7.5 cm KwK 40

7.5 cm KwK 40
7.5 cm KwK 40 L / 43 on the pulley
General Information
Military designation:	75 mm chariot gun
Manufacturer country:	German Empire
Developer / Manufacturer:	Rheinmetall - Borsig
Production time:	1940 to 1945
Weapon Category:	cannon
Technical specifications
Pipe length:	3,225 or 3,600 mm
Caliber :	75 mm
Caliber length :	L / 43 or L / 48
Side straightening area:	360 °

Grenade cartridge 75 × 495 mm R for KwK 40 / StuK 40

Sectional drawing 7.5 cm PzGr. 39

The 7.5 cm KwK 40 was a versatile combat vehicle cannon ( KwK for short ) that was installed with the L / 43 caliber as the main armament / turret cannon in the medium Panzerkampfwagen Panzer IV (e.g. Ausf. F), but also in the Sturmgeschütz III (e.g. Ausf. G) with the caliber length L / 48 as an assault cannon ( StuK for short ) was used in World War II .

History and commitment

A chariot gun that was built into a so-called assault gun was called an assault gun . The 7.5 cm KwK 40 also appeared as a 7.5 cm StuK 40 in order to confuse the enemies.

The development of this weapon is essentially based on the tried and tested anti-tank gun 7.5 cm PaK 40 . Due to the limited storage space for the ammunition in the combat vehicle, the shorter 75 × 495 mm R cartridge was used instead of the 75 × 714 mm R PaK grenade cartridge that is common with the 7.5 cm PaK 40. The cannon was manufactured in caliber lengths L / 43 (barrel length 3,225 mm) or L / 48 (barrel length 3,600 mm). Together with the PaK 40, the KwK 40 or StuK 40 belonged to the most frequently used weapons for fighting armored targets of the German armed forces.

The L / 43 version was the main weapon of the Panzer IV from April 1942 to June 1943. There, the approximately 225 F2 cannons that were delivered were equipped with a muzzle brake. Until 1945 there were always changes to increase combat value.

Muzzle brake PaK 40 / KwK 40 (detailed view):

• 

  Muzzle brake (double, spherical) on a 7.5 cm PaK 40 Finnish Infantry Museum in Mikkeli

• 

  Muzzle brake (double, spherical) on a 7.5 cm KwK 40 Deutsches Panzermuseum Munster

Exact information about equipment variants with the two different caliber lengths is hardly comprehensible today, because the accessible sources sometimes differ. Even within individual design variants of special vehicles, there were deviations due to modernization and retrofitting. For example, only around 120 StG III / version F were equipped with the caliber length L / 43; the remaining 246 weapon systems were already in use with L / 48. The StG III / versions F / 8 and G were also equipped with the L / 48 cannon. The 780 original units of the Jagdpanzer IV were armed with the PaK 39 version L / 48; the later tank destroyers IV / 70 carried the StuK 42 L / 70.

The 375 mm longer tube of the L / 48 version had better performance in fighting armored targets, which is why this weapon became standard equipment from around 1942 until the end of the war. The cannon had an electric fire mechanism with a semi-automatic shutter . The cartridge ammunition used until the end of the war continued to have the caliber 75 × 495 mm R (R = rim cartridge).

Carrier platforms of the L / 48 version from June 1942 to April 1945

• 6,000 units of Panzer IV versions G, H, J out of a total of 8,800 units of Panzer IV
• 7,720 units StG III version G; 246 copy F; 250 version F / 8
• 1,139 units of StuG IV (complete equipment here)
• 780 units Jagdpanzer IV

Types of ammunition

The following types of ammunition could essentially be fired with this cannon using the 75 × 495 mm rim cartridge.

• K.Gr.rot.Pz. - Cannon grenade red (tracer) tank (breaking with protective cap)
• PzGr. 39 - Grenade cartridge 1939 with tank shell armor-piercing, with cap and ballistic hood - projectile highly explosive
• PzGr. 40 - Grenade cartridge 1940 with tank shell (impact projectile, hard core ammunition or hard core projectile) for combat vehicle cannon 1940
• Size 38HL / B - 1938 grenade cartridge with shaped charge, version B for combat vehicle cannon 1940
• Size 38HL / C - 1938 grenade cartridge with shaped charge, version C for combat vehicle cannon 1940
• 7.5 cm SprGr. 34 - 7.5 cm grenade cartridge with high explosive grenade 1934 (with high explosive explosive device - HE) for combat vehicle cannon caliber length L / 48

Average penetration force against homogeneous, rolled armored steel plates at an angle of impact of 30 ° to the vertical of the armored vehicle.

different types of ammunition and penetration

Chariot cannon		Type of ammunition (projectile)	Muzzle velocity () ${\displaystyle v_{0}}$	Penetration after ...
designation	Pipe length			100 m	500 m	1000 m	1500 m	2000 m
7.5 cm KwK 37 L / 24	1,800 mm	PzGr. 39/43	385 m / s	41 mm	39 mm	35 mm	33 mm	30 mm
7.5 cm KwK 40 L / 43	3,225 mm	PzGr. 39	740 m / s	99 mm	91 mm	82 mm	72 mm	63 mm
7.5 cm KwK 40 L / 48	3,600 mm	PzGr. 39	790 m / s	106 mm	96 mm	85 mm	74 mm	64 mm

Carrier platforms KwK or PaK / StuK design

L / 43

• Sd.Kfz.161 / 1 Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf. F2 / G
• Sd.Kfz.142/1 Sturmgeschütz III (StuG III) Ausf. F StuK 40

• 

  Panzer IV / F2 with KwK 40
• 

  StuG III / F with StuK 40

L / 48

• Sd.Kfz.161 / 2 Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf. G (only last Ausf. G.)
• Sd.Kfz.161 / 2 Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf. H / J
• Sd.Kfz.142/1 Sturmgeschütz III (StuG III) Ausf. F / 8 StuK 40
• Sd.Kfz.142/2 Sturmgeschütz III (StuG III) Ausf. G StuK 40 with Saukopfblende
• Sd.Kfz.162 Jagdpanzer IV PaK 39
• Sd.Kfz.167 Sturmgeschütz IV (StuG IV) StuK 40

• 

  Panzer IV / F with KwK 40
• 

  StuG III / G with StuK 40
• 

  StuG III Ausf. G
• 

  StuG III Ausf. F / 8 (Sd.Kfz.142/1)
• 

  Sd.Kfz.167 Sturmgeschütz IV (StuG IV) StuK 40
• 

  Sd.Kfz. 162 with PaK 39

See also

• List of special vehicles of the Wehrmacht
• List of tracked vehicles of the Wehrmacht

literature

• Wolfgang Fleischer (Ed.): The German assault guns. 1935-1945 . With the collaboration of Richard Eiermann. Podzun-Pallas, Wölfersheim-Berstadt 1996, ISBN 3-7909-0588-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 75 mm Caliber Cartridges ( Memento from November 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Armor Penetration Table. Retrieved February 14, 2020 .