3.7cm TAK Rheinmetall

[dibo]

Does anoyne have some info on this WW1 anti-tank gun?
Was it supplied to A-H, the Ottoman empire or Bulgaria?

[Peter H]

http://forum.axishistory.com/files/tak_111.jpg

37mm Tankabwehrkanone(TAK).

From Herbert Jäger's German Artillery of World War One,page 147,ISBN 1-86126-403-8.An excellent book.

Jäger comments that 600 were supplied to formations on the Western front,September-November 1918.None were supplied to other Central Powers.If I'm correct no Allied tanks were sent to the Macedonian Front anyway.

[3.Jäger Rgt.]

There is one in the collection of the Bavarian Army Museum at Ingolstadt. I've got a picture that I took of it somewhere.

Chip

[bob lembke]

Guys;

Note that the crew serving the gun seem to mostly be wearing the Pionier black shoulder straps. As you may know, the Pioniere were used to test all sorts of new equipment, including even artillery, sometimes. For example, the Sturm=Bataillon Nr. 5 (Rohr) was originally formed (the predecessor unit) in 1915 to test a Krupp 37 mm infantry gun and an improved gun shield.

Bob Lembke

[Peter H]

Bob,

I think this photo represents such a trial.


http://forum.axishistory.com/files/will_559.jpg

Regards,
Peter

[3.Jäger Rgt.]

They are not the same gun, right? That's no 37mm round in the second picture. Cool picture, by the way.

Chip

[bob lembke]

Chip;

I have seen the second picture before. I think it was the battery of Sturm=Bataillon Nr. 5 (Rohr) (80% certainty) and it probably was the last type of gun they used, a modified 105 mm howitzer. They used, I believe, six different types of infantry guns over the course of the war (1915 to 1918); this being the last, I think.

My father fought with them, as a Flammenwerfer=Traeger detailed to them, and the precision of these guns was the thing about the unit that he praised the most. He said: "Two, three shots, and the machine gun nest was blown to hell. Wonderful!" He loved fighting with them, they were completely reliable. Many of the other German troops would run away when they turned on the flame throwers.

Sturm=Bataillon Rohr was also a Pionier=Abteilung. I am sure you recognize the lanky guy, Kronprinz Wilhelm. Pop often caged cigarettes from him, according to both his oral history, and his Feldpost from Stenay-sur-Meuse. (The memoirs of the KP mention how he had an aide loaded down with 10 cigarette packs of cigarettes so he could give them to the troops when chatting them up. Other sources state how, at least with elite units, he remembered the names of Other Ranks, and chatted them up in a very friendly and personal way.)

Bob Lembke

[3.Jäger Rgt.]

Bob,

I'm no expert on German field guns, but I have a collection of German cartridge cases and this one in the second picture is not a 10.5cm round in my estimation. A round of that size would more likely be for a small howizer. Judging from the size, I would say it is 7.7cm or smaller.

I have the unit history of the Infanterie=Geschütz=Batterie Nr.2 (bayr.) and they started off with captured Russian guns, which were replaced in the summer of 1917 by new "Infanterie=Geschütz L20" guns.

Chip

[bob lembke]

Chip;

As for the infantry guns of the S=B Rohr, the predecessor unit was formed to test a 37 mm infantry gun designed by Krupp. It was not successful, according to one account because it had too much muzzle flash. (An odd comment.)

Then they were equipped with captured Russian fortification guns, 76.4 mm guns (probably exactly 3"). These were light, handy guns which were intended to have on the ramparts of the great Russian forts, to be wheeled about to fire in enfalade down the moat against storming enemy infantry. (During the war several great Russian forts were captured, and vast amounts of artillery captured, and a small amount of these guns were taken into German service. Some were used at Verdun, something like 10 cm long guns, if memory serves.) These rampart guns proved quite suitable, and I believe were subjected to two major improvements after a while; boring out to 77 mm to use standard German ammunition, and being fitted with German optical sights.

At some point they lost these guns. One account said that they were forced to donate them to a Bulgarian storm unit that the Germans had been training. Then, I think, they got mountain howitzers. I bet that these guns are the guns in the neat picture. I was trying to guess the caliber of the shells in the pic, and they seem big for 77 mm, and a bit small fior 105 mm. I don't know a lot about German mountain howitzers, and don't know the caliber.

Finally, they did end up with modified 105 mm howitzers. The major modification they made to both the 77 mm field gun and the 105 mm howitzer, and possibly the Russian guns, was to cut down the wheels so that they could be man-handled over the battlefield.

The guns in the picture seem smaller than 105 mm howitzers, even if modified. Any input from people is welcome.

I have the history of the S=B Rohr, which was written by the Adjutant, Graf von Schwerin, who was an artilleryman. But I have not read it systematically. He describes the artillery unit in the battalion as "Howitzer Battery". Incidentally, he seems to rarely mention the flame throwers. Many officers did not like the weapon and refused to write about them in memoirs, histories, etc.

Any comments on this welcome. I may seem authorative here, but I am flying by the seat of my pants.

Bob Lembke

[Peter H]

I think the model showed with the Kronprinz is the 1918 model 7.7cm Infantriegeschütz L/19.5.Note the long carriage on it,one characteristic of this upgrade.The swivel being held also has a spade attachment to provide more stability during firing.Only a handful of these were made(one battery). It had the shortened tube of a 7.7cm FK96 mounted on the carriage of a mountain howitzer.Also used as an anti-tank gun being supplied with armor-piercing shells.

Some details on the Austro-Hungarian Skoda 7.5cm Gebirgskanone M.15 also used by the Germans can be found here:

http://www.landships.freeservers.com/7. ... ne_m15.htm

And the Russian adapted German 7.62cm Infanteriegeschütz Krupp L/16.5:

http://www.landships.freeservers.com/ig ... pp_l16.htm

Details on the German 10.5cms as well:

http://www.landships.freeservers.com/Ge ... FH9809.htm

http://www.landships.freeservers.com/10 ... topage.htm

A good website!:

http://www.landships.freeservers.com/index.htm

[3.Jäger Rgt.]

Peter,

Thanks for the additional information. I agree with you regarding the identification of this photo with the crown prince. The rounds they are handling sure look like 7.7cm to me.

Chip

[guest]

"A good website!" not so "good" site!