Pak 40 anti-tank gun. Wehrmacht artillery. German guns, mortars. Sections of this page

37-mm anti-tank gun Pak 35/36 The development of this gun, bypassing the restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, began at the Rheinmetall-Borsig company back in 1924. In 1928, the first samples of the gun, which received the name Tak 28 (Tankabwehrkanone, t e. anti-tank gun -

75-mm anti-tank gun Pak 40 The Pak 38 was still being tested, and the designers of Rheinmetall-Borsig in 1938 began designing an even more powerful 75-mm anti-tank gun. At first they tried to get by with what is called "little blood" - the first samples of the new

88-mm anti-tank gun Pak 43 The development of the 88-mm anti-tank gun, which began in 1942, as well as previous guns of a similar purpose, was carried out by Rheinmetall-Borsig. But already at the end of the year, due to the workload of the company, the fine-tuning of the gun was transferred to another company

The 57-mm anti-tank gun of the 1943 model of the year The history of the creation of this gun dates back to 1940, when the design team headed by Hero

Anti-tank defense of the Finns The entire territory from the old Soviet-Finnish border to Vyborg was covered with large forests, which allowed the movement of tanks only along roads and separate clearings. A large number of rivers and lakes with swampy or steep banks,

Chapter 1 Anti-tank artillery In the last two decades, we have published several dozen more or less reliable publications that compare domestic tanks and aircraft with German ones, on the eve of June 22, 1941, alas, such reference books on artillery

57-mm anti-tank gun model 1943 Yevgeny Klimovich On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the adoption (1943, June) of the ZIS-2 anti-tank gun designed by V.G. Grabin, the 57-mm anti-tank gun model 1943 (ZiS-2) was adopted into service by the decision of the State Committee

If you believe the statistics, in all the battles of the Great Patriotic War, including the famous Prokhorovka, our tankers suffered the heaviest losses by no means from German panzers - the most dangerous enemy was not the famous "Tigers", "Panthers" and "Ferdinands", not the legendary "Things", not sappers and faustniks, not formidable Akht-Akht anti-aircraft guns, but Panzerabwehrkanonen - German anti-tank artillery. And if at the beginning of the war the Nazis themselves dubbed their 37-mm anti-tank gun Pak 35/36 a “door knocker” (virtually useless against the latest KV and “thirty-four”, it nevertheless burned like BT and T-26 matches), then not 50 -mm Pak 38, neither the 75-mm Pak 40, nor the 88-mm Pak 43, nor the heavy-duty 128-mm Pak 80 deserved any disparaging nicknames, becoming real "tank killers". Unsurpassed armor penetration, the best optics in the world, a low, inconspicuous silhouette, superbly trained crews, competent commanders, excellent communications and artillery reconnaissance - for several years the German anti-tank defense knew no equal, and our anti-tankers surpassed the German ones only at the very end of the war.

In this book you will find comprehensive information about all the anti-tank artillery systems that were in service with the Wehrmacht, including captured ones, about their advantages and disadvantages, organization and combat use, defeats and victories, as well as top-secret reports on their tests at Soviet training grounds. The edition is illustrated with exclusive drawings and photographs.

Sections of this page:

GERMAN-MADE ANTI-TANK GUN

Although according to the classification of the Wehrmacht, this weapon belongs to the class of heavy anti-tank rifles, but in terms of caliber and design, it is more likely an artillery system. Therefore, the author considered it necessary to tell in the work about the anti-tank artillery of the Wehrmacht and about this sample.

The development of an automatic anti-tank gun with a conical bore designed by Gerlich began at Mauser at the end of 1939. Initially, the gun had the index MK8202. In the breech, the barrel of the gun had a caliber of 28 mm, and at the muzzle - 20 mm. For firing from it, specially designed projectiles were used, consisting of a tungsten carbide core, a steel pallet and a ballistic tip. The pallet had two annular protrusions, which, when the projectile moved in the bore, were compressed, crashing into the rifling.

Thus, the most complete use of the pressure of powder gases at the bottom of the projectile was ensured, and, accordingly, a high starting speed. However, in the course of design and testing, the MK8202 automatic gun was transformed into a single-shot heavy anti-tank rifle s.Pz.B.41, which, after testing in June - July 1940, was adopted by the Wehrmacht.

The anti-tank rifle had a horizontal wedge semi-automatic shutter (opened manually), which provided a fairly high rate of fire - 12-15 rounds per minute. To reduce the recoil energy, the barrel was equipped with a muzzle brake. s.Pz.B.41 was mounted on a light artillery-type wheeled carriage with sliding beds. To protect the calculation of two people served as a double shield (3 and 3 mm). A design feature of the heavy anti-tank gun was the absence of lifting and turning mechanisms. Aiming at the target in the vertical plane was carried out by swinging the barrel on the trunnions, and in the horizontal plane - by turning the rotating part manually (using two handles) on the lower machine.

A little later, a lightweight version of the gun carriage was developed for a heavy anti-tank rifle, which was put into service with the parachute units of the Luftwaffe. It consisted of a single frame with runners, on which small wheels could be mounted to move around the area. This gun, which received the designation s.Pz.B.41 leFL 41, had a mass of 139 kg (on a conventional carriage 223 kg).

s. The Pz.B.41 had a very high muzzle velocity of the PzGr41 armor-piercing projectile weighing 131 g - 1402 m/s. Thanks to this, armor penetration (at an angle of 30 degrees) was: at 100 m - 52 mm, at 300 m - 46 mm, at 500 m - 40 mm and at 1000 m - 25 mm, which was one of the best indicators for this caliber. In 1941, in the s. Pz.B.41 included a fragmentation projectile weighing 85 g, but its effectiveness was very low.

The disadvantages of the s.Pz.B.41 were the high manufacturing cost - 4,500 Reichsmarks and heavy barrel wear. At first, its survivability was only 250 rounds, then this figure was increased to 500. In addition, extremely scarce tungsten was used to produce shells for the s.Pz.B.41.

By the beginning of 1941, the tungsten reserves at the disposal of Germany amounted to 483 tons. Of these, 97 tons were spent on the production of 7.92-mm cartridges with a tungsten core, 2 tons on various other needs, and the remaining 384 tons were spent on the manufacture of sub-caliber shells. In total, more than 68,4600 such shells were manufactured for tank, anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns. In connection with the depletion of tungsten stocks, the release of these shells was stopped in November 1943.

For the same reason, in September 1943, after the production of 2,797 s.Pz.B.41s, its production was stopped.

s. Pz.B.41s mainly entered service with Wehrmacht infantry divisions, Luftwaffe airfield and parachute divisions, which were used until the end of the war. As of March 1, 1945, the units had 775 s.Pz.B.41s, another 78 units were in warehouses.

The development of this anti-tank gun began at the company Rheinmetall-Borsig (Rheinmetall-Borsig) back in 1924, and the design was carried out in circumvention of the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty, according to which Germany was forbidden to have anti-tank artillery. However, at the end of 1928, the first samples of the new gun, which received the designation 3.7-cm Tak 28 L / 45 (Tankabwehrkanone - anti-tank gun, the word Panzer began to be used in Germany later. - Note. author), began to enter the troops.

