Contrary to popular belief formed by feature films, literature and computer games such as "World of Tanks", the main enemy of Soviet tanks on the battlefield was not enemy tanks, but anti-tank artillery.
Tank duels, of course, happened regularly, but not so often. Large oncoming tank battles can be counted on one hand.
After the war, ABTU conducted a study on the causes of the defeat of our tanks.
Anti-tank artillery accounted for about 60% (with tank destroyers and anti-aircraft guns), 20% was lost in battles with tanks, the rest of the artillery destroyed 5%, mines blew up 5%, aviation and anti-tank infantry weapons accounted for 10%.
The numbers are, of course, very rounded, since it is impossible to determine exactly how each tank was destroyed. Anything that could shoot fired at the tanks on the battlefield. So during the battles near Kursk, the destruction of a heavy tank destroyer ACS "Elephant" by a direct hit of a 203-mm projectile was recorded. An accident, of course, but an accident is very indicative.
37 mm anti-tank gun Pak. 35/36 was the main anti-tank weapon with which Germany entered the war.
The development of this weapon, bypassing the restrictions imposed by the Versailles Treaty, was completed at the Rheinmetall Borzig firm in 1928. The first samples of the gun, named So 28 (Tankabwehrkanone, that is, anti-tank gun - the word Panzer came into use later) entered trials in 1930, and in 1932 supplies to the troops began. The Reichswehr received a total of 264 such guns. The Tak 28 gun had a 45-caliber barrel with a horizontal wedge gate, which provided a fairly high rate of fire - up to 20 rounds / min. The carriage with sliding tubular beds provided a large horizontal guidance angle - 60 °, but at the same time the chassis with wooden wheels was designed only for horse traction.
By the end of the 1920s, this weapon was perhaps the best in its class, far ahead of developments in other countries. It was supplied to Turkey, Holland, Spain, Italy, Japan, Greece, Estonia, the USSR and even Abyssinia. 12 such guns were delivered to the USSR, and another 499 were manufactured under license in 1931-32. The gun was adopted as a 37 mm anti-tank gun mod. 1930 ". The famous Soviet "forty-five" - a gun of the 1932 model - traces its ancestry precisely from Tak 29. But the gun did not satisfy the German military because of its too low mobility. Therefore, in 1934, it was modernized with wheels with pneumatic tires that can be towed by a car, an improved carriage and an improved sight. Under the designation 3, 7 cm Pak 35/36 (Panzerabwehrkanone 35/36), the gun entered service with the Wehrmacht as the main anti-tank weapon.
The sector of the horizontal shelling of the gun was 60 °, the maximum elevation angle of the barrel was 25 °. The presence of a wedge-type automatic shutter closing mechanism provided a rate of fire of 12-15 rounds per minute. An optical sight was used to aim the gun.
The shooting was carried out with unitary shots: fragmentation and armor-piercing. The 37-mm armor-piercing projectile of this gun penetrated 34 mm armor at a distance of 100 m. The 1940 APCR projectile had armor penetration at this distance of 50 mm, and in addition, a special above-caliber cumulative ammunition with 180 mm armor penetration was developed for the Rak. 35/36 gun, with a maximum firing range of 300 m. In total, about 16 thousand Rak guns were built. 35/36.
The Rak.35 / 36 cannons were in service with the anti-tank companies of the infantry regiments and battalions of tank destroyers in the infantry divisions. In total, the infantry division had 75 37-mm anti-tank guns across the state.
In addition to the towed version, Rak 35/36 was installed on Sd. Kfz. 250/10 and Sd. Kfz. 251/10 - command vehicles, reconnaissance and motorized infantry units.
The troops also used various kinds of improvised self-propelled guns with such guns - on the chassis of Krupp trucks, captured French Renault tankettes UE, British Universal armored personnel carriers and Soviet semi-armored tracked tractors Komsomolets.
The gun received its baptism of fire in Spain, where it demonstrated high efficiency, and then was successfully used during the Polish campaign against lightly armored tankettes and light tanks.
However, it turned out to be ineffective against new French, British and especially Soviet tanks with anti-cannon armor. Due to its low efficiency, German soldiers nicknamed the Pak 35/36 "door knocker" or "clapperboard".
