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German Pak 37 and Soviet 45 mm AT gun

Discussion in 'Weapons & Technology in WWII' started by Riter, Mar 21, 2022.

  1. Riter

    Riter Well-Known Member

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    Was this gun developed during the period of Reichswehr and Soviet cooperation? I ask b/c they look alike.
     
  2. Owen

    Owen O

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  3. tom!

    tom! recruit

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    Hi.

    The name of the german weapon in official Wehrmacht papers until 1945 was "3.7 cm Pak" or "3,7 cm Pak Rheinmetall" (interestingly no year designation...). The development started secretly as early as 1920 at Rheinmetall. Until 1926 the designation was "Tak Fischer" (name of one of the designers) and in 1926 it became 3,7 cm Tak (Tank-Abwehr-Kanone). In 1930 the guns were renamed "3,7 cm Pak" (Panzer-Abwehr-Kanone = Anti-tank gun). In 1942 the short designation abbrevation Pak was officially renamed in "Panjzerjägerkanone" = Tankhunter gun. The 3,7 cm Tak had wooden wheels for horse-drawn transport only. In 1929 the later steel wheels for both horse-drawn and motorised transport were developed. in 1930 the Soviet Union purchased data for the gun and started production (idk if they bougt a licence or just copied them from the data). On these the steel wheels were replaced by bicycle-style wire wheels for better mobility in mud and snow. In 1933 the production was changed to the 45 mm version (All taken from the german magazine series "Waffen Revue" by Karl Pawlas).

    Japan captured up to 100 3,7 cm Pak (both german and soviet versions) after 1936 in China and introduced them officially in 1937 as "Type 97 3,7 cm rapid-fire Infantry Gun" (official japanese designation name for at-guns until 1942) but with an additional small wheel to be mounted under the rear lafette during movement for better mobility. (various sorces including japanese enthusiasts)

    Yours

    tom! ;)
     

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