HASAG, Werk Schlieben, in August 1943. Feuerstrahl." The Panzerfaust ("tank fist") was a late-war German hand-held anti-tank weapon. [10] Much of this can be attributed not only to the size of the Panzerfaust's warhead but also its horn-like shape as opposed to the traditional cone-shaped warheads of the Bazooka and Panzerschreck. Entries are listed below in alphanumeric order (1-to-Z). [citation needed]. The famous flak gun became one of the most feared anti-tank weapons of the Second World War, serving everywhere from the sands of North Africa to the snowy wastelands of the Russian front. As a result, even the Polish Army had no idea about it until mobilization in the summer of 1939, just weeks before the start of the war. Its successful use as an improvised anti-tank gun led to the development of a tank gun based upon it. anti-tank weapons This section includes panzerfausts, PIAT & bombs, 2.36" bazooka rockets, 3.5" bazooka & rockets, other various rockets, anti-tank grenades, and anti-tank rifle ammunition. ( Log Out / All further official presentations of the KwK 40 L/48 ( “Oberkommando des Heeres, Durchschlagsleistungen panzerbrechender Waffen”) indicate a muzzle velocity of 750 m/s for the gun. 16. There was a rule of thumb that said a squeeze bore adaptor could be expected to increase velocity and maximum range by about a third. The Italian Social Republic (RSI) and the Government of National Unity (Hungary) also used the Panzerfaust. The famous flak gun became one of the most feared anti-tank weapons of the Second World War, serving everywhere from the sands of North Africa to the snowy wastelands of the Russian front. The Belgian Army mostly uses the MECAR 90mm light gun as an anti-tank weapon. Image courtesy the German Federal Archive. [11], In urban combat later in the war in eastern Germany, about 70% of tanks destroyed were hit by Panzerfäuste or Panzerschrecks. The KwK 36 L/45 was the same gun but adapted as the main armament on several tanks, most notably the early models of the Panzer III. This proved particularly disastrous during the Soviet encirclement (Operation Uranus) at the Battle of Stalingrad when these Romanian forces were targeted to bear the main Soviet armoured thrust. There are a total of [ 26 ] WW2 Anti-Tank Weapons (1939-1945) entries in the Military Factory. The first pre-production guns were delivered in November 1941. The ribbed or `splined’ shell solved the problem of transmitting spin, but a copper band still had to be fitted to provide the gas-seal necessary at the rear of the shell. German Panzerfaust 30m Klien The guns were also passed on to the forces of Germany’s allies fighting on the Eastern Front, such as the 3rd and 4th Romanian Army. German antitank weapons are divided into several classes. The 7.5 cm KwK (tank) fixed cartridge case is twice the length of the 7.5 cm KwK 37 (short barrelled 75 mm), and the 7.5 cm PaK 40 cartridge is a third longer than the 7.5 cm KwK 40. The German Army recognised the need for a more powerful form of anti-tank weapon and the design of a horse-drawn, 3.7 cm anti-tank gun (designated 3.7 cm Pak L/45) by Rheinmetall commenced in 1924 and the first guns were issued in 1928. This book is an excellent work detailing the weapons and organizations of German Anti-tank troops. One of the first, which had been developed well before the war, was the production of high-velocity guns in which the rifling consisted of a few deep grooves into which fitted curved ribs on the outer surface of the shell, imparting positive rotation. However, the PaK 40 was much heavier than the 50 cm PaK 38, It was difficult to manhandle into position and its mobility was limited. From 1943, the lack of available replacements for the Wehrmacht began to become apparent, reducing the division’s TOE strength and introducing a new organization. The PaK 40 debuted in Russia where it was needed to combat the newest Soviet tanks there. The Destruction of Army Group Center, 1944. Some … The PaK 38 was first used by the German forces during the Second World War in April 1941. The section includes our reproduction Tellermines, Shells and Grenades, including Potato Mashers and Eggs. In addition to these Krupp’s designs, Rheinmetall created later a more powerful anti-aircraft gun, the 8,8 cm Flak 41, produced in relatively small numbers. In the anti-aircraft field, while the velocity increases gave promise of considerably improved performance and where many experimental weapons were built and fired, no guns were ready for service before the war ended. 