German Artillery in Combat Read online

  This ebook edition published in Great Britain in 2012 by Coda Books Ltd, The Barn, Cutlers Farm Business Centre, Edstone, Wootton Wawen, Henley in Arden, Warwickshire, B95 6DJ

  www.codabooks.com

  Copyright © 2012 Coda Books Ltd

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  ISBN 978 1 78158 164 3

  Contents

  Introduction

  Enemy Self-Propelled Guns—A Summary of Known Equipment

  German Self-Propelled 150-mm Howitzer

  New Axis Self-Propelled Guns

  New Self-Propelled Gun

  Notes on German Divisional Artillery

  Observations on German Artillery Tactics

  Deceptive German Artillery Methods

  Notes on German Artillery Forward Observers

  German Antiaircraft Artillery

  SECTION I. ORGANIZATION

  SECTION II. WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT

  SECTION III. USE OF AA WITH FIELD FORCES

  SECTION IV. USE OF AA IN DEFENSE OF GERMANY AND REAR AREAS

  SECTION V. CONCLUSIONS

  Artillery with a German Tank Division

  German Visual Signal System for Artillery Fire Control

  75-mm Assault Artillery

  Artillery in the Desert

  SECTION I. ORGANISATION

  SECTION II. EQUIPMENT

  SECTION III. TACTICS

  New German Heavy Artillery

  New German 105-mm Gun-Howitzer

  The Employment of Field Artillery

  Artillery Command in the German Army

  Ruses for Concealing Artillery Positions

  Employment of German Antiaircraft Artillery at Sevastopol

  Artillery in Combat in Wooded Areas

  Six-Barrel Rocket Weapon (The Nebelwerfer 41)

  Tactical Employment of German 75-mm Assault Gun

  ABOUT CODA BOOKS

  Introduction

  This book forms part of the series entitled ‘Hitler’s War Machine’. The aim is to provide the reader with a varied range of materials drawn from original writings covering the strategic, operational and tactical aspects of Hitler’s army. The concept behind the series is to provide the well-read and knowledgeable reader with an interesting compilation of related primary sources which together build a picture of a particular aspect of World War II.

  I am pleased to report that the series has been well received and it is a pleasure to be able to bring original primary sources to the attention of an interested readership. I particularly enjoy discovering new primary sources, and I am pleased to be able to present them unadorned and unvarnished to a sophisticated audience. The sources speak for themselves and the readership I strive to serve is the increasingly well informed community of reader/historians which needs no editorial lead and can draw its own conclusions. I am well aware that our community is constantly striving to discover new nuggets of information, and I trust that with this volume I have managed to stimulate fresh enthusiasm and that some of these articles will provoke readers to research further down these lines of investigation, and perhaps cause established views to be challenged once more. I am aware at all times in compiling these materials that our relentless pursuit of more and better historical information is at the core our common passion. I trust that this selection will contribute to that search and will help all of us to better comprehend and understand the bewildering events of the last century.

  This volume is comprised of information and documents on the vast array of German artillery pieces, and the men who operated them, from the difficulties of warfare in problematic terrain such as desert and forest, the tactics used by the men on the ground, to the facts and figures of the weapons themselves.

  In order to produce an interesting compilation giving a flavour of events at the tactical level I have returned once more to the US Intelligence series of pamphlets, which contain an intriguing series of contemporary articles on weapons and tactics. I find this series of pamphlets particularly fascinating as they are written in the present tense and, as such, provide us with a sense of what was happening at the face of battle as events unfolded.

  Thank you very much for buying this volume, I hope you find something new and interesting in these pages and I sincerely hope it earns its place in your library.

  Bob Carruthers

  Edinburgh 2012.

  Enemy Self-Propelled Guns—A Summary of Known Equipment

  Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 25, May 20, 1943.

  a. General

  Self-propelled guns represent one of the technical advances made in ordnance during this war. The following account, from British sources, of German, Italian, and Japanese equipment shows the considerable interest which this development has aroused. Several descriptions and sketches of these guns have already been published in earlier issues of Tactical and Technical Trends.

