Grenade Launcher 36
| Grenade Launcher 36 | |
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| General Information | |
| Military designation: | Grenade Launcher 36 |
| Manufacturer country: | German Empire |
| Developer / Manufacturer: | Rheinmetall, Düsseldorf |
| Development year: | 1934/35 |
| Production time: | 1936 to 1941 |
| Team: | 2 soldiers |
| Technical specifications | |
| Pipe length: | 0.465 m |
| Caliber : |
50 mm |
| Cadence : | 36 rounds / min |
| Elevation range: | 42 ° - 85 degrees |
| Side straightening area: | 17 ° |
The Grenade Launcher 36 was a grenade launcher used by the German Wehrmacht during World War II .
history
Development of the grenade launcher 36 began in 1934 at Rheinmetall in Düsseldorf . In 1936 it was introduced to the army as a light grenade launcher. In 1941 production was stopped because the performance in terms of firing range and projectile effectiveness was considered too low. From 1942 he was decommissioned at the front, but remained in service with occupation troops until 1945.
service
The two-part lightweight grenade launcher 36 was a muzzle-loader with smooth tube which was placed in Instellunggehen to the small bottom plate. The thrower was brought roughly in the direction of fire using a white line on the barrel. A fine adjustment was made by the elevation and directional drives, while a circular vial eliminated canting. The distances were marked as graduations on the left side of the holder. The lightweight grenade launcher was eingefluchtet with dents and either the destination approach shot or eingegabelt with some shots.
This happened as follows: Rifleman 1 “ready to fire”, squad leader: “350 (meters) one shot-fire free!”; Sagittarius 1: "Fired". Squad leader: "40 to the right - 50 shorter - one shot - fire free!"; Sagittarius 1 : "Fired"
ammunition
For the grenade launcher 36 there were only 0.9 kilograms of high explosive shells with an impact fuse . The HE grenades flew up to 200 meters with a flight time of 13 seconds and then distributed splinters within a radius of 20-30 meters when they hit the target. The life of a tube was approximately 20,000 to 25,000 rounds.
commitment
The light grenade launcher squad with troop leader, Rifle 1 and Rifle 2 was in every rifle platoon of the infantry and rifle companies (motorized) until 1941 . In action, the squad leader carried three straightening rods and an ammunition box with ten high explosive shells, shooter 1 carried the base plate and shooter 2 the barrel. In addition, the gunmen carried two ammunition boxes by hand.
References
literature
- Terry Gander, Peter Chamberlain: Encyclopedia of German Weapons 1939-1945 , Motorbuchverlag, ISBN 3-613-02481-0 .
- Alex Buchner: The manual of the German infantry 1939-1945 , Dörfler Zeitgeschichte, ISBN 3-89555-041-8 .