As of September 1, 1939, the Wehrmacht had 11 250 Cancer 35/36 cannons, by June 22, 1941 this number had increased to a record 15 515 units, but subsequently steadily decreased. By March 1, 1945, the Wehrmacht and SS troops still had 216 Cancer 35/36, and 670 of these guns were stored in warehouses. Most of the infantry divisions switched to more powerful guns in 1943, but in the parachute and mountain divisions they remained until 1944, and in the occupation units and formations of the second line (training, reserve) - until the end of the war.
The Wehrmacht used the same 3.7 cm Pak 38 (t) - anti-tank 37-mm gun manufactured by the Czech company Skoda. At a distance of 100 m, the APCR shell had normal penetration of 64 mm.
The gun was produced by Skoda by order of the German army, in 1939-1940, a total of 513 guns were produced.
In 1941, Beilerer & Kunz developed 4.2 cm PaK 41- anti-tank gun with a tapered bore.
It was generally similar to the Pak 36 anti-tank gun, but had a higher muzzle velocity and armor penetration.
The bore diameter varied from 42 mm at the breech to 28 mm at the muzzle. A projectile with crushed leading belts weighing 336 g pierced 87 mm thick armor from a distance of 500 m at right angles.
The gun was produced in small quantities in 1941-1942. The reasons for the termination of production were the lack of scarce tungsten in Germany from which the projectile core was made, the complexity and high cost of production, as well as the low survivability of the barrel. A total of 313 guns were fired.
The most effective of the captured light anti-tank guns was the 47-mm Czechoslovakian cannon Model 1936, which the Germans called 4.7-cm Pak36 (t).
A characteristic feature of the gun was the muzzle brake. Semi-automatic wedge gate, hydraulic recoil brake, spring recoil brake. The gun had a somewhat unusual design for that time; for transportation, the barrel turned 180 degrees. and was attached to the beds. For a more compact stacking, both beds could be folded. The wheel travel of the gun is sprung, the wheels are metal with rubber tires.
In 1939, 200 units of 4, 7-cm Pak36 (t) were manufactured in Czechoslovakia, and in 1940, 73 more, after which the production of a modification of the gun model 1936, - 4, 7-cm Pak (t) (Kzg.), and for SPGs - 4.7 cm Pak (t) (Sf.). Production continued until 1943.
Mass production of ammunition for 4, 7-cm Czechoslovak anti-tank guns was also established.
The ammunition load of the 4.7-cm Pak36 (t) gun included Czech-made fragmentation and armor-piercing shells, and in 1941. The German sabot projectile model 40 was adopted for service.
The caliber armor-piercing projectile had an initial speed of 775 m / s, an effective firing range of 1.5 km. Normally, the projectile pierced 75-mm armor at a distance of 50 meters, and at a distance of 100 meters, 60-mm, at a distance of 500 meters, 40 mm armor.
The sub-caliber projectile had an initial speed of 1080 m / s, an effective firing range of up to 500 meters. Normally, at a distance of 500 meters, it pierced 55-mm armor.
In addition to the Czechs, the German army actively used guns captured in other countries.
By the time Austria entered the Reich, the Austrian army had 357 units of the 47-mm anti-tank gun M.35 / 36, created by the Bohler company (in a number of documents, this gun was referred to as an infantry gun). In Germany, it received the name 4.7-cm Pak 35/36 (o).
Consisted of 330 units in service with the Austrian army and went to the Germans as a result of the "Anschluss". By order of the German army, another 150 units were produced in 1940. They entered service with the anti-tank companies of the regiments of infantry divisions instead of 50-mm guns. The gun had not very high characteristics, with an initial speed of an armor-piercing projectile of -630 m / s, armor penetration at a distance of 500 m was 43 mm.
In 1940. in France, a larger number of 47 mm anti-tank guns Model 1937 were captured. Schneider systems. The Germans gave them a name 4.7cm Pak 181 (f).
In total, the Germans used 823 French 47-mm anti-tank guns.
The barrel of the gun is a monoblock. The shutter is a semi-automatic vertical wedge. The gun had a sprung course and metal wheels with rubber tires. In the ammunition of the guns sent to the Eastern Front, the Germans introduced German armor-piercing sabot shells Model 40.
