PAK 38

[Brady]

I am looking for clarity on the following points ;

- The PAK 38 was accepted for service in ?
That is issued to units in ?

-The PAK 38 first saw action on... ?

[CNE503]

Hello,

Seventeen 5cm PaK 38 equipped frontline unit on July 1st, 1940, so this gun didn't see action during the Westfeldzug.
On June 1st, 1941, 1047 PaK 38 had been produced and more than 800 had been sent to frontline units. It was first use in combat condition during "Barbarossa", IMHO.

For the production, this source looks reliable: https://panzerworld.com/5-cm-pak-38

Regards,

CNE503

[Brady]

Than you

[schwarzermai]

Hello

the B.d.E.-order for "Truppenversuch" with 5 cm Pak 38 is from March 9th 1940

2 units are to be equiped with this new weapon:
1 (new created) Kompanie of Panzer-Lehr-Regiment
and 1 (converted into Pak 38) Kompanie of Panzer-Abwehr-Abteilung 20

the alloccation of Pak 38 was planned for early april 1940, the test phase was 4 weeks

@CNE503 - whats the source of your info "Seventeen 5cm PaK 38 equipped frontline unit on July 1st, 1940, so this gun didn't see action during the Westfeldzug."



Uwe

[CNE503]

Uwe,

I noted it in my personal files, and if I remember well it was mentioned in a French magazine (39/45 magazine). I guess that my translation wasn't accurate because I should have written that these 17 guns were issued to the Army on July 1st, 1940, not frontline units. I will look for this information but unfortunately, I'm not at home for... five months. This was not a German archival material though.

Concerning the first fight in which a PaK 38 was involved, it might have been during the Balkans campaign, but I have no proof of that. I don't think that there were PaK 38 in Northern Africa before June 1941. What do you think about it?

Regards,

CNE503

[Alanmccoubrey]

Hello,

Seventeen 5cm PaK 38 equipped frontline unit on July 1st, 1940, so this gun didn't see action during the Westfeldzug.
On June 1st, 1941, 1047 PaK 38 had been produced and more than 800 had been sent to frontline units. It was first use in combat condition during "Barbarossa", IMHO.

For the production, this source looks reliable: https://panzerworld.com/5-cm-pak-38

Regards,

CNE503

So were none of the units invading the Balkans equipped with Pak38 ?

[CNE503]

Concerning the first fight in which a PaK 38 was involved, it might have been during the Balkans campaign, but I have no proof of that. I don't think that there were PaK 38 in Northern Africa before June 1941. What do you think about it?

It may, or it may not. Any evidence will be greatly appreciated!

CNE503

[Alanmccoubrey]

For some reason I wasn't even thinking about North Africa. All the books that I've read about DAK say that they had the Pak 38 from the beginning and certainly this site suggests that they did.

http://dak.webseiten.cc/einheiten/heer/ ... ng-mot-39/

[CNE503]

I'm interested in knowing more about this. The first German combat units that arrived in Libya landed off in Tripoli in the second half of February and early March 1941. Panzerjäger-Abteilung 39 was amongst them, and so it is possible that its Pak 38 entered in action even before those potentially involved in the Balkans campaign and in "Barbarossa".

Anyone?

CNE503

[Brady]

April 41 for the first combat with the PAK 38 is often quoted, but I don’t know the original source for this

[yantaylor]

I have just flicked through one of Nafzeiger's books and it says that on the 10th May 1940, the LSSAH had a motorized platoon of three PaK 38s located in a support company along with three PaK 36s and six 8cm mortars.

Yan.

[CNE503]

As a lot of records don't mention Waffen-SS, it is highly possible that this information wasn't recorded in Heer archival material and so passed through the net. But I think it needs to be confirmed by a primary source.

Regards,

CNE503

[Manuferey]

I have just flicked through one of Nafzeiger's books and it says that on the 10th May 1940, the LSSAH had a motorized platoon of three PaK 38s located in a support company along with three PaK 36s and six 8cm mortars.
Yan.

Yan,

When you write Pak 36, are you talking about the 4.7 cm Pak 36(t), the only German Pak gun with a "36" designation?

Note that there was also a 4.7 cm Pak 38(t). Therefore, just mentioning "Pak 38" can sometimes be misleading without the caliber.

Emmanuel

[Knouterer]

According to W. Fleischer, Die Deutsche Panzerjägertruppe, in 1938 the firm of Rheinmetall was requested to develop a 50 mm gun that could penetrate 60-70 mm at 700 m (at 60°). The design was tested in 1939 and at the end of the year Rheinmetall received an order for series production, for 100 guns initially (even though performance fell somewhat short of expectations, at 55 mm at 700 m). There were some hiccups and only 20 had been accepted by the army at the end of May 1940. Apparently it wasn't used in any fighting but in July the weapon was tested against captured French heavy tanks.

Official introduction (as standard issue) was on 12 December 1940. Manuals had already been published in November.

[Brady]

“Official introduction (as standard issue) was on 12 December 1940. Manuals had already been published in November.”

This then being the date that units started to train on it ?

Or did that follow later?