martin goddard | 10 Jun 2017 4:06 a.m. PST |
I am asking here if anyone knows anything about the smoke and/or HE capability of this little gun(PAK 36)? Thanks in advance. |
Andy ONeill | 10 Jun 2017 4:42 a.m. PST |
The he round sprgr18 was pretty feeble. No smoke. |
Jeff Ewing | 10 Jun 2017 6:17 a.m. PST |
The he round sprgr18 was pretty feeble. And yet every german account mention lavish usee of HE in support of infantry. |
7dot62mm | 10 Jun 2017 6:49 a.m. PST |
The 37mm HE round weighed about 0.6 kilos and I don't immediately have information on the amount of explosive filler (which Andy, above, would call feeble). However the usefulness of a 37mm caliber anti-tank gun in direct fire mode does not really depend on just the amount of metal and explosives in the round itself but also on its accuracy and rate of fire. And the 37mm PAK excelled in both. Accounts of combat seem to suggest the 37mm gun was very useful also as an anti-personnel weapon. |
martin goddard | 10 Jun 2017 7:13 a.m. PST |
That is very helpful indeed. This TMP thing is very good Bill! thanks again
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christot | 10 Jun 2017 1:11 p.m. PST |
The Russians used the similarly feeble 45mm ATG for infantry HE support throughout the war. Worked for them. |
hocklermp5 | 10 Jun 2017 1:34 p.m. PST |
US in the Pacific used the 37mm for infantry support clear through the war. USMC on Guadalcanal used it and I have a pic of it still in use on Iwo Jima. It had a very useful canister round. |
Wolfhag | 10 Jun 2017 4:45 p.m. PST |
In the Pacific the 37mm could put HE rounds through the pillbox slits. Wolfhag |
Sundance | 10 Jun 2017 5:29 p.m. PST |
In the Pacific, though, the US had a canister round – not just HE. |
Martin Rapier | 10 Jun 2017 11:58 p.m. PST |
Small calibre HE is quite useful when engaging soft point targets (like dug in machine guns). You wouldn't use it for an artillery barrage. The WW1 French 37mm trench gun is one of earliest modern small calibre infantry guns. |
GarrisonMiniatures | 11 Jun 2017 4:50 a.m. PST |
'Lavish use of HE' could also include mortars? Or was the comment specific to the 37mm? |
martin goddard | 11 Jun 2017 5:40 a.m. PST |
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zoneofcontrol | 11 Jun 2017 8:53 a.m. PST |
To carry on from 7dot62mm above, I always thought of the PaK 36 in the halftrack as a way to engage light vehicles and also infantry obstacles. Being direct fire it could be fired at a specific target for a kill shot rather than just into the vicinity for suppression or collateral damage. |
Mserafin | 12 Jun 2017 1:06 p.m. PST |
I read a memoir of a German AT gunner. He writes about having to use anti- personnel rounds after they ran out of HE. Does anyone know what these might be? The U. S. 37mm had cannister, and it was basically the same gun as the German one, so might the German anti-personnel round also have been cannister? |
Hornswoggler | 13 Jun 2017 7:02 p.m. PST |
He writes about having to use anti- personnel rounds after they ran out of HE. Does anyone know what these might be? I can't find anything in my references (Hogg et al) that say the 3.7cm PaK ever had anything other than AP, APCR, HE and the over-calibre Stielgranate. Interesting to know the date of this memoir and whether it is in German or a (mis-)translation? |