The 37-mm anti-tank gun Tak 28 L / 45 weighing 435 kg had a light carriage with tubular beds, on which a monoblock barrel with a semi-automatic horizontal wedge breech was mounted, which provided a fairly high rate of fire - up to 20 rounds per minute. The angle of horizontal fire with the extended beds was 60 degrees, but if necessary, it was possible to fire with the shifted beds. The cannon had wooden spoked wheels and was transported by a team of horses. To protect the calculation, a shield from a 5-mm armor plate was used, and its upper part leaned back on hinges.

Without a doubt, by the end of the 1920s, the 37 mm Tak 29 gun was one of the best anti-tank artillery systems. Therefore, its export version was developed - So 29, which was purchased by many countries - Turkey, Holland, Spain, Italy, Japan and. Some of them also acquired a license for the production of weapons (suffice it to recall our famous forty-five - a 45-mm anti-tank gun 19K, the main anti-tank weapon of the Red Army in the 1930s and early 1940s, leading its lineage from the 37-mm Tak 29, purchased in 1930 year).

In 1934, the gun was modernized - it received wheels with pneumatic tires, which made it possible to tow the gun by cars, an improved sight and a slightly modified carriage design. Under the designation 3.7-cm Pak 35/36 (Panzerabwehrkanone 35/36), it entered service with the Reichswehr, and from March 1935 with the Wehrmacht as the main anti-tank weapon. Its price was 5,730 Reichsmarks in 1939 prices. As new 37-mm Pak 35/36 cannons, manufactured before 1934, Tak L / 45 29 with wooden wheels, were removed from the troops.

In 1936-1939, the Pak 35/36 was baptized by fire during the Spanish Civil War - these guns were used by both the Condor Legion and the Spanish nationalists. results combat use turned out to be very good - the Pak 35/36 could successfully fight the Soviet T-26 and BT-5 tanks, which were in service with the Republicans, at a distance of 700-800 m (it was the collision with the 37-mm anti-tank gun in Spain that forced the Soviet tank builders to start work on creation of tanks with anti-shell armor).

During the French campaign, it turned out that 37-mm anti-tank guns were ineffective against British and French tanks, which had armor up to 70 mm. Therefore, the command of the Wehrmacht decided to accelerate the deployment of more powerful anti-tank artillery systems. The end of the Pak 35/36 career was the campaign against the USSR, during which they were completely powerless against the KV and T-34 tanks. For example, in one of the reports in June 1941, it was said that the calculation of the 37-mm gun achieved 23 hits on the T-34 tank without any result. Therefore, it is not surprising that soon the Rak 35/36 in the army began to be called the "army mallet". In January 1942, the production of these guns was discontinued. In total, since the start of production in 1928, 16,539 Pak 35/36 (including Tak L / 45 29) were manufactured, of which 5,339 guns were made in 1939-1942.

In addition to the usual version of the Pak 35/36, a slightly lighter version was developed for arming the parachute units of the Luftwaffe. He received the designation 3.7-cm Rak auf leihter Feldafette (3.7-cm Rak leFLat). This gun was intended for air transport on the external sling of a Ju 52 transport aircraft. Externally, the 3,7-cm Pak leFLat practically did not differ from the Pak 35/36, very few of them were made.

Initially, two types of unitary cartridges with armor-piercing (PzGr 39) or fragmentation (SprGr) shells were used for firing from Pak 35/36. The first weighing 0.68 kg was a conventional hard alloy blank with a bottom fuse and a tracer. To combat manpower, a fragmentation projectile weighing 0.625 kg with an instant head fuse was used.

In 1940, after a collision with British and French tanks that had thick armor, the PzGr 40 sub-caliber projectile with a tungsten carbide core was introduced into the Pak 35/36 ammunition load. True, due to the small mass - 0.368 g - it was effective at distances up to 400 m.

At the end of 1941, specifically to combat the Soviet T-34 and KV tanks, they developed the Stielgranate 41 cumulative over-caliber grenade. Outwardly, it looked like a mortar mine with a cumulative warhead 740 mm long and weighing 8.51 kg, inserted into the gun barrel from the outside. The Stielgranate 41 was launched by firing a blank round and stabilized in flight by four small wings at the rear. Naturally, the firing range of such a mine left much to be desired: although according to the instructions it was 300 m, in fact it was possible to hit the target only at a distance of up to 100 m, and even then with great difficulty. Therefore, despite the fact that the Stielgranate 41 penetrated 90 mm armor, its effectiveness in combat conditions was very low.

The 37 mm Pak 35/36 anti-tank gun was the main anti-tank weapon of the Wehrmacht at the beginning of World War II. It was in service with all units - infantry, cavalry, tanks. Subsequently, these guns were mainly used as part of infantry divisions, as well as tank destroyer divisions. In 1941, the replacement of the Pak 35/36 with more powerful 50-mm Pak 38 anti-tank guns began, and later with the 75-mm Pak 40. Nevertheless, the 37-mm anti-tank guns remained in service with Wehrmacht units until the end of the war. As of March 1, 1945, the troops still had 216 Pak 35/36, another 670 guns were in warehouses and arsenals.

Pak 35/36 were installed on German armored personnel carriers Sd.Kfz.250/10 and Sd. Kfz.251/10, as well as in large quantities for Krupp trucks, one-ton semi-tracked tractors Sd.Kfz. 10, captured French Renault UE wedges, Soviet Komsomolets semi-armored tractors and British Universal armored personnel carriers.

Development light anti-tank guns with a tapered bore, designated 4.2-cm Pak 41, began in the fall of 1941 by Mauser. The new gun, like the s.Pz.B.41, had a barrel of variable caliber from 42 to 28 mm (in fact, the actual caliber of the Pak 41 was 40.3 and 29 mm, but 42 and 28 mm are used in all literature. - Author's note). Due to the tapering bore, the most complete use of the pressure of powder gases on the bottom of the projectile was ensured, and, accordingly, a high initial velocity was achieved. To reduce wear on the Pak 41 barrel, a special steel with a high content of tungsten, molybdenum and vanadium was used in its manufacture. The gun had a horizontal wedge semi-automatic breech, which provided a rate of fire of 10-12 rounds per minute. The barrel was placed on the carriage of a 37 mm Pak 35/36 anti-tank gun. With the beds extended, the angle of horizontal fire was 41 degrees.

The gun ammunition included special unitary shots with high-explosive fragmentation and armor-piercing shells. The design of the latter was the same as that of the heavy anti-tank rifle s.Pz.B.41 caliber 28/20 mm. The shells had a special design of the leading part, which allowed its diameter to decrease as the projectile moved in the conical bore.

