Bofors 37mm PaK
| Bofors 37mm PaK | |
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| General Information | |
| Military designation: | Bofors 37 mm |
| Manufacturer country: | Sweden |
| Developer / Manufacturer: | Bofors |
| Development year: | 1934 |
| Start of production: | 1935 |
| Weapon Category: | Anti-tank gun |
| Technical specifications | |
| Overall length: | 3.04 m |
| Pipe length: | 45 caliber |
| Caliber : |
37 mm |
| Weight ready for use: | 370 kg |
| Cadence : | 12 rounds / min |
| Increase speed: | 10-25 ° / s |
| Furnishing | |
| Height: | 1.03 m |
| Width: | 1.09 m |
The Bofors 37mm gun was an anti-tank gun designed by the Swedish manufacturer Bofors in the early 1930s. The Bofors 37 mm was mainly used by the armies of many states at the beginning of the Second World War.
Development history
The PaK was originally developed by the Swedish manufacturer Bofors mainly for export purposes. The first prototype was made in 1932, but the development process continued until 1934. The Netherlands were the first to buy twelve in 1935, and many more orders followed later.
Licensed replicas were produced in Denmark , Finland , the Netherlands and Poland .
The barrel was a single block type with a semi-automatic collapsible breech and a small muzzle brake. It was mounted on a carriage that had metal suspensions and metal wheels with rubber tires. In order to provide the operating personnel with a little protection from firearms and projectile fragments, the cannon was equipped with a 5 mm thick metal shield.
User
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Denmark
- A version with a slightly stronger cartridge was made by the Danish state arsenal Hærens Vaabenarsenal and put into service as the 37 mm Fodfolkskanon m1937 . In 1945, upon their return, Danish troops brought back some Swedish models from 1938.
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Finland
- 114 pieces were bought as 37 PstK / 36 in 1938 and 1939, some of which were returned to Sweden in 1940. Furthermore, the Finnish armed forces received 42 Polish versions in 1940/41, which the Wehrmacht had captured during the attack on Poland and a total of 355 pieces were produced by the local producers Tampella and VTT ( Valtion Tykkitehdas - State Artillery Factory ) between 1939 and 1941. When the Winter War broke out in 1939, the Finnish Army had 98 units. The weapon remained on the inventory of the Finnish Army until 1986.
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German Empire
- Specimens captured during the attack on Poland were used as 3.7 cm PaK 36 (p) and the Danish specimens from the Weserüb company as 3.7 cm PaK 157 (d) .
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Netherlands
- 12 pieces were ordered from Bofors in 1935, and there was also a locally produced version.
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Poland
- The Polish army ordered 300 pieces as wz.36 , and several hundred more were produced by SMPzA ( Stowarzyszenie Mechaników Polski z Ameryki ) in Pruszków , some of which were exported and around 1,200 were available before the start of the attack on Poland. A tank variant with the designation wz.37 was built into the tanks 7TP (single tower), 9TP (prototype), 10TP (prototype) and TKS-D (prototype). 111 pieces were produced before the start of the war.
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Romania
- 556 of the earlier Polish PaKs were bought from the German Wehrmacht.
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Spain
- Some of the pieces were bought by Republicans during the Spanish Civil War.
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Sweden
- Put into service as a 37 mm infanterikanon m / 34 (infantry cannon model 1934), updated version in 1938 as 37 mm pansarvärnskanon m / 38 (PAH model 1938) and 37 mm pansarvärnskanon m / 38 F . The PaK was also used as a tank cannon for the 37 mm Kanon m / 38 stridsvagn and as armament for the light Landsverk L-60 tanks Strv m / 38 , Strv m / 39 , Strv m / 40 as well as for the Swedish version of the light Czech TNH with the name Strv m / 41 used.
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Turkey
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United Kingdom
- Some ordered by the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan Swedish m / 34 were as Ordonance QF 37 mm Mk I used.
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Soviet Union
- A few dozen of the Polish PaK fell into Soviet hands during the occupation of eastern Poland and were used from the end of 1941 to cover the acute shortage of PaK.
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Yugoslavia
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Combat missions
The Bofors cannon was first used in the Spanish Civil War, where it could easily penetrate the armor of the light tanks of the time.
The Polish models were first used during the German invasion of Poland . The Wołyńska Cavalry Brigade was able to defeat the German armored divisions with its Bofors cannons in one of the first battles of the war, the Battle of Mokra . At that time, the German tank weaponry consisted mainly of the light tanks I and II , which were vulnerable to the PaK, whereby the armor of the early models of the Panzer III and IV could be penetrated at a distance of 500 m. After the partition of Poland in 1939, most of the copies fell into German and Soviet hands.
Although only one Danish PaK was used during the Weser exercise , two tanks and the tracks of a third tank were destroyed before the crew was either dead or wounded. A German tank drove over the cannon and was destroyed. The PaK can now be seen at Tøjhusmuseet in Copenhagen .
During the Winter War, the Finnish PaKs were successfully used against the Soviet T-26 , T-28 and BT tanks . During the Continuation War, however, the inferiority to the T-34 and KW tanks became noticeable, which is why the cannon was only used for infantry support.
The cannon was also used to equip the British Army in North Africa to replace the PaK previously lost in the western campaign . The cannon was also carried portee - on the back seat of a vehicle.
Bofors cannons were also used by the German Reich, the Netherlands and the USSR during World War II , but there are no detailed reports on how they were used.
Specimen captured during the attack on Poland with associated ammunition tag.
Conclusion
At the time of its introduction, the Bofors-PaK was an efficient weapon capable of destroying tanks of the time. Its penetration performance, its low weight and the high rate of fire made it a popular anti-tank weapon in pre-war Europe. After the introduction of more heavily armored tank models in the early stages of World War II, the cannon, similar to the American 37mm M3 cannon and the German PaK 36, became obsolete.
ammunition
- Ammunition: armor piercing (AP) with glow trail
- (AP): 0.70 kg
- Penetration power: (AP shell, angle of impact 60 degrees):
- 300 yards (= 274.3 m): 40 mm
- 457 yards (= 417.9 m): 33 mm
- 600 yards (= 548.6 m): 30 mm
- 900 yards (= 822.9 m): 20 mm
- 1200 yards (= 1097.3 m): 15 mm
literature
- AB Shirokorad : The god of war of the Third Reich. - M. AST, 2002 (Широкорад А. Б. - Бог войны Третьего рейха. - М., ООО Издательство АСТ, 2002., ISBN 5-17-015302-3 )
