The Pak 97/38 (7.5 cm ''Panzerabwehrkanone'' 97/38 and 7,5 cm ''Panzerjägerkanone'' 97/38) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

anti-tank gun used by the ''

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

'' in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The gun was a combination of the barrel from the French ''

Canon de 75 modèle 1897 The French 75 mm field gun was a quick-firing field artillery piece adopted in March 1898. Its official French designation was: Matériel de 75mm Mle 1897. It was commonly known as the French 75, simply the 75 and Soixante-Quinze (Frenc ...

'' fitted with a Swiss Solothurn

muzzle brake A muzzle brake or recoil compensator is a device connected to, or a feature integral to the construction of, the muzzle or barrel of a firearm or cannon that is intended to redirect a portion of propellant gases to counter recoil and unwanted ...

and mounted on the carriage of the German 5 cm Pak 38 and could fire captured French and Polish ammunition. 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.

Development history

During the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

and

invasion of France France has been invaded on numerous occasions, by foreign powers or rival French governments; there have also been unimplemented invasion plans. * the 1746 War of the Austrian Succession, Austria-Italian forces supported by the British navy attemp ...

the ''Wehrmacht'' captured thousands of 75 mm Model 1897 guns, built by the French arms manufacturer Schneider. These guns were adopted by the Germans as the ''FK 97(p)(7,5)'' and the ''7.5 cm FK 231(f)'' and used in their original field artillery role. Soon after the

German invasion of the USSR Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

in 1941, ''Wehrmacht'' units encountered new Soviet tanks, the medium

T-34 The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank introduced in 1940. When introduced its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was less powerful than its contemporaries while its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against anti-tank weapons. The C ...

and the heavy KV. The thick and/or sloped armor of these vehicles gave them invulnerability against German towed 3.7 cm Pak 36 anti-tank guns. The situation led to requests for more powerful weapons that would be able to destroy them at normal combat ranges. Since Germany already had a suitable design, the

7.5 cm Pak 40 The 7.5 cm Pak 40 (''7,5 cm Panzerabwehrkanone 40 -'' "7.5cm armour defence cannon 90") was a German 75 millimetre anti-tank gun of the Second World War. The gun was developed in 1939–1941 and entered service in 1942. With 23,303 ex ...

, this weapon entered production and the first pieces were delivered in November 1941. However, until enough of these were manufactured, some expedient solution was required. It was tempting to adopt the readily available French gun to the anti-tank role. In the original configuration, those guns were ill-suited for fighting tanks because of their relatively low muzzle velocity, limited traverse (only 6°), and lack of a suitable suspension (which resulted in a transport speed of just 10–12 km/h). It was decided to solve the traverse and mobility problems by mounting the 75 mm barrel on the modern split trail carriage of the 5 cm Pak 38 anti-tank gun. To soften the recoil, the barrel was fitted with a large muzzle brake. The gun was primarily intended to use

HEAT In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...

shells as the armor penetration of this type of ammunition does not depend on velocity. Another major user of the French gun, the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

, created and briefly adopted a similar suitable design, known as the '' 75mm Anti-tank gun on Carriage M2A3''.

Production

2,854 pieces were delivered in 1942; 858 more followed in 1943. In addition, 160 guns mounted on the

carriage (''Pak 97/40'') were built in 1943. The manufacturing cost of one piece was 9,000

reichsmarks The (; sign: ℛℳ; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until 20 June 1948 in West Germany, where it was replaced with the , and until 23 June 1948 in East Germany, where it was replaced by the East German mark. The Reichs ...

, compared to 12,000 for the Pak 40. Production was stopped because more powerful anti-tank guns were in service in adequate numbers.