The ammunition of the 4.7-cm Pak181 (f) gun included a French armor-piercing solid projectile with a ballistic tip, at a distance of 400 meters along the normal, the caliber projectile penetrated 40 mm armor.
Anti-tank 5 cm Pak 38 was established by Rheinmetall in 1938. However, due to a number of technical and organizational difficulties, the first two guns entered the army only at the beginning of 1940. Large-scale production began only at the end of 1940. A total of 9568 guns were produced.
The 50 mm anti-tank guns, together with the 37 mm guns, were part of the anti-tank companies of the infantry regiments. An armor-piercing projectile with an initial speed of 823 m / s, at a distance of 500 meters, pierced 70 mm of armor at a right angle, and a sub-caliber projectile at the same distance ensured penetration of 100 mm of armor. These guns could already effectively fight the T-34 and KV, but from 1943 they began to be replaced by more powerful 75 mm guns.
In 1936, Rheinmetall began designing a 7, 5-cm anti-tank gun, called 7.5 cm Pak 40 … However, the Wehrmacht received the first 15 guns only in February 1942. The gun ammunition contained both caliber armor-piercing shells and subcaliber and cumulative shells.
It was a very effective weapon, which was in production until the end of the war, it turned out to be the most numerous. A total of 23,303 guns were produced.
An armor-piercing projectile with an initial speed of 792 m / s, had armor penetration along the normal at a distance of 1000 meters - 82 mm. A subcaliber gun with a speed of 933 m / s, pierced 126 mm armor from 100 meters. Cumulative from any distance, at an angle of 60 degrees - armor plate 60 mm thick.
The gun was widely used for installation on the chassis of tanks and armored tractors.
On March 1, 1945. 5228 units of 7, 5-cm Pak 40 guns remained in service, of which 4695 were on wheeled carriages.
In 1944. an attempt was made to create a lighter 7, 5-cm anti-tank gun, called 7.5 cm Pak 50 … To create it, they took the barrel of a 7, 5-cm Pak 40 cannon and shortened it by 16 calibers. The muzzle brake was replaced by a more powerful three-chamber. All the Pak 40 shells remained in the ammunition load, but the sleeve length and charge were reduced. As a result, a projectile weighing 6, 71 kg had an initial velocity of about 600 m / s. Reducing the weight of the barrel and the recoil force made it possible to use the carriage from the 5 cm Pak 38. However, the weight of the gun did not decrease much and did not justify the deterioration in ballistics and armor penetration. As a result, the production of the 7, 5 cm Pak 50 was limited to a small batch.
During the Polish and French campaign, the Germans captured several hundred 75-mm divisional guns Model 1897. The Poles purchased these cannons from France in the early 1920s. In France alone, the Germans captured 5.5 million shots for these guns. Initially, the Germans used them in their original form, giving the Polish gun the name 7, 5 cm F. K.97 (p), and French - 7, 5 cm F. K.231 (f) … These guns were sent to the "second line" divisions, as well as to the coastal defenses of Norway and France.
Use cannons Model 1897. to combat tanks in its original form was not possible due to the small guidance angle (6 degrees) allowed by a single-bar carriage. The lack of suspension did not allow transportation at a speed of more than 10-12 km / h, even on a good highway. However, the German designers found a way out: the swinging part of the 75-mm French gun mod. 1987 was put on the carriage of the German 5-cm anti-tank gun Pak 38. This is how the anti-tank gun turned out 7.5 cm Pak 97/38.
The cannon's crane bolt provided a relatively high rate of fire - up to 14 rounds per minute. The Germans introduced their caliber armor-piercing projectile and three types of cumulative projectiles into the gun ammunition, only French high-explosive fragmentation projectiles were used.
An armor-piercing projectile with an initial flight speed of 570 m / s, along the normal, at a distance of 1000 meters, pierced -58 mm armor, cumulative, at an angle of 60 degrees - 60 mm armor.
In 1942. the Wehrmacht received 2854 units of 7, 5-cm Pak 97/38 cannons, and the next year 858 more. the Germans made a small number of anti-tank installations, superimposing the rotating part of the 7, 5 cm Pak 97/40 on the chassis of the captured Soviet T-26 tank.