  With reference to German self-propelled guns the following general points are worthy of note:

  There are no known German self-propelled heavy antiaircraft guns;

  With regard to antitank guns, while there have been many local improvisations, the present German tendency is to provide self-propelled mounts for the heavier antitank weapons only;

  In every case standard guns and standard chassis, whether semi- or full-tracked, are used;

  All self-propelled guns are provided with AP and HE ammunition, and can thus effectively engage both "soft" and armored targets.

  b. German AA/AT Guns

  (1) 20-mm AA AT Gun

  Although primarily an antiaircraft gun, this piece can also be used against tanks. Mounted on a 1-ton half-track (see figure 1) with a gasoline engine, it usually tows a single-axle ammunition trailer. The armament is a long, thin-barreled, 20-mm, high-velocity gun. The weight in action is 4.5 tons; the length, 15 ft. 7 in., the width, 7 ft. 1 in. and the height, 6 ft. 7 in. On roads, the radius of action is about 137 miles; cross country, about 93. The crew is seven men.

  There are two versions of the gun itself, namely the 20-mm Flak 30 and the 20-mm Flak 38. The gun, mounted in front, may or may not be shielded. It fires 20-mm, .260-pound, high-explosive shells at a high muzzle velocity of 2,950 f/s, the .327-pound AP shell at 2,625 f/s, and the .223-pound AP 40 shot at 3,270 f/s. The firing rate is 120 rpm. The horizontal range is 5,320 yards. The mount gives an all-around traverse and an elevation varying from minus 12 degrees to plus 90. At 400 yards, the AP shell will pierce .98 inch of homogenous armor at an impact angle of 30 degrees, and 1.50 inches at normal. At 400 yards' range, the AP 40 shot will pierce 1.46 inches at 30 degrees, and 1.69 inches at normal.

  (2) 20-mm Four-Barreled AA/AT Gun

  This is a Vierling (quadruple) gun on an 8-ton half-track (see Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 4, p. 4) 22 ft. 6 in. long by 7 ft. 11 in. wide and 10 ft. 10 in. high, weighing, ready for action, 11.5 tons. The gasoline engine develops 140 brake horse power, giving a radius of action on the road of 155 miles, and about 62 cross country. The crew is probably eight. The armament is "a quadruple 20-mm Flak 38, with an all-around traverse and an elevation stated as from "minus 10 to plus 100" (apparently 10 degrees past vertical--which seems odd, but may be useful when firing at planes passing directly overhead). The range, penetration, and ammunition are substantially the same as for the Flak 30 and 38 previously noted.

  (3) 37-mm AA/AT Gun

  While like the 20-mm primarily an antiaircraft gun, this 37-mm gun
can be used for horizontal fire. It may be identified by the long, slender barrel with a conical muzzle brake (see figure 2), and it usually tows an ammunition trailer. The mount is a 5-ton, half-tracked vehicle, with a 130-HP gasoline motor giving a 156-mile radius on the road, and about 62 miles cross country (which seems rather small). The length and breadth are 20 ft. 7 in. by 7 ft. 6 in.; the height is 9 ft. 2 in. The crew is eight men.

  Like the 20-mm, the 37-mm Flak 36 is a high-velocity gun, delivering an HE shell at 2,690 f/s at the muzzle. The horizontal range is slightly over 7,000 yards, and the rate of fire, 60 rpm. There is all-around traverse, and an elevation of from minus 5 to plus 85 degrees.

  (4) 50-mm Self-Propelled AA/AT Gun

  This weapon, the 5-cm Flak 41, is known to exist, but details are lacking. Presumably, it may be a development of the standard 50-mm antitank gun (5-cm Pak 38) described in Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 15, p. 38, which gives a reported muzzle velocity of 3,940 f/s to an AP shot of 2.025 pounds, and 2,740 f/s to a 4 lb. 9 oz. AP tracer shell.

  (5) 88-mm Self-Propelled Multi-Purpose Gun

  A self-propelled version of the "88," the 8.8-cm Flak 36 Sfl, is known to exist. At one time the gun was said to be mounted on a 12-ton half-track, but this mounting is believed to have been unsatisfactory. Various other mounts have been reported, the most likely of which is the PzKw 4 (medium tank) chassis. In this case, the gun probably has a limited traverse and cannot deliver antiaircraft fire. It fires a 20-pound HE shell, or a 21-pound AP, with an armor-piercing cap surmounted by a "wind splitter" ballistic cap. At 500 yards the projectile will penetrate 4.33 inches of armor at a 30-degree angle, and 5.07 inches at normal. When the range is lengthened to 1,000 yards, penetration falls to 3.30 and 3.93 inches, respectively. The maximum horizontal range is 16,200 yards, but the sight is graduated to 10,340 yards only. The practical rate of fire is from 15 to 20 rpm. The number in the crew is not stated.