Tests of the 4.2-cm Pak 41 showed excellent results - at a distance of 1000 m, its 336 g shells confidently pierced 40-mm armor plate. The production of the new gun was transferred from Mauser to Billerer & Kunz in Aschersleben, where 37 of them were made by the end of 1941. Production of the Pak 41 was discontinued in June 1941 after 313 guns had been built. The price of one sample was 7,800 Reichsmarks. The operation of the 4.2-cm Pak 41 showed a low survivability of its barrel, despite the use of special alloys in its design - only 500 shots (about 10 times less than that of the 37-mm Pak 35/36). In addition, the manufacture of the barrels themselves was a very complex and expensive procedure, and the production of armor-piercing shells required tungsten - a metal that was in great short supply for the Third Reich.

4.2-cm Pak 41 anti-tank guns entered service with tank destroyer divisions of Wehrmacht infantry divisions and Luftwaffe airfield divisions. These guns were in operation until the middle of 1944, and were used on the Soviet-German front and in North Africa. As of 1 March 1945, nine Pak 41s were at the front and 17 more in storage.

In 1935, Rheinmetall-Borsig began developing a more powerful 50 mm anti-tank gun than the Pak 35/36. The first samples of the new artillery system, designated Pak 37, were manufactured and submitted for testing in 1936. With a mass of 585 kg, the gun had a barrel length of 2,280 mm and an initial velocity of an armor-piercing projectile of 685 m/s. However, the military was not satisfied with the test results, in particular the armor penetration and unstable carriage design. Therefore, Rheinmetall-Borsig redesigned the carriage, lengthened the barrel to 3,000 m and developed more powerful ammunition. As a result, the weight of the gun increased to 990 kg, the speed of the armor-piercing projectile - up to 835 m / s, and at a distance of 500 m it pierced armor 60 mm thick. After eliminating a number of minor defects and passing tests, the 50-mm anti-tank gun, which received the designation Pak 38, was adopted by the Wehrmacht.

Like the Pak 35/36, the new gun had a sliding-bed carriage, providing a horizontal firing angle of 65 degrees. Solid wheels with solid rubber tires and coil springs made it possible to transport the Pak 38 at speeds up to 40 km/h. Moreover, when bringing the gun into a combat position and breeding the beds, the suspension of the wheels was automatically turned off, and when they were brought together, it turned on. The gun had a monoblock barrel and a semi-automatic horizontal wedge bolt, which provided a rate of fire of up to 14 rounds per minute.

Pak 38 had two shields - upper and lower. The first consisted of two 4-mm armor plates of complex shape, installed with a gap of 20-25 mm and provided protection for the calculation in front and a little from the sides. The second, 4 mm thick, was hung on hinges under the wheel axle and protected the calculation from being hit by fragments from below. In addition, the gun received a new firing mechanism, an improved sight, and a muzzle brake to reduce muzzle recoil. Despite the fact that, to facilitate the design, a number of carriage parts were made of aluminum (for example, tubular beds), the weight of the Pak 38 more than doubled compared to the Pak 35/36 and amounted to 1000 kg. Therefore, to facilitate the rolling of the gun by the crew, the Pak 38 was manually equipped with a light one-wheeled limber, to which flattened beds could be attached. The result was a three-wheeled structure, which the calculation of seven people could move around the battlefield. Moreover, to facilitate maneuvering, the front wheel could turn.

Serial production of the Pak 38 began at the Rheinmetall-Borsig factories in 1939, but only two guns were made by the end of the year. The new anti-tank guns did not see action in France - the first 17 Pak 38s only entered service in July 1940. However, the past campaign served as an impetus to accelerate the release of the Pak 38, since during the fighting the Wehrmacht encountered thick-armored tanks, against which the Pak 35/36 were practically powerless. As a result, by July 1, 1941, 1047 guns were manufactured, of which there were about 800 in the troops.

By order of the main command of the ground forces of November 19, 1940 as vehicle for towing the Pak 38, a 1-ton Sd.Kfz half-track tractor was identified. 10. However, due to their shortage, on January 16, 1941, a new order appeared, according to which 1.5-ton trucks were to be used to transport 50-mm anti-tank guns. However, during the war, captured French Renault UE tankettes, Krupp trucks and much more were used to tow the Pak 38.

Three types of unitary shots were used for firing from the Pak 38: fragmentation, armor-piercing tracer and sub-caliber. A fragmentation projectile Sprenggranate weighing 1.81 kg was equipped with a charge of cast TNT (0.175 kg). In addition, to improve the visibility of the explosion, a small smoke bomb was placed in the explosive charge.

Armor-piercing tracer shots had two types of projectiles: PzGr 39 and PzGr 40. The first, weighing 2.05 kg, was equipped with a hard steel head welded to the projectile body, a leading iron belt and had a bursting charge of 0.16 kg. At a range of 500 m, the PzGr 39 could penetrate 65 mm armor when fired at the normal.

The PzGr 40 sub-caliber projectile consisted of an armor-piercing tungsten core in a coil-shaped steel shell. To improve aerodynamic properties, a plastic ballistic tip was attached to the top of the projectile. At a range of 500 m, the PzGr 40 could penetrate 75 mm thick armor when fired at the normal.

In 1943, for the Pak 38, they developed the over-caliber Stielgranate 42 cumulative anti-tank grenade (similar to the one for the Pak 35/36) weighing 13.5 kg (including 2.3 kg of explosives). The grenade was inserted into the barrel from the outside and fired using a blank charge. However, although the armor penetration of the Stielgranate 42 was 180 mm, it was effective at a distance of up to 150 meters. A total of 12,500 Stielgranate 42s were made before March 1, 1945 for the Pak 38 guns.

The 50 mm Pak 38 anti-tank guns could fight the Soviet T-34s at medium ranges, and at short ranges with short range. True, they had to pay for this with heavy losses: only in the period from December 1, 1941 to February 2, 1942, the Wehrmacht lost 269 Pak 38 in battles. And this is only irretrievable, not counting the disabled and evacuated (some of them also could not be restored).

The 50 mm Pak 38 anti-tank guns were produced until the fall of 1943, with a total of 9,568 made. For the most part, they entered service with tank destroyer divisions in infantry, panzergrenadier, tank and a number of other divisions. From the second half of 1944, this gun was mainly used in training parts and second line troops.

Unlike other German anti-tank guns, Pak 38 were practically not used for various self-propelled units. This gun was mounted only on the chassis of a semi-armored 1-ton Sd.Kfz. 10 (several of these self-propelled guns were used in the SS troops), on several Sd.Kfz. 250 (one such machine is in the military museum in Belgrade), two VK901 based on the Marder II and one example of the Minitionsschlepper (VK302).

The development of a new 75-mm anti-tank gun, designated Pak 40, began at Rheinmetall-Borsig back in 1938. Already in next year the first prototypes were tested, which initially consisted of an enlarged 75-mm Pak 38 gun. However, it soon became clear that many of the technical solutions used for the 50-mm guns were not suitable for the 75-mm caliber. For example, this concerned the tubular parts of the carriage, which in the Pak 38 were made of aluminum. When testing Pak 40 prototypes, the aluminum parts quickly failed. This, as well as a number of other problems that emerged during the tests, forced Rheinmetall-Borsig to improve the design of the Pak 40. But due to the fact that the Wehrmacht did not yet feel the need for a gun more powerful than the Pak 38, the design of the Pak 40 went slow enough.

