Saturday, October 30, 2021

7.5cm Panzerabwehrkanone 50: Same Punch, Smaller Package

(Author's Collection)

     One of the lesser known German anti-tank guns is this, the 7.5cm Panzerabwehrkanone 50 (PaK 50). The intent of the PaK 50 was to create a smaller, lighter, and more portable version of the potent 7.5cm PaK 40 anti-tank gun and development of this new gun started late in 1943. To achieve this, the 11 foot 4 inch long barrel of the PaK 40 was cut down to 7 feet 4 inches long. Fitted to the end of the barrel was a large muzzle brake of which the PaK 50 in the photograph has five baffles but another prototype featured only three baffles. The purpose of a muzzle brake is to redirect propellant gasses in order to counter recoil forces and in some cases, reduce muzzle rise. In the case of the PaK 50, the baffles were angled to the sides and back which is designed to vent the gasses to the rear and thus pull the gun forward, reducing recoil forces. A drawback to this design is that the gasses are shunted back towards the gun crew and the blast can kick up dirt and debris. This can obscure the gunner's vision as well as expose the firing position of the gun. As a countermeasure to this, when able, some anti-tank gun crews wet the ground around the gun to reduce the amount of dust and debris that is stirred up after firing. The shortened barrel was fitted to the same recoil mechanism as the PaK 40, thus simplifying production. Another feature of the PaK 50 meant to ease production was the usage of the same split-trail, wheeled carriage as the 5cm PaK 38 anti-tank gun. The gun was loaded via a semi-automatic horizontal sliding block breech which meant that after firing, the breech opened, ejected the shell casing, and remained open to permit the loading of a new round. To protect the gun crew, a two-layer gun shield was used in which a gap existed between the front shield plate and the back plate. This was a type of spaced armor that reduced the penetrating power of small arm bullets. Bullets tend to deform, deflect, or tumble after piercing armor plate and thus as the round passed through the space, it may no longer have had the velocity or direction to punch through the second plate. The gun had a maximum depression of -8 degrees to a maximum elevation of 27 degrees. For traverse, the gun could be swung in a 65 degree arc before it was required to move the entire gun if further traverse was needed. What ammunition the PaK 50 used remains unknown to this day as the gun was never listed on German wartime ammunition tables. It is believed the PaK 50 would have had the approximate performance of the larger PaK 40 and so firing Panzergranate 39 (PzGr. 39) armor-piercing ammunition, the PaK 50 could penetrate around 64mm of armor at a 30 degree slope at 1,500 meters. Firing the PzGr. 40 armor-piercing, composite rigid (APCR) round, penetration was 77mm at the same armor slope and range. Finally, the PzGr. 38 HL/B high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) round could penetrate 75mm of armor at the same slope and range. It is believed, however, that the AP and APCR rounds would not have been as effective (if at all) in the PaK 50 and the primary ammunition would have been the HEAT round. But, again, what the true performance of the PaK 50 was remains unknown. While the PaK 50 was more easily concealed thanks to its low height and more compact size, the combat weight of the weapon was 2,425 pounds and so it was by no means a light gun. Still, it was a weight savings in comparison to the PaK 40's combat weight of 3,142 pounds.

     Source depending, the PaK 50 either was or was not deployed into combat. The prototype PaK 50 guns appeared in the summer of 1944 and it is said that after trials, the PaK 50 was approved for production. There are reports that a few hundred PaK 50 were built between the remainder of 1944 and into the spring of 1945 and were issued to anti-tank troops but this has not been verified. Other sources cite that because no ammunition data existed, the PaK 50 guns which were built remained prototypes and none of them saw service. Today, not a single PaK 50 remains and the only known photographs show the guns on trial and the handful of examples captured by the U.S. after the war (of which this photograph is one of the captured PaK 50).

Primary Sources:

Hogg, Ian V. German Artillery of World War Two (Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books, 1997)

Lüdeke, Alexander German Heavy Artillery Guns 1933-1945 (South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Books Ltd., 2015)

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