Pak 40: The best anti-tank gun of the Wehrmacht, which turned out to be unable to penetrate the armor of the IS-2

Panzerjägerkanone 40, or Pak 40 for short, was not accidentally considered the best anti-tank gun of the Wehrmacht. From January 1942, when the serial production of guns began, and until the end of World War II, the German industry produced more than 20 thousand units of this gun.

It is worth noting that the development of the Pak 40 started back in 1938. The designers initially planned to proportionally increase the 38-mm Pak 50 gun being tested at that time.

However, in the end, the gun had to be designed from scratch, since the aluminum components of the "smaller" gun failed from seriously increased loads.

As a result, the Rheinmetall-Borsig company created a 75-mm gun capable of hitting almost all Soviet Tanks. The only combat vehicle of the Red Army, whose frontal armor could not penetrate the Pak 40, was the IS-2.

The weight of the gun was 1,5 tons. The gun was delivered to the firing positions by a tractor. The speed of transportation along the highway reached 40 km / h.

The calculation of the Pak 40 consisted of 8 people. Rate of fire - up to 15 rounds per minute.

The use of 4 types of ammunition was envisaged: armor-piercing tracer sharp-headed with armor-piercing and ballistic tips, armor-piercing tracer simplified, high-explosive fragmentation and armor-piercing tracer sub-caliber. The latter, by the way, was discontinued in 1944 due to the high cost of tungsten (the core of the projectile).

Among the advantages of the Pak 40, one can single out: high accuracy, including moving targets, the ability to hit almost all Soviet armored vehicles, as well as the security of the calculation due to the upper shield of the gun, which consisted of 2 armor plates.

However, the Pak 40 also had disadvantages. In particular, jamming during automatic ejection of the sleeve, as well as failure of gears when dirt and dust get into them.

Comments

[Grossvater]

The ballistics and weight and dimensions of the Magpie surprisingly coincide with the ballistics of the original version of the F22.

[Alexey Alekseev_5]

hmm ... And in the memoirs of Heinz Guderian, he mentioned that he considers the Flak-18-Anti-aircraft gun to be the best anti-tank gun, by the way

[Kvakosavrus]

If we consider only technical possibilities, then yes.
But Flak is 8 tons and the cost of a couple of dozen Pak 40
for the role of the main anti-tank gun, it does not work at all

[vovochkarzhevsky]

So the Germans themselves understood that the anti-aircraft gun in the role of an anti-aircraft gun was a fierce ersatz. That's why they blinded the Pak 43, although mobility is also an ambush, the weight is more than four tons. BS-3 was even easier.

[DMFalke]

The purpose of the article is to show what good fellows we are, and what stupid Germans are. Therefore, a tank of almost 44 years of manufacture is taken and a gun of almost 42 years of manufacture is taken and compared. Neither pack 43 nor pack 44 is mentioned, since they do not fit the conditions of the problem.

[Illanatol]

Quote: Alexey Alekseev_5

hmm ... And in the memoirs of Heinz Guderian, he mentioned that he considers the Flak-18-Anti-aircraft gun to be the best anti-tank gun, by the way

He himself would be in the calculation of such a "better weapon". He would quickly end his mortal existence.

The survivability of anti-tank weapons is inversely proportional to the mass of anti-tank weapons and is directly proportional to its mobility on the battlefield. Large-caliber anti-aircraft guns have big problems with this. I will delicately keep silent about the high cost and complexity of manufacturing.

[TIR]

They did not write the initial speed of the shells. It seems to be above 1 thousand m / s. And this, together with good sights, made it possible to hit tanks without preemption. Very scary weapon

[sergej_84]

Pak 40: The best anti-tank gun of the Wehrmacht, which turned out to be unable to penetrate the armor of the IS-2

Already from the title it is clear that the authors of the opus are pulling an owl on the globe.
The 7,5-cm-Panzerabwehrkanone 40 (PaK 40) began to be developed in 1939, and the IS-2 tank in 1942. Given the availability of anti-tank guns such as the PaK 40.
With the same success, you can sculpt the video "M-42, which turned out to be unable to penetrate the armor of the "Tiger".
The question is - why pull this slag to the site?

[DMFalke]

Complete a plan to raise patriotism and get money.

If anything was worth smashing to smithereens, it was Pak 35, as the main regular anti-tank weapon at the beginning of the war.

[zenion]

Are there tanks today that cannot penetrate these guns, that today do not fire at something that does not exist?