  c. German Self-Propelled Antitank Guns

  (1) 28-mm AT Gun, Model 41

  It may be that this gun is a local improvisation. Firing forward, it is mounted on a light half-track, with a coffin-shaped, armored body. The small weapon may be identified by its prominent muzzle brake and flat, double shield. The chassis is that of a 1-ton half-tracked vehicle. The battle weight is about 6 tons. The dimensions are 15 ft. 6 in. by 6 ft. by 7 ft.; the motor is a 100-hp gasoline engine. Cross country, the radius of action is about 75 miles; on the road, 120. Varying from about .39 inch on the front, the light armor is .32 inch elsewhere. The crew is believed to number five.

  The ultra-modern, high-velocity gun is the 2.8-cm (1.1 in) Pz.B. 41. It is choke-bored from 28 mm at the breech to 20 (.79 in) at the muzzle, and has a muzzle velocity of 4,580 f/s. At 100 yards it will drive a .287-pound shot through 2.72 inches of armor at 30 degrees, and through 3.31 inches at normal angle. At 100 yards the penetrations are 2.09 and 2.56 inches, respectively. The traverse is 90 degrees, the elevation from minus 5 to plus 45.

  (2) 37-mm AT Gun

  Like the 28-mm, this gun may be a local improvisation. The obsolete 37-mm antitank gun, with or without a shield, fires towards the front and is mounted on a 3-ton armored half-track; weight in action is 8.4 tons (see figure 3). The dimensions are: length 18 ft. 8 in., width 6 ft. 10 in., height about 7 ft. 6 in. The gasoline motor develops 100 hp. On the road, the radius is 187 miles, and 81 across country. In front, the armor is from .39 inch to .59 inch in thickness, and on the sides, .32 inch. The crew numbers three.

  This gun has a muzzle velocity of 2,500 f/s for the 1.68-pound AP shell and 3,380 (estimated) for the .786-pound AP 40. The HE weighs 1.38 pounds. At 200 yards, the AP shell will penetrate 1.65 inches at 30 degrees and 2.20 inches at normal angle; at 600 yards, 1.34 and 1.81 inches, respectively. The AP 40 at 100 yards pierces 2.68 inches at 30 degrees and 3.11 inches, normal; but with the light AP 40 shot, at 400 yards, the penetration falls to 1.93 and 2.28 inches. The effective range is 600 yards. The maximum traverse is 60 degrees, and the elevation varies from minus 8 to plus 25 degrees.

  (3) 47-mm AT Gun

  This piece of equipment is the Czech antitank gun mounted in a three-sided shield on the turretless chassis of the PzKw 1 Model B tank. It may be recognized by the five bogie wheels (of which the rear four are partially obscured by a girder), a front sprocket, a rear idler, and four return rollers. The gun-shield is open at the back and top. The gun is fitted with a muzzle brake, and the recuperator is above the barrel. The weight is 7.5 tons; the dimensions 13 ft. 7 in., 6 ft. 7 in., and 7 ft. A 100-hp gasoline engine will drive the vehicle on a radius of action of 70 miles cross country and 90 on the road. The crew is three.

  The Skoda gun has a 30-degree traverse with an elevation of from minus 8 degrees to plus 12. The AP tracer shell, 3.68 pounds, has a velocity of 2,540 f/s, penetrating at 300 yards 2.32 inches of armor at 30 degrees, and 2.99 inches at normal angle. At 1,000 yards the respective penetrations are 1.85 and 2.44 inches. An HE shell of 5.07 pounds and an AP 40 shot of 1.81 pounds are used. The effective range is not stated, but is apparently 1,000 yards. About 74 rounds are carried.

  (4) 50-mm AT Gun

  The only evidence of this equipment is a photograph, which showed a long-barreled gun in a fixed, square turret on an armored half-tracked vehicle of unconventional design. There is a large muzzle brake at the end of the gun, which is believed to be the standard 50-mm Pak 38.