The campaign against the USSR was the impetus for accelerating work on the 75-mm anti-tank gun. Faced with the T-34 tanks and especially the KV, the anti-tank units of the Wehrmacht were unable to deal with them. Therefore, Rheinmetall-Borsig was instructed to urgently complete work on the 75-mm Pak 40 gun.

In December 1941, prototypes of the new anti-tank gun were tested, in January 1942 it was put into production, and in February the first 15 serial Pak 40s entered the army.

The gun had a monoblock barrel with a muzzle brake, which absorbs a significant part of the recoil energy, and a horizontal wedge semi-automatic shutter, providing a rate of fire of up to 14 rounds per minute. A carriage with sliding beds provided a horizontal firing angle of up to 58 degrees. For transportation, the gun had sprung wheels with solid rubber tires, which made it possible to tow it at speeds up to 40 km / h with mechanical traction and 15–20 km / h with horses. The gun was equipped with pneumatic marching brakes, which were controlled from the cab of a tractor or car. In addition, it was possible to brake manually, using two levers located on both sides of the gun carriage.

To protect the calculation, the gun had a shield cover, consisting of upper and lower shields. The upper one, fixed on the upper machine, consisted of two armor plates 4 mm thick, installed at a distance of 25 mm from each other. The lower one was attached to the lower machine, and one half of it could recline on hinges.

The cost of the gun was 12,000 Reichsmarks.

The ammunition load of the Pak 40 gun included unitary shots with a SprGr fragmentation grenade weighing 5.74 kg, armor-piercing tracer PzGr 39 (hard alloy blank weighing 6.8 kg with 17 g of tracer composition), sub-caliber PzGr 40 (weighing 4.1 kg with tungsten carbide core) and cumulative HL.Gr (weighing 4.6 kg) shells.

The gun could successfully fight all types of tanks of the Red Army and its allies at long and medium distances. For example, PzGr 39 pierced 80 mm armor at a distance of 1000 m, and PzGt40-87-mm. The cumulative HL.Gr was used to fight tanks at distances up to 600 m, while it was guaranteed to penetrate 90 mm armor.

Pak 40 was the most successful and most massive anti-tank gun of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War. Its production steadily increased: in 1942 the average monthly output was 176 guns, in 1943 - 728 and in 1944 - 977. The peak of Pak 40 production was in October 1944, when 1050 guns were managed to be manufactured. In the future, in connection with the mass bombing of the German allies by aircraft industrial enterprises output began to decline. But despite this, from January to April 1945, the Wehrmacht received another 721 75-mm anti-tank guns. A total of 23,303 Pak 40 guns were produced between 1942 and 1945. There were several variants of the Pak 40, differing from each other in the design of wheels (solid and spoked) and muzzle brakes.

75-mm anti-tank guns entered service with tank destroyer divisions of infantry, panzergrenadier, tank and a number of other divisions, as well as, to a lesser extent, in individual tank destroyer divisions. Constantly being on cutting edge, these guns suffered huge losses in battles. For example, over the last 4 months of 1944, the Wehrmacht lost 2490 Pak 40s, of which 669 in September, 1020 in October, 494 in November and 307 in December. 17,596 of these guns were lost, 5,228 Pak 40s were at the front (of which 4,695 were on a wheeled carriage) and another 84 were in warehouses and in training units.

The 75-mm Pak 40 anti-tank gun was used in large numbers to arm various self-propelled guns on tank chassis, armored personnel carriers and armored cars. In 1942-1945, it was installed on self-propelled guns Marder II (on the chassis of the Pz.ll tank, 576 units) and Marder II (on the chassis of the Pz. 38(t) tank, 1756 units), armored personnel carriers Sd.Kfz. 251/22 (302 pieces), armored vehicles Sd.Kfz. 234/4 (89 pieces), RSO tracked tractors with an armored cab (60 pieces), based on captured French armored vehicles (Lorraine tractor, H-39 and FCM 36 tanks, armored personnel carrier on a Somua MCG half-track chassis, 220 pieces in total). So for all time series production At least 3,003 Pak 40s were installed on various chassis, not counting those subsequently used for repairs (this is about 13% of all artillery systems produced).

At the end of 1942, the Heller Brothers (Gebr. Heller) in Nurtingen developed and manufactured the 75-mm Pak 42 anti-tank gun, which was a modernized version of the Pak 40 with a barrel length of 71 calibers (the usual Pak 40 has a barrel length of 46 calibers ). According to German data, after testing, 253 such guns were made on a field gun carriage, after which their production was stopped. Subsequently, the Pz.IV (A) Pz.IV (V) tank destroyers began to arm the Pak 42 cannons (with the muzzle brake removed). As for the Pak 42 on the field carriage, their photographs, data on entering the troops or on combat use have not yet been found. The only image of the Pak 42 known to date is of its installation on a 3-ton half-track tractor chassis.

The development of this gun began by Krupp in parallel with the design of the Rheinmetall-Borsig 75-mm Pak 40. However, unlike the latter, the Krupp gun, which received the designation Pak 41, had a variable-caliber barrel like the 42-mm Pak 41. The first prototypes were made at the end of 1941.

The gun had a rather original design. The barrel was mounted in a spherical support of a two-layer shield (two 7-mm armor plates). Beds and a sprung axle with wheels were attached to the shield. Thus, the main load-bearing structure of the Pak 41 was a double shield.

The barrel of the gun had a variable caliber from 75 mm in the breech to 55 mm at the muzzle, but did not taper along the entire length, but consisted of three sections. The first, starting at the breech with a length of 2,950 mm, had a caliber of 75 mm, then there was a 950 mm conical section, tapering from 75 to 55 mm, and finally the last 420 mm long had a caliber of 55 mm. Thanks to this design, the middle conical section, which was subjected to the greatest wear during firing, could be replaced without problems even in field conditions. To reduce the recoil energy, the barrel had a slotted muzzle brake.

The 75-mm anti-tank gun with a conical bore Pak 41 was adopted by the Wehrmacht in the spring of 1942, and in April - May, Krupp manufactured 150 such guns, after which their production was stopped. Pak 41 was quite expensive - the cost of one gun was more than 15,000 Reichsmarks.

The Pak 41 ammunition included unitary shots with armor-piercing shells PzGr 41 NK weighing 2.56 kg (per 1000 m pierced armor 136 mm thick) and PzGr 41 (W) weighing 2.5 kg (145 mm per 1000 m), as well as fragmentation Spr Gr.

Ammunition for Pak 41 had the same arrangement as for 28/20 mm Pz.B.41 and 42 mm Pak 41 with tapered bores. However, initially they were supplied to the front in insufficient quantities, since extremely scarce tungsten was used to make armor-piercing PzGr.