30-4-4, “Foreign Military Weapons and Equipment (U) Vol. A lighter automatic version, the heaviest of the Bordkanone series of heavy calibre aircraft ordnance as the BK 7,5 was used in the Henschel Hs129 aircraft. Many Panzerfäuste were sold to Finland, which urgently needed them, as the Finnish forces did not have enough anti-tank weapons that could penetrate heavily armored Soviet tanks like the T-34 and IS-2. The appearance of tracked armored monsters on the battlefield made a shocking impression on the German troops. One interesting result was the discovery that, while copper bands resulted in the gun barrel wearing out first at the chamber end of the rifling, FeS bands promoted wear at the muzzle since the coefficient of friction was directly proportional to the velocity. As well as weapons, Germany plans to send other items such as tents, helmets and radio equipment, according to a list from the defence ministry. ( Log Out / One solution, increasingly adopted by many nations towards the end of the war, was a 50% reduction of projectile weight which increased the velocity by 40%- but the ballistic coefficient (the `carrying power’ of the projectile) was proportionately reduced. One informal test found that the Panzerfaust made an entry hole two and three-fourths inches in diameter (~7 cm), whereas the Panzerschreck made an entry hole at least one inch in diameter (~2.5 cm), and the Bazooka made an entry hole that was only a half-inch in diameter (~1.3 cm). By this time others were exploring the idea: Rheinmetall-Borsig, Krupp, Bochumer Verein and Polte-Werke all had experimental programmes varying in degree of involvement. [15] The manual that came with the weapon upon delivery to the Finns included depictions of where to aim the weapon on the Soviet T-34 and US Sherman tank (which also saw service with Soviet troops from US Lend-Lease-supplied stocks). Two classes of weapon were eventually categorised: the taper bore, in which the barrel tapered evenly from breech to muzzle, and the squeeze bore, in which the barrel was parallel for some distance and then tapered sharply to effect the `squeezing’ of the projectile, finishing as a parallel bore of smaller dimension. Grenades & Anti-Tank; Grenades & Anti-Tank. How these demands were translated into reality will be seen on subsequent pages but, as a general rule, the paths open to the designers were well-defined. When the Germans faced Soviet tanks in 1941 during Operation Barbarossa, the PaK 38 was one of the few early guns capable of effectively penetrating the 45 mm (1.8 in) armor of the formidable T-34. This category contains anti-tank weapons used by Germany during World War II. They captured an ammunition dump of Panzerfäuste near Nijmegen, and used them through the Ardennes Offensive toward the end of the war. The nickname Ur was coined allegedly because of the intention to export them to Uruguay as “surveillance equipment”. 40) added slightly to the armour penetration of the Pak 36. ( Log Out / Beautiful hardcover and dust jacket with over 150 pages of excellent research and dozens of never before seen photographs; This is simply a must-have for the German WW2 enthusiast. The first documented firing by the U.S. of a PaK 40 recorded an average muzzle velocity of 776 m/s for its nine most instrumented firings. The 7.5 cm PaK 40 (7.5 cm Panzerabwehrkanone 40) was the next generation of anti-tank gun to see service. After the end of the war the PaK 40 remained in service in several European armies, including Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Norway, Hungary and Romania. The 88 mm gun (eighty-eight) was a German anti-aircraft and anti-tank artillery gun from World War II. World War 2 Anti-Tank Rifles are found in a separate listing here. The Panzerschreck was designed as a lightweight infantry anti-tank weapon and was an enlarged copy of the American bazooka. [8][9] The backblast from firing went back around 2 m behind the operator. The standard 60% increase could thus be achieved by a 50% increase in pressure coupled to a 50% increase in barrel length, but again this is scarcely a practical answer. The new charge brought the muzzle velocity down to 750 m/s, or about 10 m/s higher than the original L/43 version of the weapon. It consisted of a small, disposable pre-loaded launch tube firing a high-explosive anti-tank warhead, and was intended to be operated by a single soldier. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. At this poi… Development began in 1942 on a larger version of the Faustpatrone. To use the Panzerfaust, the soldier took off the safety, tucked the tube under his arm and aimed by aligning the target, the sight, and the top of the warhead. This design was later copied in the modern day AT-4 to produce the same effect against modern main battle tanks. Several RSI army units became skilled in anti-tank warfare and the Hungarians themselves used the Panzerfaust extensively, especially during the Siege of Budapest. The report covers all types of antitank weapons used by the German military in WWII including traditional antitank guns, antiaircraft guns, self-propelled guns, and infantry weapons such as the Panzerfaustand Panzerschreck. During this brutal siege, an arms factory, the Hungarian Manfred Weiss Steel and Metal Works, located on Csepel Island (within the city) kept up production of various light armaments and ammunition, Panzerfäuste included, all the way until the very last moment, when attacking Soviet troops seized the factory by the first days of 1945. The original idea was patented in 1903 by Carl Puff and the drawings accompanying the specification (British Patent 8601 of 27th August 1904) show a projectile almost identical to those later developed in Germany. The projectiles used with these two classes were much the same in design, though experience showed that the taper bore shot had to be somewhat stronger in construction than the squeeze bore models owing to the different times throughout which the shells underwent stress in compression. Army-technology.com lists some of the best modern anti-tank missiles currently available, based on precision strike capability and deployability. The first unorthodox solution offered was the `coned bore’ gun, the theory of which predicated that if the barrel was made with a gradually-decreasing calibre (and if the projectile was designed to adapt to the diminution) then, since the base area of the shot is reducing while the propelling gas pressure either remains-depending on the cartridge design-constant or increases then the unit pressure on the shot base will increase and the shot will be given greater velocity. Shoulder-fired and disposable, the Armbrust (German for “crossbow”) light anti-tank launcher makes no more noise than a pistol. The launch tube was made of low-grade steel 44 millimetres (1.7 in) in diameter, containing a 95-gram (3.4 oz) charge of black powder propellant. German Anti-Tank Weapons: Panzerbüchse, Panzerfaust and Panzerschrek, The Propaganda Photo Series Vol. Known as the Infantry Division 1944, this new formation had a strength of 12,772 men as opposed to the 17,734 soldiers of a division in 1939, although its firepower had actually increased. Velocities of as much as 1400mps (4595fps) had been achieved but it was felt that, bearing in mind wear-rates and dispersion at extreme ranges, service velocities of 1150-1200mps(3775- 3935fps) might be consistently reached. When it came to forecasting the future, the OKW was no more visionary than any other comparable body and the appearance of new weapons in the hands of the enemy frequently led to sudden demands on designers to develop powerful antidotes. This German 7.5 centimetre high velocity anti-tank gun was developed in 1939-1941 by Rheinmetall and used extensively from 1942-1945 during the Second World War. The unit manufacturing cost amounted to 2200 man-hours at a cost of 12000 RM. These related guns served as the main armament of tanks such as the Tiger I: the 8.8 cm KwK 36, with the “KwK” abbreviation standing for KampfwagenKanone (“fighting vehicle cannon”). German infantry first encountered tanks. The widespread introduction of medium tanks quickly erased the gun’s effectiveness; miserable performance against the T-34 on the Eastern Front led to the Pak 36 being derisively dubbed the “Door Knocker” (Heeresanklopfgerät, literally “army door-knocking device”) for its inability to do anything other than advertise its presence to a T-34 by futilely bouncing rounds off its armor. Re-designated the 3.7 cm Pak 35/36, it began to replace the 3.7 Pak L/45 in 1934 and first appeared in combat in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War. Increase velocity interest in the Allied invasion of Sicily, and used them through the Ardennes Offensive toward the of., leading to less range than a pistol 23,500 Pak 40 which formed the for. 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