  (5) 75-mm AT Gun, on a PzKw 38(t) Chassis

  This equipment consists of the 75-mm (2.95-in) antitank gun (Pak 40) mounted on the turretless chassis of the light Czech PzKw 38(t). The suspension consists of four large Christie-type bogie wheels, two return rollers (mounted above the space between bogie wheels 1 and 2, and 2 and 3, respectively), a front sprocket, and a rear idler. In action, the weight is 10 tons. The dimensions are 15 ft. 3 in. by 7 ft. by 7 ft. 2 in. A 125-hp gasoline motor gives a radius of 143 miles on the road, 103 cross country. A plate of .98-inch armor with, possibly, an additional plate of the same thickness riveted on, protects the front. The sides are 1.18 inches toward the front, and .59 inch toward the rear of the sides and the back of the hull. The crew is probably four.

  The gun is a 75-mm antitank piece, thought to have a performance similar to the 75-mm long-barreled tank gun mounted in the latest PzKw 4's. This latter gun has the moderate velocity of 2,400 f/s, giving a penetration (presumably with a 15-pound, capped AP projectile) of 3.5 inches at 500 yards at a 30-degree angle, and 4.25 inches at normal. At 2,000 yards, the shell pierces 2.44 and 3.03 inches. There is an AP 40 shot supplied for this gun, and a 12.5-pound HE shell.

  (6) 75-mm AT Gun on a PzKw 2 Chassis

  This 10-ton assembly may be recognized by the long-barreled gun with the muzzle brake, as in the previous description, but the PzKw 2 chassis has either five or six large bogie wheels. Its length is 15 ft. 2 in., width, 1 ft. 4 in., and height 16 ft. 6 in. With a 140-hp gasoline engine, the radius on the road is 118 miles, and cross country 78 miles. In front, the armor varies from .59 inch to 1.79 inch, with .59 inch on the back and sides. The crew is probably four. The gun is the same one described in the previous paragraph.

  (7) 76.2-mm (3-in) AT Gun on a 5-Ton Half-Track

  Possibly another local improvisation, this piece of equipment consists of a Russian 76.2-mm gun mounted on the chassis of a 5-ton half-track in a high, square, box-like riveted structure of .20-inch armor, Open at the top (see figure 4). The gun may be employed both in field artillery and antitank roles.

  The weight is about 10 tons. The mount is 19 ft. 9 in. long, 7 ft. 3 in. wide, and 10 ft. high. The motor is a 130-hp gasoline engine, giving the weapon a radius of action of 160 miles on roads and 70 across country, carrying a crew of probably six.

  The 76.2-mm Russian field gun Model 36 (7.62-cm Pak 36 (r)) with a long, thin barrel throws a 14.8-pound capped armor-piercing shell at the relatively low velocity of 2,200 f/s, a 14-pound HE at 2,340 f/s, and an AP 40 shot of 9.25 pounds weight at 2,800 f/s. The range is not stated, but the f
iring charts include ranges up to 2,000 yards, at which range it is claimed that the AP shell will drive through 2.08 inches of armor with a 30-degree slope, and 2.52 inches, vertical. At 500 yards, the penetration is reported to be 3.11 and 3.70 inches, respectively. The awkward-appearing mount gives an unexpectedly large traverse of 60 degrees, with an elevation varying from minus 5 to plus 45 degrees. (The gun mount is capable of giving 75 degrees of elevation, but the shield fouls the front tarpaulin rail at 45 degrees.) Sixty-four rounds are carried, approximately half HE and half AP.

  (8) 76.2-mm Gun on Tank Chassis

  This is the 76.2-mm Russian gun just discussed, mounted on the light Czech PzKw 38(t) chassis with 4 bogies as described in Tactical And Technical Trends, No. 21, p. 6 (see figure 5); it is also mounted on the PzKw 2 chassis which has 5 bogie wheels. Both chassis are rather light for so large a gun. It seems unlikely that either the traverse or elevation on these tank chassis is as great as on the 5-ton half-track.

  German Self-Propelled 150-mm Howitzer

  Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 12, November 19, 1942.

  The 150-mm medium howitzer, sFH 13, has been provided with a self-propelled mounting, the chassis of the French tracteur blindé 38L, made by Lorraine.

  The sFH 13 is equipment of the last war, superseded in first-line units by the 15-cm sFH 18. Particulars of the gun are:

  •Caliber: 149.7 mm

  •Muzzle velocity: 1,250 f/s

  •Maximum range: 9,300 yds

  •Length of bore: 17 cals

  •Number of grooves: 36

  •Elevation: +5° to +45°