Grenade Launcher 34
| Grenade Launcher 34 | |
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| General Information | |
| Military designation: | Grenade Launcher 34 |
| Manufacturer country: | German Empire |
| Developer / Manufacturer: | Rheinmetall |
| Development year: | 1932/1933 |
| Production time: | 1934 to 1945 |
| Team: | 3 soldiers |
| Technical specifications | |
| Pipe length: | 1.14 m |
| Caliber : |
8.14 cm |
| Caliber length : | L / 14.1 |
| Cadence : | 15 to 25 rounds / min |
| Elevation range: | 45-90 degrees |
| Side straightening area: | 10-23 ° |
The grenade launcher 34 was a standard grenade launcher of the German Wehrmacht in World War II .
history
The development of the GrW 34 began in 1932 at Rheinmetall in Düsseldorf and ended in 1934 with its introduction to the army as a heavy (later medium) grenade launcher. Other manufacturers were Gellnow in Oberdorla , Ruhrstahl AG in Hattingen and the Neuhoffnungshütte in Sinn . From 1940, the short 8 cm grenade launcher 42 was developed from the GrW 34 .
After the end of the war, the thrower was used for training by the GDR's main training administration , a forerunner of the Barracked People's Police . On November 15, 1950, it had 79 grenade launchers 34 in its inventory. By 1952 they were all weeded out.
service
The grenade launcher consisted of three individual parts: tube with locking piece, base plate and bipod with bracket and sliding piece with spindle nut, which could be assembled into a ready-to-fire launcher within three minutes. Firing was carried out in a simple manner through a bolt at the inner end of the barrel, into which the loader let the armed grenade slide from above. The heavy grenade launcher was a muzzle loader , like the light grenade launcher 36 . In front of the effective fire, the launcher had to be shot down with one or two grenades, depending on the surface, so that the base plate was stable. The shooting in was followed by the shooting in .
ammunition
For the GrW 34 , there were HE shells and smoke shells. The HE shells with a weight of 3.5 kilograms had a flight time of 26 seconds. As a result, with a trained operator, there were about six to seven grenades in flight at the same time, which then fell on the target within half a minute. When it hit the target, splinters were distributed within a radius of 30 meters. The life of a tube was approximately 16,000 to 20,000 rounds.
In total there was the following ammunition for the thrower:
- 8 cm thrown grenade 34
- 8 cm thrown grenade 34 Kh
- 8 cm throw grenade 34 ex
- 8 cm thrown grenade 38
- 8 cm throwing grenade 38 Deut
- 8 cm thrown grenade 39
- 8 cm thrown grenade 40
commitment
Six grenade launchers formed a grenade launcher platoon in the machine gun companies of the infantry battalions and rifle battalions (motorized).
Operation with grenade launcher and ammunition boxes
Grenade launcher in firing position
The HE shell slides into the launch tube
References
literature
- Terry Gander, Peter Chamberlain: Encyclopedia of German Weapons 1939-1945 . Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-613-02481-6 .
- Alex Buchner: The manual of the German infantry 1939-1945. Dörfler Zeitgeschichte, Utting 2001, ISBN 3-89555-041-8 .