The 75 mm Pak 41 anti-tank guns entered service with the tank destroyer battalions of several infantry divisions. Due to the high muzzle velocity of the projectile, they could successfully deal with almost all types of Soviet, British and American tanks. However, due to the rapid wear of the barrel and the shortage of tungsten, from the middle of 1943 they began to be gradually withdrawn from the troops. Nevertheless, as of March 1, 1945, the Wehrmacht still had 11 Pak 41s, although only three of them were at the front.

Faced with Soviet T-34 and KV tanks, the Germans hastily began to develop means to combat them. One of the measures was the use of 75-mm French field gun barrels of the 1897 model for this purpose - several thousand of these guns were captured by the Wehrmacht during campaigns in Poland and France (the Poles bought these guns from the French in the 1920s quite a few years ago). in large numbers). In addition, a large amount of ammunition for these artillery systems fell into the hands of the Germans: there were more than 5.5 million of them in France alone!

The guns entered service with the Wehrmacht as field guns under the designation: for the Polish - 7.5 cm F. K.97 (p), and for the French - 7.5 cm F. K.231 (f). The difference was that the Polish guns had wooden wheels with spokes - guns were produced with them in France during the First World War, and horse teams were used to transport them in the Polish army. The guns that were in service with the French army were modernized in the 1930s, having received metal wheels with rubber tires. This made it possible to tow them with the help of tractors at speeds up to 40 km / h. F. K. 97 (p) and F. K. 231 (f) in limited quantities entered service with several second-class divisions, and were also used in coastal defense in France and Norway. For example, as of March 1, 1944, the Wehrmacht included 683 F. K.231 (f) (of which 300 were in France, two in Italy, 340 on the Soviet-German front and 41 in Norway) and 26 Polish F.K.97 (p), which were on the Soviet-German front.

The use of cannons of the 1897 model for fighting tanks was difficult, primarily because of the design of a single-bar carriage, which allowed an angle of fire along the horizon of only 6 degrees. Therefore, the Germans put the barrel of a 75 mm French gun, equipped with a muzzle brake, on a 50 mm Pak 38 carriage and received a new anti-tank gun, which was given the designation 7.5 cm Pak 97/38. True, its price was quite high - 9,000 Reichsmarks. Despite the fact that the gun had a piston breech, its rate of fire was up to 12 rounds per minute. For firing, shots developed by the Germans were used with armor-piercing projectile PzGr and cumulative HL.Gr 38/97. Fragmentation was used only by the French, which received the designation SprGr 230/1 (f) and SprGr 233/1 (f) in the Wehrmacht.

Production of the Pak 97/38 began in early 1942 and ended in July 1943. Moreover, the last 160 guns were made on the carriage of the Pak 40 guns, they received the designation Pak 97/40. Compared to the Pak 97/38, the new artillery system became heavier (1425 vs. 1270 kg), but the ballistic data remained the same. In just a year and a half of mass production, 3712 Pak 97/38 and Pak 97/40 were manufactured. They entered service with tank destroyer divisions in infantry divisions and several others. As of March 1, 1945, the Wehrmacht still had 122 Pak 97/38 and F.K.231 (f) guns, and only 14 of this number were at the front.

Pak 97/38 were mounted on the chassis of the Soviet captured tank T-26 - in 1943, several such installations were manufactured.

Due to the large mass of the 75-mm Pak 40 anti-tank gun, which made it difficult to move around the battlefield by the calculation forces, in April 1944 an attempt was made to create its lightweight version. To do this, the barrel was shortened by 1205 mm, equipped with a more powerful three-chamber muzzle brake and mounted on a Pak 38 carriage. For firing from a new gun, designated Pak 50, shells from Pak 40 were used, but the dimensions of the sleeve and the weight of the powder charge were reduced. The test results showed that the mass of the Pak 50 compared to the Pak 40 did not decrease as much as expected - the fact is that when installing a 75 mm barrel on a Pak 38 carriage, all of its aluminum parts had to be replaced with steel ones. In addition, tests showed that the armor penetration of the new gun was significantly reduced.

However, in May 1944, the Pak 50 began to be mass-produced, and by August 358 had been produced, after which production was discontinued.

Pak 50 entered service with infantry and panzergrenadier divisions and were used in combat from September 1944.

Faced with the T-34 and KV tanks, the German 37-mm Pak 35/36 anti-tank guns were practically powerless, the 50-mm Pak 38 was not enough in the troops, and they were not always effective. Therefore, along with the deployment of mass production of a more powerful 75-mm Pak 40 anti-tank gun, which took time, the search for a temporary measure of anti-tank combat began hastily.

A way out was found in the use of captured Soviet 76.2-mm divisional guns of the 1936 model (F-22), which were captured quite a lot by Wehrmacht units in the first months of the war.

The development of the F-22 began in 1934 at the design bureau of V.G. Grabin as part of the creation of the so-called universal artillery system, which could be used as a howitzer, anti-tank and divisional. The first prototypes were tested in June 1935, after which a meeting was held in the presence of the leaders of the Red Army and the government of the USSR.

As a result, it was decided to stop work on a universal gun and create a divisional one on its basis. After a series of improvements, on May 11, 1936, the new artillery system was adopted by the Red Army as a 76.2-mm divisional gun of the 1936 model.

The gun, which received the factory index F-22, was mounted on a gun carriage with two riveted box-section beds, moving apart in the firing position (this was a novelty for guns of this class), which provided a horizontal firing angle of 60 degrees. The use of a semi-automatic wedge shutter made it possible to increase the rate of fire to 15 rounds per minute. Due to the fact that the F-22 was originally designed as a universal one, it had a fairly large elevation angle - 75 degrees, which made it possible to conduct barrage fire on aircraft. The disadvantages of the gun include a rather large mass (1620–1700 kg) and overall dimensions, as well as the location of the drives of the lifting and turning mechanism on opposite sides of the breech (lifting flywheel on the right, rotary on the left). The latter made it very difficult to fire at moving targets, such as tanks. The production of the F-22 was carried out in 1937-1939, in total 2956 of these guns were made.

According to German data, they got a little more than 1000 F-22s as trophies during the summer-autumn campaign of 1941, more than 150 in the battles near Moscow and more than 100 during Operation Blau in July 1942 ( we are talking about good samples). 76.2-mm F-22 guns entered service with the Wehrmacht under the designation F. K.296 (r) and were used as a field gun (F. K. (Feldkanone) - field gun), which had an armor-piercing projectile and could quite successfully deal with Soviet tanks.

In addition, part of the F-22 was converted into anti-tank guns, which received the designation Panzerabverkanone 36 (russland) or Pak 36 (r) - "anti-tank gun model 1936 (Russian)". At the same time, the Germans developed new, more powerful ammunition for this gun, for which they had to squander the chamber (the new ammunition had a sleeve 716 mm long against the original Soviet 385 mm). Since a large elevation angle was not required for an anti-tank gun, the sector of the lifting mechanism was limited to an angle of 18 degrees, which made it possible to move the flywheel for pointing the gun vertically from the right side to the left side. In addition, the Pak 36(r) received a height-cut shield and a dual-chamber muzzle brake to reduce recoil energy.

