Armour piercing Ammunition

[David W]

Thanks Christian.

That answers all my questions regarding dates.

Now I need to know rough quantities. If not production quantities, then just what proportion of each type was carried in each tank/anti tank gun in the field.

[David W]

Which judging by the lack of responses, may be asking too much?

[Christian Ankerstjerne]

Sadly, I lost a lot of data in a harddrive crash, which means I have to start over on compiling the data. This takes a long time (we're talking over 20 000 spreadsheet cells), and I don't really know when I'll be done.

[David W]

I'm so sorry for you, that must be a real blow.
It is something that I too live in fear of, as I have only quite recently gone away 100% from paper.

Best of luck in re-compiling. Please don't bother yourself with my request under your present circumstances.

[Christian Ankerstjerne]

Thank you.

I'm still interested in when each type was available, but appreciate the workload that would be for you in this format.

I was just notified that those are the numbers for November 1943, not 1942; sorry about the mix-up.

[Yoozername]

8,8 cm R Pz B: 3.7

I would take this to be the Puppchen ammunition then? By November 1943, this weapon was fielded. Seems a very small amount of ammunition.

[Christian Ankerstjerne]

No, that's the Panzerschreck. According to Überblick über den Rüstungsstand des Heeres for ammunition from November 1944, the Feldzeuginspektion reported the following inventories for the first of each month the 8,8 cm R. W. 43 (Puppschen) (in thousands):

1943-12: 0.0
1944-01: 0.4
1944-02: 0.4
1944-03: 7.6
1944-04: 9.4
1944-05: 15.4
1944-06: 10.4
1944-07: 13.1
1944-08: 25.3

Also, besides one being lost in December 1943, there weren't any frontline Puppchen losses recorded until May 1944.

[Yoozername]

the 8,8cm Raketen panzergranate 4312 fur 8,8cm RW.43 (Puppchen)
the 8,8cm Raketen panzerbuechsgranate 4332 fur R.Pz.B 54/1 Panzerschreck (Ohfenrohr)

[Christian Ankerstjerne]

the 8,8cm Raketen panzergranate 4312 fur 8,8cm RW.43 (Puppchen)
the 8,8cm Raketen panzerbuechsgranate 4332 fur R.Pz.B 54/1 Panzerschreck (Ohfenrohr)

Huh?

Anyway, the ammunition isn't mentioned by the ammunition's, but rather the launcher's, name in the reports.

[Yoozername]

I was just posting the actual ammo names and weapons as I know it.

I have often read that the puppchen preceded the panzershreck as far as being in design etc. The advent of the US bazooka was a 'Ahah!' moment for the rocket genius' in the Third Reich. They then took the explosive part of the Puppchen 'round' and modified it into a rocket.

But it seems that even with the large orders for Puppchen, that Panzershrecks were actually favored and perhaps more common. There are photos of the Soviets with dozens of puppchens. Some sources claim that the ammo was rare. There are photos of US troops puzzling over the weapon and holding panzershreck ammunition!