In 1941, the German infantry found that its 3.7 cm Pak 36 anti-tank gun was practically useless against Soviet T-34 tanks
the Pak could only announce its presence by bouncing rounds harmlessly off the tank’s rugged armor. Accordingly the Germans nicknamed it Heeresanklopfgerät — literally, “army door-knocking device.”
Not a bad colorization of old photo, made in 1940 in Belgium. Interesting is that Heer perfectly know that Pak 36 will be a transitional weapon, effective in 30's and in some role in 40's but with appearing of better armored vehicles it need to be replaced by something better as soon as possible. Work on Pak 37 (with 47mm caliber) in 1935 was not accepted by Heer so they move in to higher, 50 mm caliber and that in form of pretty good Pak 38 was accepted and replaced Pak 36 on production lines in 1939. But accepting to production and do produce a proper number are two things, that's why there was still a lot of Pak 36 in first line service when Operation Barbarossa take place. As majority of Soviet tank force was still based on BT and T-26 series Pak 36 was still effective but with appearing of more and more T-34 and KV-1 gun became hopeless outmatched by armor protection of those two. Happily for Germans Pak 38 and Pak 40 that start to appear in large number again put a balance on battlefield. Still large number of Pak 36 stay in service but mostly relegated to secondary role.
Not a bad colorization of old photo, made in 1940 in Belgium. Interesting is that Heer perfectly know that Pak 36 will be a transitional weapon, effective in 30's and in some role in 40's but with appearing of better armored vehicles it need to be replaced by something better as soon as possible. Work on Pak 37 (with 47mm caliber) in 1935 was not accepted by Heer so they move in to higher, 50 mm caliber and that in form of pretty good Pak 38 was accepted and replaced Pak 36 on production lines in 1939. But accepting to production and do produce a proper number are two things, that's why there was still a lot of Pak 36 in first line service when Operation Barbarossa take place. As majority of Soviet tank force was still based on BT and T-26 series Pak 36 was still effective but with appearing of more and more T-34 and KV-1 gun became hopeless outmatched by armor protection of those two. Happily for Germans Pak 38 and Pak 40 that start to appear in large number again put a balance on battlefield. Still large number of Pak 36 stay in service but mostly relegated to secondary role.
ReplyDeletewow, thanks for the info!
Delete