As a result of the modernization, the Wehrmacht had a fairly powerful anti-tank gun at its disposal, which could successfully fight the Soviet T-34 and KV tanks at distances up to 1000 m. th (and for self-propelled artillery - until January 1944), in total, the Wehrmacht received 560 such artillery systems on a field machine and 894 for installation on self-propelled guns. But here an explanation must be given. The fact is that the number of manufactured guns in the towed version most likely included the 76.2-mm Pak 39 (r) anti-tank guns (see the next chapter), since the Germans in the documents often did not make a difference between the Pak 36 (r) and Pak 39(r). According to some reports, the latter could be up to 300 pieces.

The ammunition of the Pak 36 (r) gun included unitary shots developed by the Germans with an armor-piercing projectile PzGr 39 weighing 2.5 kg, a sub-caliber PzGr 40 weighing 2.1 kg (with a tungsten core) and a fragmentation SprGr 39 weighing 6.25 kg.

Pak 36(r) were mounted on the chassis of the Pz.II Ausf.D and Pz.38(t) tanks and were used as tank destroyers. On a field carriage, these guns were mainly used by infantry divisions. Pak 36 (r) were used in combat operations in North Africa and on the Soviet-German front. As of March 1, 1945, the Wehrmacht still had 165 Pak 36 (u) and Pak 39 (r), some of which were in warehouses.

It was generally accepted that only the F-22 was converted by the Germans into an anti-tank one, since it had a strong breech. However, the 76.2-mm F-22USV divisional guns of pre-war production were also subjected to similar alterations, since their breech and barrel design almost did not differ from the F-22. In addition, the indicated gun was 220–250 kg lighter than the F-22 and had a 710 mm shorter barrel.

The development of a new 76.2 mm divisional gun for the Red Army began in 1938, as the F-22 produced was too complex, expensive and heavy. The new gun, which received the factory designation F-22USV (F-22 improved), was designed at the design bureau under the leadership of V. Grabin as soon as possible - a prototype was ready in seven months after the start of work. This was achieved by using more than 50% of parts from the F-22 in the new artillery system. Like the base model, the F-22USV received a wedge-shaped semi-automatic breech block, providing a rate of fire of up to 15 rounds per minute, and a riveted carriage, which allowed for horizontal firing up to 60 degrees. The design of the recoil brake, shield, upper and lower machine tools, lifting and turning mechanisms was changed (although, like on the F-22, their drives were on opposite sides of the trunk), suspension systems, tires from the ZIS-5 car were used. After testing in the fall of 1939, the new gun was adopted by the Red Army as the 76.2-mm divisional gun of the 1939 model (USV). In 1939-1940, 1150 F-22USVs were manufactured, in 1941-2661 and in 1942 - 6046. Moreover, in 1941-1942, 6890 units were produced by Plant No. 221 Barricades in Stalingrad under the USV-BR index, and they differed in a number parts from F-22USV guns manufactured at factory No. 92.

During the first year of the war, the Germans got quite a lot of 76.2-mm F-22USV and USV-BR as trophies. They entered service with the Wehrmacht as field guns under the designation F. K.296 (r). However, tests have shown that these guns can be successfully used as anti-tank guns, significantly increasing their armor penetration.

The Germans squandered the F-22USV charging chamber for the use of a shot developed for the Pak 36 (r), installed a two-chamber muzzle brake on the barrel, and moved the vertical aiming flywheel to the left side. In this form, the gun, which received the designation Panzerabverkanone 39 (russland) or Pak 39 (r) - "anti-tank gun of the 1939 model of the year (Russian)" began to enter service with the anti-tank units of the Wehrmacht. Moreover, only guns produced in 1940-1941 were reworked - the German tests of the USV-BR, 76-mm ZIS-3, and also the F-22USV made after the summer of 1941 showed that their breech was no longer as strong as that of pre-war production guns, and therefore it was not possible to convert them into Pak 39 (r).

Unfortunately, the exact number of Pak 39 (r) produced could not be found - the Germans often did not separate them from Pak 36 (r). According to some sources, up to 300 of these guns were produced in total. Also missing are ballistics and armor penetration data for the Pak 39(r).

The design of a new 88-mm anti-tank gun began by Rheinmetall-Borsig in the fall of 1942, and the ballistics from the Flak 41 anti-aircraft gun of the same caliber was used as the base. Due to the workload of the company with other orders at the end of 1942, the refinement and production of the 88-mm anti-tank gun, which received the designation Pak 43, was transferred to the Weserhutte company.

Pak 43 had a barrel length of almost seven meters with a powerful muzzle brake and a horizontal wedge semi-automatic shutter. As a legacy from the anti-aircraft guns, the gun got a cruciform carriage, which was equipped with two two-wheeled passages for transportation. Although this design made the gun heavier, it provided circular fire along the horizon, which was important when fighting tanks.

The horizontal installation of the gun was carried out by levels with special jacks located at the ends of the longitudinal beam of the gun carriage. To protect the calculation from bullets and shell fragments, a shield of 5 mm armor was used, installed at a large angle to the vertical. The mass of the gun was more than 4.5 tons, so it was planned to use only 8-ton Sd.Kfz half-track tractors for towing it. 7.

The Pak 43 ammunition included unitary shots with armor-piercing (PzGr 39/43 weighing 10.2 kg), sub-caliber tungsten carbide core (PzGr 40/43 weighing 7.3 kg), cumulative (HLGr) and fragmentation (SprGr) shells. The gun had very good data - it could easily hit all types of Soviet, American and British tanks at distances of the order of 2500 m.

Due to the high loads that occur during firing, the Pak 43 had a relatively short barrel life, ranging from 1200 to 2000 rounds.

In addition, the use of early-release projectiles, which had a narrower leading belt than those produced later, led to accelerated barrel wear up to 800-1200 shots.

For a number of reasons, the Weserhutte company was able to master the production of Pak 43 only in December 1943, when the first six serial samples were made. These guns were produced until the end of the war and entered service with individual divisions of tank destroyers. A total of 2,098 Pak 43s were manufactured before April 1, 1945. In addition to the field gun carriage, a small number of Pak 43 barrels (about 100) were installed on Nashorn tank destroyers (based on the Pz.IV) in 1944-1945.

Without a doubt, the Pak 43 was the most powerful anti-tank gun of World War II, not inferior even to the Soviet 100 mm BS-3 (not counting the 128 mm Pak 80, which were made by several dozen). However, for high efficiency in the fight against tanks, one had to pay with a large mass of the gun and its almost zero mobility on the battlefield - it took more than one minute to install the Pak 43 on the move (or remove it from them). And on the battlefield, this often led to losses in materiel and personnel.

Due to the delay in the production of the 88-mm Pak 43 anti-tank gun on a cross-shaped carriage, the Wehrmacht command instructed Rheinmetall-Borsig to urgently take measures to provide the army with these guns, which were required for the upcoming summer campaign of 1943 on the Soviet-German front.

