7.5 cm Pak 97/38
Anti-tank gun / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about 7.5 cm Pak 97/38?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
The Pak 97/38 (7.5 cm Panzerabwehrkanone 97/38 and 7,5 cm Panzerjägerkanone 97/38[2][3]) was a German anti-tank gun used by the Wehrmacht in World War II. The gun was a combination of the barrel from the French Canon de 75 modèle 1897 fitted with a Swiss Solothurn muzzle brake and mounted on the carriage of the German 5 cm Pak 38 and could fire captured French and Polish ammunition.
7.5 cm Panzerabwehrkanone 97/38 | |
---|---|
Type | anti-tank gun |
Place of origin | Nazi Germany, France |
Service history | |
In service | 1942–1945 |
Used by | Nazi Germany Finland Italy Romania Bulgaria Hungary |
Wars | World War II |
Production history | |
Designer | Albert Deport, Etienne Sainte-Claire Deville, and Emile Rimailho. |
Designed | 1897 |
Produced | 1942–1943 |
No. built | 3,712 |
Specifications | |
Mass | combat: 1,190 kg (2,623 lbs) travel: 1,270 kg (2,800 lbs) |
Length | 4.65 m (15 ft 3 in) |
Barrel length | 2.58 m (8 ft 6 in) L/34.5 2.72 m (8 ft 11 in) L/36.3 (without muzzle brake) |
Width | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) |
Height | 1.05 m (3 ft 5 in) |
Shell | 75×350 mm R HE, HEAT, Shrapnel, armor-piercing |
Caliber | 75 mm (2.95 in) |
Breech | Nordenfelt interrupted screw |
Recoil | Hydro-pneumatic |
Carriage | Split trail |
Elevation | -10° to 18° [1] |
Traverse | 60° |
Rate of fire | 10-14 rpm |
Muzzle velocity | 570 m/s (1,900 ft/s) |
Together with light weight, good mobility and sufficient anti-armor performance with a HEAT shell (enough to penetrate T-34s in most situations; the side armor of the KV series could also be pierced), it made the gun a decent anti-tank weapon. It had shortcomings, particularly its low muzzle velocity. Although this did not affect the armor-piercing characteristics of its HEAT ammunition, it meant insufficient performance when firing regular AP shells and - because of difficulties in hitting small mobile targets - its low effective range of about 500 m even with HEAT. The gun also had a quite violent recoil, especially with AP shells.