5 cm PaK 38

5 cm PaK 38
General Information
Military designation:	5 cm PaK 38
Manufacturer country:	German Empire
Developer / Manufacturer:	Rheinmetall-Borsig
Development year:	1937 to 1939
Production time:	1939 to 1944
Number of pieces:	9568
Weapon Category:	Anti-tank gun
Team:	5 soldiers
Technical specifications
Overall length:	4.75 m
Pipe length:	2.975 m
Caliber :	5 cm
Caliber length :	L / 60
Cadence :	15 rounds / min
Elevation range:	–8 ° to +27 degrees
Side straightening area:	65 °

PaK 38 in the Musée des Blindés in Saumur, France

Sd.Kfz. 10 with PaK 38

The 5-cm-PaK 38 was an anti-tank gun ( PaK , PAK or Pak for short ) of the German Wehrmacht with a caliber length of L / 60, which was mainly used in direct fire fighting by the tank destroyer troops against armored combat vehicles. The equivalent to this standard weapon system as a turret cannon in armored vehicles or battle tanks was the largely identical combat vehicle cannon 5 cm KwK 39 L / 60 .

Development and production

The 5 cm PaK 38 has been developed by Rheinmetall-Borsig since 1937 and delivered to the troops since April 1940. It was the successor to the 3.7 cm PaK 36 and was later supplemented by the 7.5 cm PaK 40 . A total of around 9,568 PaK 38 were produced. The production price for 1,800 working hours was 10,600 Reichsmarks .

description

The 5 cm PaK 38 had a spreader carriage with two tubular spars and a protective shield of two armor plates, each 25 mm apart, each 4 mm thick. The ZF 3 × 8 ° telescopic sight served as the target optics . The life of a tube was approximately 4000 to 5000 shots.

ammunition

5 cm PaK 38	Tank shell 39	Panzer Grenade 40 (hard core)	Stick grenade 42	HE grenade
Weight	2.25 kg	0.85 kg	13.5 kg	1.96 kg
Muzzle velocity	823 m / s	1198 m / s	160 m / s	549 m / s
Penetration at a 30 ° angle of incidence
from a distance of 500 m	59 mm	72 mm	180 mm
from a distance of 1000 m	48 mm	38 mm
Penetration at an angle of incidence of 60 °
from a distance of 0 m	73 mm	143 mm
from a distance of 250 m	67 mm	109 mm
from a distance of 500 m	61 mm	86 mm	180 mm
from a distance of 750 m	56 mm	69 mm
from a distance of 1000 m	50 mm	55 mm
from a distance of 1250 m	45 mm	44 mm
from a distance of 1500 m	40 mm
Penetration at 90 ° angle of incidence
from a distance of 0 m	99 mm	165 mm
from a distance of 250 m	88 mm	141 mm
from a distance of 500 m	78 mm	120 mm	180 mm
from a distance of 750 m	69 mm	101 mm
from a distance of 1000 m	61 mm	84 mm
from a distance of 1250 m	53 mm	70 mm
from a distance of 1500 m	47 mm

The fragmentation effect of the high-explosive grenade reached up to 13 meters to the side of the impact and up to 8 meters to the front.

commitment

PaK 38 in France in 1943

The 5 cm PaK 38 was introduced to the Wehrmacht in late 1940. When the Germans were confronted with strong Soviet tanks in 1941, they were increasingly supplied with the 40 tank grenade with a tungsten core in order to be able to fight T-34 and KW-1 . When supplies of tungsten ran out in 1943, the 5 cm PaK 38 lost its effectiveness as an anti-tank weapon. Although it was intended to be replaced by other anti-tank guns, it remained in service until the end of the war.

literature

• Gander, Terry & Chamberlain, Peter: Enzyklopädie deutscher Waffen 1939-1945 , Motorbuch Verlag, 1st edition, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 978-3-613-02481-6 .

Web links

Commons : 5 cm PaK 38  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Werner Haupt , anti-tank guns: 3.7 cm, 5.0 cm, 7.5 cm, 8.8 cm anti-tank guns without self-propelled guns; 1934-1945 , Podzun-Pallas Verlag, 1989, page 25, ISBN 978-3-7909-0360-7 .