To speed up the work, the company used a carriage from its experimental 105-mm K 41 gun with wheels from a 150-mm FH18 heavy howitzer, superimposing the Pak 43 barrel on it. The result was a new anti-tank gun, which received the designation Pak 43/41.

Due to the presence of sliding frames, the gun had a horizontal firing angle of 56 degrees.

To protect the calculation from bullets and shell fragments, the Pak 43/41 was equipped with a shield mounted on the upper machine. The mass of the gun was, although less than that of the Pak 43 - 4380 kg, but still not so much that it could be moved on the battlefield by calculation forces. The ballistics and ammunition used by the Pak 43/41 were the same as those of the Pak 43.

Production of the new guns began in February 1943, when 23 Pak 43/41s were assembled. However, a few days later they were handed over to equip Hornisse tank destroyers (later renamed Nashorn). Due to the fact that 88-mm anti-tank guns went into service with Hornisse, it was not until April 1943 that the first Pak 43/41 on a field carriage entered the troops. Production of these guns continued until the spring of 1944, with a total of 1,403 Pak 43/41s produced.

Like the Pak 43, these guns entered service with individual tank destroyer battalions. As of March 1, 1945, there were 1,049 88 mm anti-tank guns (Pak 43 and Pak 43/41) at the front, and another 135 were in warehouses and in spare parts. For its large overall dimensions, the Pak 43/41 gun received the army nickname "Scheunentor" (barn gate).

The design of a 128-mm anti-tank gun began in 1943, and the Flak 40 anti-aircraft gun with good ballistic data was used as the base. The first prototypes were manufactured by Krupp and Rheinmetall-Borsig, but after testing, the Krupp gun was accepted for serial production, which in December 1943 began to be produced under the designation Pak 44 and until March 1944 18 such guns were manufactured.

The gun was mounted on a specially designed cruciform carriage, which provided 360-degree horizontal fire. Due to the presence of a semi-automatic shutter, the gun, despite the use of separate loading shots, had a rate of fire of up to five rounds per minute. For transportation, the Pak 44 was equipped with four wheels with rubber tires, which allowed it to be transported at speeds up to 35 km / h. Due to the large mass of the artillery system - more than 10 tons - only 12 or 18-ton half-track tractors could tow it.

The Pak 44 ammunition included separate loading shots with an armor-piercing projectile weighing 28.3 kg and 28 kg fragmentation. The armor penetration of the Pak 44 was 200 mm at a distance of 1.5 kilometers. It could hit any Soviet, American or English tank at distances beyond their reach. In addition, due to the large mass of the projectile, when it hit the tank, even without breaking through the armor, in 90% of cases it still failed.

In February 1944, the production of 128-mm Pak 80 anti-tank guns began. They differed from Pak 44 mainly in the absence of a muzzle brake, and these guns were used by Jagdtiger heavy tank destroyers and Mans tanks. In the spring of 1944, Krupp produced two samples, designated K 81/1 and K 81/2, respectively. The first was a Pak 80 barrel mounted on a captured French 155 mm Canon de 155 mm Grand Puissance Filloux cannon. With a mass of 12197 kg, it had a horizontal shelling of 60 degrees. It used the same ammunition as the Pak 80.

The 128 mm K 81/2 was a Pak 80 barrel equipped with a muzzle brake and mounted on the carriage of a captured Soviet 152 mm ML-20 howitzer-gun. Compared to the K 81/1, this artillery system was lighter -8302 kg and had an angle of fire of 58 degrees along the horizon.

On October 25, 1944, the main decision was made at Hitler's headquarters to install 52 Pak 80 barrels on French and Soviet carriages and use them as anti-tank guns. On November 8, the state of a separate 128-mm battery (12.8-cm Kanonen-Batterie) was approved, which included six K 81/1 and K 81/2 each. By November 22, four such batteries were formed - 1092, 1097, 1124 and 1125th, which included only ten 128-mm guns (7 K 81/2 and 3 K 81/1). Subsequently, the number of guns in the batteries increased, but never reached the regular number.

In total, from April 1944 to January 1945, the Krupp firm in Breslau manufactured 132 Pak 80 guns, of which 80 were used for installation on the Jagdtiger, Maus and for training purposes (training self-propelled gun crews). The remaining 52 were mounted on field carriages and, under the designation K 81/1 and K 81/2, were used as anti-tank guns as part of separate artillery batteries on the western front.

The appearance of this gun began back in 1938, when the Wehrmacht's Ordnance Department issued a task to design and build a 75-mm anti-tank gun.

Two firms participated in the competition: Rheinmetall-Borsig and Krupp. At the first stage, the Rheinmetall model won, and the Krupp product became the basis for the creation of the 75-mm gun of the 1941 model.

The Rheinmetal prototype was named 7.5 cm Pak. 40 ... and that's where it all stopped. There was no need for an anti-tank gun of such a large caliber. All problems on the battlefield were quite successfully solved by the 37-mm anti-tank gun of the 1936 model.

Pak 40 turned out to be very heavy and not very mobile. To transport the gun, a tractor was required, especially where the roads were not very good, or in muddy conditions. So initially the Pak 40 did not fit into the concept of "blitzkrieg" at all, and therefore there was no order for mass production in 1940.

Yes, the battles in France with the allied S-35, B-1bis and Matilda tanks, which had some anti-ballistic armor, revealed the need for a weapon with the characteristics of the Pak 40.

However, the campaign Western front ended quickly, and in the following campaigns of the Wehrmacht in Yugoslavia and Crete, there were no targets for which the Pak 40 could be needed, and the stake was placed on establishing mass production of the 5 cm Pak gun. 38.

The issue of organizing the serial production of the 75-mm anti-tank gun was put on the back burner.

The situation changed after the German attack on Soviet Union when I had to face the new Soviet T-34 and KV tanks.

The adoption of the 50 mm Pak 38 anti-tank gun somewhat improved the Wehrmacht's ability to fight new Soviet tanks, but this gun also had significant drawbacks. The most important of them are:

Only a 50-mm sub-caliber projectile could confidently penetrate the armor of the T-34 or KV. According to the statistics of the defeats of the T-34 tank in late 1941 - early 1942, 50% of hits of 50-mm shells were fatal, and the probability of incapacitating a T-34 or KV with one hit of a 50-mm shell was even lower;

Tungsten carbide was used as the material for the cermet core, and tungsten stocks in the Third Reich were very limited;

Poor performance of the Pak 38 against unarmored targets.

Nevertheless, while there was still hope for a "blitzkrieg", the Wehrmacht leadership was in no hurry to adopt the Pak 40. But by the end of autumn 1941, it became clear to the German military that the disorganization of the Soviet troops had been largely overcome, and the number of T-34s on all fronts began to steadily increase. This made them a very dangerous adversary, and the existing means to deal with them were officially recognized as insufficient.

And in November 1941, the Pak 40 was put into service, mass production began.

