8.8 cm PaK 43

8.8 cm PaK 43
The 8.8 cm PaK 43/41 on the Eastern Front , 1943
General Information
Military designation:	8.8 cm PaK 43
Manufacturer country:	German Empire
Developer / Manufacturer:	Rheinmetall-Borsig F. Krupp AG Henschel & Sohn Eisenwerk Weserhütte
Production time:	1942 to 1945
Weapon Category:	Anti-tank gun
Team:	5
Technical specifications
Overall length:	9.20 m
Pipe length:	6.35 m
Caliber :	8.8 cm
Caliber length :	L / 71
Cadence :	6-10 rounds / min
Elevation range:	–8 ° to +40 degrees
Side straightening area:	360 °

The 8.8 cm PaK 43 was an anti-tank gun ( PaK for short ) of the German Wehrmacht with a caliber length of L / 71, which was mainly used in direct fire fighting by the tank destroyer troops against armored combat vehicles.

The equivalent to this weapon system as a turret cannon in an armored car or battle tank was the Kampfwagenkanone 8.8 cm KwK 43 , as well as the identical Panzerjäger cannon (short: PjK) 8.8 cm PjK 43 in the tank destroyer. On self-propelled guns (e.g .: Panzerjäger “Nashorn” ), the designation PaK was also possible despite being identical to the KwK / PjK version .

Development and production

Originally the gun was a competitive development of Krupp for later than 8.8cm Flak 41 became known anti-aircraft gun from Rheinmetall-Borsig , but this first elaboration was no consent. Only after the plans had been revised was the modified draft accepted by the Heereswaffenamt as an anti-tank weapon and put into production. The cannon was first used in the hornet tank destroyer in early 1943; Drawn guns were available from around mid-1943.

From May 1944, the PaK 43 was manufactured with a split barrel, but the weapons continued to have the same names. This measure made production much easier, as an undivided tube required a workpiece over six meters long. There were also differences in the structure, which simplified production: An undivided tube was weighed out with a counterweight made of lead and equipped with a 60 kg muzzle brake and a 5.1 liter tube return brake; the shutter was operated from the right side. The split tube was weighed by a spring, the 35 kg muzzle brake was an adaptation of the 7.5 cm PaK L / 70 with a tube return brake of six liters. The shutter was operated from the left.

2098 pieces of the PaK 43 and 1403 pieces of the PaK 43/41 were produced. Manufacturers were the company Henschel & Sohn in Kassel and the ironworks Weserhütte in Bad Oeynhausen .

description

The PaK 43 was available with an expanding carriage (as PaK 43/41 ) or with a cross carriage (as PaK 43 ), which enabled horizontal swiveling by 360 degrees. As PaK 43 it was used on the special trailer 204 , which consisted of two detachable single-axle trailers. As a result, they had a significantly lower profile than the 8.8 cm anti-aircraft guns, which greatly improved the camouflage option. The service life of a barrel was 2000 shots (1200 shots with PzGr. 39/43).

ammunition

PaK 43	39/43 tank shell	Panzerranate 40/43 (hard core)	HE grenade 43
Weight	10.2 kg	7.3 kg	9.4 kg
Muzzle velocity	1000 m / s	1130 m / s	750 m / s
Penetration at 30 ° NATO angle, corresponds to 60 ° impact angle
from a distance of 100 m	203 mm
from a distance of 500 m	182 mm	226 mm
from a distance of 1000 m	167 mm	192 mm
from a distance of 2000 m	139 mm	136 mm
Penetration at an angle of incidence of 60 °
from a distance of 0 m	198 mm	265 mm
from a distance of 500 m	182 mm	226 mm
from a distance of 1000 m	167 mm	192 mm
from a distance of 1500 m	153 mm	162 mm
from a distance of 2000 m	139 mm	136 mm
from a distance of 2500 m	127 mm	114 mm
Penetration at 90 ° angle of incidence
from a distance of 0 m	225 mm	311 mm
from a distance of 500 m	207 mm	274 mm
from a distance of 1000 m	190 mm	241 mm
from a distance of 1500 m	174 mm	211 mm
from a distance of 2000 m	159 mm	184 mm
from a distance of 2500 m	145 mm	159 mm

commitment

Along with the 12.8 cm PaK 44 , the weapon system was one of the most powerful anti-tank guns in the German Wehrmacht . Many armored vehicles had versions of this weapon under different names: Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger II (KwK 43 L / 71) , self-propelled gun Nashorn (PaK 43/1) as well as Jagdpanzer Ferdinand / Elefant (PaK 43/2) and Jagdpanther (PaK 43/3 and 43 / 4) . The production numbers of the PaK 43 were initially very low. That is why cannons were placed on the mounts of conventional howitzers in order to increase the number of weapons urgently needed at the front. This version, known as PaK 43/41 , was just as powerful, but more difficult to operate. The PaK 43/41 was nicknamed the “barn door” because of its height, but it was still powerful. Reports from the war time repeatedly speak of T-34 tanks that were hit by a frontal hit and tore off the entire tower. There are also reports of a PaK 43/41 that is said to have shot down six Soviet armored vehicles at a distance of 3500 meters. According to General Maximilian Fretter-Pico, however, it turned out to be too heavy for war of movement.

The Pak 43 was mainly used by heavy tank destroyer companies of the Army and the Waffen SS. These units comprised twelve guns and 192 men (2 officers, 27 NCOs and 162 ranks). Sd.Kfz acted as tractors for the guns . 6 or Sd.Kfz. 7 .

• 

  Pak 43 on cross mount in the United States Army Ordnance Museum

• 

  PaK 43/41 on spreading carriage

• 

  Jagdpanther in the Musée des Blindés , Saumur

• 

  Tiger II in the German Tank Museum Munster

literature

• Walter J. Spielberger: Heavy tank destroyers. 3. Edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-613-01517-X .
• Terry Gander, Peter Chamberlain: Encyclopedia of German Weapons 1939-1945. 1st edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-613-02481-0 .
• John Norris: 88 mm FlaK 18/36/37/41 and PaK 43 1936-45 , Osprey Publishing, 2002, ISBN 978-1-84176-341-5 . (50 pages online PDF) ( Memento from May 15, 2018 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

Commons : 8.8 cm PaK 43  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Werner Haupt : German Anti-Tank Guns. 37mm - 50mm - 75mm - 88mm PAK. 1935-1945 . Schiffer, West Chester, PA 1990, ISBN 0-88740-241-0 , pp. 40 .
2. ^ Maximilian Fretter-Pico : Abused Infantry. German infantry divisions in the Eastern European metropolitan area 1941-1944 . Aachen 2019, p. 136.
3. ^ German Army. Authorized Strength. Heavy Panzerjäger Company (12 88mm PAK 43 motZ) 1 June 1944. (PDF; 76 kB) Archived from the original on December 21, 2014 ; accessed on September 16, 2011 .