3.7 cm PaK 36

3.7 cm PaK 36
General Information
Military designation:	3.7 cm PaK 35/36
Manufacturer country:	German Empire
Developer / Manufacturer:	Rheinmetall
Number of pieces:	14459
Weapon Category:	Anti-tank gun
Team:	5 soldiers
Technical specifications
Overall length:	3.40 m
Pipe length:	1.66 m
Caliber :	3.7 cm
Caliber length :	L / 45
Cadence :	16 rounds / min
Elevation range:	−5 ° to +25 degrees
Side straightening area:	60 °

The 3.7 cm PaK 36 was an anti-tank gun used by the German Wehrmacht in World War II and was also known as the “ anti- tank knocking device” because of its low penetration.

description

The 3.7 cm PaK 36 had a spreader carriage with two tubular spars and a small protective shield, 5 mm thick, sloping backwards. The hydropneumatic return and retrieval system was located in the pipe cradle . The barrel did not have a muzzle brake . The two wheels had rubber tires and had individual air chambers so that they could not be easily shot. Due to its low weight, it could be easily turned and moved on short stretches in a team train.

history

The 3.7 cm PaK 36 was developed since 1925 and prototypes with wire wheels for horse pulling were tested as early as 1928. In 1934 the design was converted to a motorized train. Up until 1937, the weapon and mount were sufficient to penetrate all armored vehicles at a distance of 1,000 m. This was a distance at which the small cannon with the operating crew kneeling and lying behind it and a slight muzzle flash could hardly be seen by the tank crews when it was well camouflaged. Despite the much weaker HE shell, the light PaK was also often used to support infantry against infantry with light cover. The high muzzle velocity enabled a very elongated trajectory and easy aiming in a direct shot. In this way, the weapons could also be used in the normal case of the absence of enemy armored vehicles.

These qualities inspired numerous similar gun designs in Sweden, Poland, Belgium, the United States and Czechoslovakia . In the Soviet Union from 1937 to 1943 a version enlarged to 4.5 cm caliber as a 45 mm anti-tank gun M1937 was manufactured in over 37,000 copies. The mount was also used for the 4.2 cm light PaK 41 . After the 3.7 cm caliber was obsolete for anti-tank defense, after removing the weapons and sights, thousands of mounts of the 3.7 cm anti-tank guns were used for the 15 cm Nebelwerfer 41 or the 7.5 cm Infantry Gun 37 further.

production

The 3.7 cm PaK 36 was already available in 264 copies in the Reichswehr at the end of 1932. About 14,459 (of which 5,339 during the war) were produced. The production price for 900 hours of work was at times RM 5730  .

ammunition

PaK 36	Tank shell 39	Tank shell 40	Stick grenade 41	HE grenade
Weight	0.69 kg	0.35 kg	8.5 kg	0.65 kg
Muzzle velocity	760 m / s	1030 m / s	110 m / s	745 m / s
Penetration at an angle of incidence of 60 °
from a distance of 200 m	42 mm	61 mm	180 mm
from a distance of 500 m	36 mm	49 mm
Penetration at 90 ° angle of incidence
from a distance of 200 m	56 mm	72 mm	180 mm
from a distance of 500 m	48 mm	58 mm

At the front, an ammunition supply of 120 tank shells 39, 30 tank shells 40 and 100 HE shells were carried for a gun.

commitment

The gun was first used in the Spanish Civil War. At the beginning of the Second World War it served as a model for the design of many anti-tank guns from other war powers. The barrel was the same as that of the main weapon of the German Panzer III , the KwK 36 L / 45 .

German soldiers with camouflaged PaK 36 in Belgium 1940

At the beginning of the war, the Wehrmacht was equipped with 11,200 PaK 36s , most of which were deployed in the 14th (anti-tank) companies of the infantry regiments. The PaK 36 was easy to move in the platoon and was easy to camouflage. However, the western campaign already showed - the number had meanwhile increased to 13,131 - that the anti-tank fighting capabilities of the anti-tank guns were no longer sufficient. With heavier tanks like the British Mk.II Matilda and the French Char B1 and Somua S-35 , almost no effect could be achieved. Only with lucky hits in the viewing slits of the tanks or against the drive was there a chance of fighting them. Therefore, anti-aircraft guns were used to fight tanks. The 3.7 cm PaK 36 was also given the derisive nicknames "Heeresanklopfgerät", " P anzer A nklopf K anone" or "Panzer-Knlopf-Gerät" from operating teams in the western campaign .

From mid-1940, the PaK 36 was therefore gradually replaced in the tank destroyer departments by the new 5 cm PaK 38 . The introduction of grenades with a tungsten core increased the penetration power of the PaK 36 , but the weapon was still not sufficiently effective against medium and heavy tanks, especially against the heavy battle tanks KW I and  II used on the Soviet side in the Russian campaign . Even against the modern Soviet T-34s , which later appeared in large numbers , it only achieved breakthroughs at a few weak points. The soldiers were therefore forced to attack this tank by shooting at the rear armor from close range. In this way, some kills were achieved, but there was also the risk that a second attempt would not be possible if it failed.

Northern France, soldiers with guns

In 1941, stick grenade 41 was developed, which could be attached to the gun barrel. It was an over-caliber shaped charge projectile with 2.3 kilograms of explosives stabilized by a tail unit . This grenade was in use from February 1942 and could penetrate armor up to 180 millimeters. The enemy vehicle had to come within 200 meters of the gun due to the low muzzle velocity and the resulting reduced range. This increased the firepower of this weapon and gained time for the new development of a better anti-tank weapon. The 3.7 cm Pak 36 remained in spite of its insufficient capacity to the end of the war as a support weapon in service.

The same mount was used for the 7.5 cm infantry gun 37 and the 4.2 cm light PaK 41 . Some guns were gradually installed on half- tracks such as the Zugführer vehicle (SPW 251/10) as a light anti-tank weapon, others were left to the allied armies of Finland, Romania and Slovakia . With the introduction of shaped charge projectiles in 1943, the weapon could again be used effectively up to a distance of 300 meters. The PaK 36 continued to be used by light infantry units such as paratroopers, mainly due to its low weight and great mobility.

Dropping a PaK 36 over Crete as part of Operation Merkur

Derivatives

The American 37 mm gun M3 is closely based on the 3.7 cm PaK 36 and the Soviet 45 mm anti-tank gun M1937 is an enlarged variant.

References

literature

• Terry Gander, Peter Chamberlain: Encyclopedia of German Weapons 1939-1945. Special edition, 2nd edition, Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-613-02481-0 , ( Motorbuch-Verlag special ).
• Manfred Stegmüller: Of flange bullets and tungsten cores. The development of high-speed ammunition for conical tubes by Dr. Hans Neufeldt and the Polte company, Magdeburg. Volume 5 of essays on history + technology, Verlag W. Sünkel, 2000, ISBN 978-3-930060-06-1 .

Web links

Commons : 3.7 cm PaK 36  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Ammunition data table

Individual evidence

1. ↑ SPIEGEL ONLINE: TANK HUNTING AT THE ZONE BORDER? - DER SPIEGEL 50/1966. Retrieved February 28, 2017 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Terry Gander, Peter Chamberlain: Encyclopedia of German Weapons 1939-1945. P. 111.