In 1942, the gradual re-equipment of all parts of the Wehrmacht anti-tank artillery with the Pak 40 began, which was finally completed by the beginning of 1943. Reports from the Soviet tank troops At the beginning of 1943, they emphasize that the main caliber of German anti-tank artillery is 75 mm, and the percentage of defeats with smaller calibers is such that it can be ignored. All hits of the 75-mm caliber in the T-34 were considered fatal.

In 1942-1945. the gun was effective against any Allied medium tank that fought, so its production continued until the very end of World War II.

Reliable protection from his fire it was possible to realize only in the IS-2 and T-44 tanks (the latter did not take part in hostilities). As for the IS-2, the statistics on irretrievably disabled tanks was such that 75-mm caliber accounted for 14% of losses (the rest was 88-mm caliber and cumulative Faustpatrons).

The Pak 40 anti-tank gun was supplied to Germany's allies - Hungary, Finland, Romania and Bulgaria. With the transition of the last three in 1944 to the anti-Hitler coalition Pak 40 in armed forces of these countries were used against the Germans. These guns were in service with their armies after the end of World War II. Also captured Pak 40s were actively used in the Red Army.

In total, 23,303 Pak 40 towed guns were produced in Germany and about 2,600 more barrels were mounted on various self-propelled gun carriages (for example, Marder II). It was the most massive weapon produced in the Reich.

The Pak 40 was used in the vast majority of cases as an anti-tank gun, firing at its targets with direct fire. In terms of armor-piercing action, the Pak 40 was superior to the similar Soviet 76.2 mm ZIS-3 gun, this was due to a more powerful powder charge in the Pak 40 shot - 2.7 kg (for the ZIS-3 shot - 1 kg).

However, the Pak 40 had less effective recoil suppression systems, as a result of which, when fired, the coulters “burrowed” into the ground more strongly, as a result of which the ZiS-3 lost a lot in the ability to quickly change position or transfer fire. And sometimes it burrowed in such a way that it was possible to tear out their soil only with the help of a tractor.

Toward the end of the war, the production of anti-tank guns in Nazi Germany was given one of the highest priorities. As a result, the Wehrmacht began to experience a shortage of howitzers. As a result, the Pak 40 began to be used for indirect fire, modeled on the ZIS-3 divisional cannon in the Red Army.

This decision seemed to have one more advantage - in the event of a deep breakthrough and the exit of tanks to the positions of the German Artillery Pak 40 again became an anti-tank gun. However, estimates of the scale of the combat use of the Pak 40 in this capacity are very controversial. The ZIS-3 was out of competition in terms of versatility and mobility, even though it lost in armor penetration.

At the end of the Second World War, the Pak 40s that were available in large numbers were taken into service in France, where the production of ammunition for them was established. And in 1959, several anti-tank artillery battalions, armed with trophy delivered from the USSR Pak guns 40.

Tactical and technical characteristics:

Caliber, mm: 75
Weight in combat position, kg: 1425
Horizontal aiming angle: 65°
Maximum elevation angle: +22°
Minimum declination angle: -5°
Rate of fire, rounds per minute: 14

Muzzle velocity of the projectile, m/s:
933 (sub-caliber armor-piercing)
792 (caliber armor-piercing)
550 (high explosive)

Range of a direct shot, m: 900-1300 (depending on the type of projectile)
Maximum firing range, m: 7678 (according to other sources, about 11.5 km)
Projectile weight, kg: from 3.18 to 6.8

Armor penetration: (500 m, meeting angle 90 °, homogeneous armor of medium hardness, mm:
135 (caliber armor-piercing)
154 (sub-caliber armor-piercing)

14.10.2007 18:34

More PaK-40 anti-tank guns were produced than any other Reich guns. The table below shows this.

In addition to the wheeled carriage of the PaK-40 gun in 1942-1944. installed on several types of chassis:
1. Sd.Kfz.135 "Marder I" on chassis French tank"Laurent". In 1942-1943. 184 self-propelled units were manufactured;
2. Sd.Kfz.131 "Marder II" on the chassis of the T-PA and T-PR tanks. In 1942-1943. 531 self-propelled units were manufactured;
3. Sd.Kfz.139 "Marder III" on the chassis of the tank 38(t). In 1942-1943 418 self-propelled units were manufactured in the "H" variant (engine in the stern) and 381 units in the "M" variant (engine in the front);
4. 39 H(f) on a Hotchkiss chassis. In 1943-1944. 24 self-propelled units were manufactured;
5. On the R.S.M. (f) chassis in 1943-1944. 10 self-propelled units were manufactured;
6. 164 self-propelled guns were made on the chassis of the PzKpfw IV tank;
7. On the chassis of the caterpillar tractor K50;
8. On the chassis of the semi-tracked medium armored personnel carrier CM 251/22;
9. On the chassis of a wheeled (4x2) armored personnel carrier CM 234/4.

The main parts of the PaK-40 gun are: a barrel with a bolt, a cradle with recoil devices, an upper machine, lifting, turning and balancing mechanisms, a lower machine with undercarriages, shield cover and sights. The monobloc barrel is equipped with a highly effective muzzle brake, which absorbs a significant part of the recoil energy. The carriage with sliding beds provides the possibility of firing at elevation angles from -3 ° 30 "to +22 °. The angle of horizontal fire is 58 ° 30". When the gun is rolled by the calculation forces, the trunk part of the gun is installed on the guide wheel. In this case, the gun moves muzzle forward. One person guides the implement using the guide arm.

For transporting the implement using a tractor, it is equipped with pneumatic marchingbrakes, which are controlled from the cab of the tractor. In addition, you can brake using levers located on both sides of the gun carriage. The shield cover is similar in design to the cover of the PaK-38 gun and consists of an upper and lower shield. The upper shield is fixed on the upper machine and consists of two sheets - rear and front. The lower shield is fixed on the lower machine and has a folding part. The shutter of the gun is equipped with semi-automatic, which provides a fairly high rate of fire - 12-14 rounds per minute. The ammunition load of the PaK-40 cannon includes cartridge-loading shots with the following types of projectiles:
- high-explosive fragmentation grenade;
- armor-piercing tracer projectile mod. 39;
- armor-piercing tracer sub-caliber projectile mod. 40;
- cumulative projectile.

For firing at heavily armored targets at short ranges (up to 600 m), cumulative projectiles weighing 4.6 kg were used. At an encounter angle of 60°, these shells pierced 90 mm thick armor, which made it possible to successfully use the PaK-40 cannon to combat a significant part of the armored vehicles of the USSR and its allies.

PaK-40 losses were enormous. Until March 1, 1945, Germany lost 18,096 of these guns. Only in 1944 the losses amounted to:

The gun was produced until the end of the Second World War. Its carriage was also used to create a modernized 105-mm light field howitzer mod. 18/40 and 75 mm PaK-97/40 anti-tank gun, which was an overlay of the barrel of a 75 mm French gun mod. 1897 on the gun carriage PaK-40.

Sources:
1. Shirokorad A., "God of War of the Third Reich", AST, Transitbook, 2003
2. Shunkov V., "Wehrmacht", AST, 2003
3. Chris Chant, "Artillery of World War II", 2001