Employment

The Pak 97/38 reached the battlefield in the summer of 1942. Despite moderate effectiveness and a violent recoil, it remained in service until the end of the war. The scale of use can be illustrated by the ammunition used: 37,800 HEAT shells in 1942 and 371,600 in 1943. On 1 March 1945 the ''Wehrmacht'' possessed 145 Pak 97/38 and FK 231(f) guns, although only 14 were employed by frontline units. Ten barrels with shields were experimentally mounted on the Soviet

T-26 The T-26 tank was a Soviet light tank used during many conflicts of the Interwar period and in World War II. It was a development of the British Vickers 6-Ton tank and was one of the most successful tank designs of the 1930s until its light ...

light tank chassis, resulting in vehicles designated the ''7.5 cm Pak 97/38(f) auf Pz.740(r)''. These self-propelled guns served with the 3rd Company of the 563rd Anti-Tank

Battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions a ...

before being replaced by the

Marder III ''Marder'' III was the name for a series of World War II German tank destroyers. They mounted either the modified ex-Soviet 76.2 mm F-22 Model 1936 divisional field gun, or the German 7.5 cm PaK 40, in an open-topped fighting compartment on ...

on 1 March 1944. The gun was also employed by the

Finnish Army The Finnish Army ( Finnish: ''Maavoimat'', Swedish: ''Armén'') is the land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces. The Finnish Army is divided into six branches: the infantry (which includes armoured units), field artillery, anti-aircraf ...

during the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...

. The Finns purchased 75 mm field guns from France in 1940, but were disappointed with their performance and in 1943, they reached an agreement with Germany about upgrading them to Pak 97/38 standards. 46 pieces were converted in March–June 1943. Seven of the guns were lost in combat, the rest remained in service after the war and were only retired in 1986. Five or six guns were supplied to the infantry divisions of the Romanian

Third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

and Fourth Armies in October 1942. Nine divisions of the Italian 8th Army had an anti-tank battery of six guns assigned to its artillery regiment in 1942. The Italian designation was ''Cannone da 75/39''. By November 1942, the Hungarian 2nd Army fielded 43 Pak 97/38s.

Ammunition

It is not clear if German AP shells for the Pak 97/38 were produced. Polish AP ammunition was also used in limited numbers. The Finnish Army used locally produced shells designated ''75 psa - Vj4'' and possibly old French ones designated ''75 pspkrv 59/66-ps''. The ''75 psa - Vj4'' penetrated 92 mm at 300 m, with an impact angle of 90°.Finnish Army 1918-1945.

Performance

* Since HEAT projectiles do not rely on velocity to achieve penetration, their performance stays relatively uniform regardless of range. However, their accuracy at long range suffers.

Notes

References

* D 184 - Vorläufige Gerätebeschreibung der 7,5 cm Panzerjägerkanone 97/38 (7,5 cm Pak 97/38) - OKH / Heereswaffenamt, Berlin 1. Juli 1942 (antitank gun description). * Gander, Terry and Chamberlain, Peter. ''Weapons of the Third Reich: An Encyclopedic Survey of All Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the German Land Forces 1939-1945''. New York: Doubleday, 1979 * Hogg, Ian V. ''German Artillery of World War Two''. 2nd corrected edition. Mechanicsville, PA: Stackpole Books, 1997 * Shirokorad A. B. - ''The God of War of the Third Reich'' - M. AST, 2002 (Широкорад А. Б. - Бог войны Третьего рейха. — М.,ООО Издательство АСТ, 2002., ) * Ivanov A. - Artillery of Germany in Second World War - SPb Neva, 2003 (Иванов А. - Артиллерия Германии во Второй Мировой войне. — СПб., Издательский дом «Нева», 2003., ) * Isaev A. - ''Antisuvorov. Ten Myths of World War II'' - M., Eksmo, Yauza, 2004 (А.Исаев. Антисуворов. Десять мифов Второй мировой. - М., Эксмо, Яуза, 2004., ) * Kolomiets M. - ''Anti-tank Artillery of Wehrmacht 1939-1945'' - "Frontovaya Illustratsiya" magazine, no. 1, 2006 (М.Коломиец. Противотанковая артиллерия Вермахта 1939-1945 гг. - журнал «Фронтовая иллюстрация», №1, 2006) * U.S. Office of Chief of Ordnance.
Catalog of Enemy Ordnance
'. 1945. * Zaloga, Steven J., Brian Delf - ''US Anti-tank Artillery 1941-45'' (2005) Osprey Publishing (New Vanguard 107), .

{{DEFAULTSORT:7.5 Cm Pak 97 38 World War II anti-tank guns of Germany 75 mm artillery Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1942