Laemlein, Tom PAK

A Photo Study of German Anti-Tank Weapons

This is a photographic study of German anti-tank weapons in World War II, providing interesting views of weapons, emplacements and crews, from heavy guns to the massive 128mm gun, along with the full range of anti-tank vehicles in use from 1939-45. It is an excellent reference book for modellers, gamers and students of military technology. Germany developed the first anti-tank weapons and tactics because it was the first country to be confronted with tanks on the battlefield. When the first armoured vehicles of the Allies slowly crept through no man's land during the First World War, the Germans had nothing to stop them. Later they used the "pointed projectile with core", an armour-piercing 7.92 mm steel-core projectile, and thus began the battle of the armour-piercers against the armour protection of the tanks. As the First World War drew to a close, the Germans developed artillery specifically designed to fight tanks, and the concept of the anti-tank gun (PaK) was born. The Germans believed that their 37-mm Pak 36 was capable of defeating enemy tanks at reasonable ranges, and combat experience in Poland confirmed this assumption. The fighting in France in the spring of 1940 revealed some startling inadequacies of the Pak 36 against French medium and heavy tanks. In some cases, 88 mm anti-aircraft guns had to save the day against well-armoured Allied tanks. The German anti-tank units received the 5 cm Pak 38 in 1941, which was good for its time, but was no match for the T-34 or the massive heavy KV tanks. The tank arms race escalated and by 1944-45 some German anti-tank guns had grown to 128mm, while 75mm and 88mm guns were commonplace.