German tank-attacks

9 October , 2004

I`ve read that Germans completed only nine tank-attacks in the Western Front (everyone of them obviously during the last year of war 1918). I know the first one of them being:

Attack of four A7Vs supporting XVII Corps south of St. Quentin, helping 36th (West Prussian) Division capture the 12th Irish Rifles` Le Pontchu redoubt south of the third trench from the old front-line system by 3.15 p.m. on the first day of Kaiserschlacht, 21 March 1918.

Now, what I`m interested in, is short descriptions of eight that followed.

9 October , 2004

I can't help you Landsturm ... but you've certainly helped me! I thought there was only one tank involved in that attack. If four were used I suppose to explains a lot about what happened to 12 RIR on that day.

Wish I knew more to help you.

Des

9 October , 2004

Here are some of the references that I could find:

21st March 1918 - two tanks attacked 173rd Brigade, 58th Division, north of the Oise.

9th April 1918 - German and captured British tanks were to attack on the Lys but the ground was too soft and they got stuck.

24th April 1918 - 15 German tanks participated in the capture of Villers Bretonneux

27th May 1918 - German tanks turned R flank of British 149th Brigade in the Chemin des Dames offensive and attacked 25th Brigade in a separate action.

15th July 1918 - 4 German tank detachments attacked east of Reims and 1 attacked on the west flank.

Robert

9 October , 2004

There is a short battle account of the 24 April 1918 tank battle in "Achtung Panzer" by Guderian.

10 October , 2004

Also a first-hand account in Mitchell's book 'Tank Warfare'. He was in the male Mk IV that participated in the famous tank vs tank battle.

Robert

10 October , 2004

I would recommend buying the book The German A7V tank and the captured British Mark IV tanks of World War 1 by Maxwell Hundleby and Rainer Strasheim, ISBN N0. 0-85429-788-X. It is a superb book with all of the details on the tanks and the actions fought by them. Many of the photos were unknown to me and overall I found it extremely useful.

Ralph

11 October , 2004

Oh, yea I had forgotten V B...

24 April 1918, 15 A7Vs (the biggest concentration of tanks at one point ever achieved by the Germans) led German infantry through early mornin mist, smoke and gas towards their objects - Bois d'Aquenne and villages of Villers Bretonneux and Cachy. This turned out to become the first tank vs. tank situation (in fact accidental) in the warfare when they encountered ten British tanks (7 Whippets and two "female" Mark IVs) were allocated to support this sector.

and also find a couple ones myself...

Five German A7Vs sent to counter-attack were engaged by their own artillery with the loss of two engines, at Fremicourt near Bapaume on 31 August 1918.

8 October 1918, ten German tanks (including captured Allied tanks) encountered British tanks during counter-attack near Niergnies (which is couple kilometres sout-east from Cambrai).

12 October , 2004

Hear is the excerpt from Guderian's book that I made reference to ...

Achtung-Panzer - Heinz Guderian (1937) pp 184-186

2. THE TANK ACTION AT VILLERS-BRETONNEUX

At 0345 on 24 April 1918 the German artillery opened up in preparation

for an attack on the sectors held by British III Corps and French XXXI

Corps. The bombardment was sustained with great violence for three

hours and at 0645, in dense fog, the German attack was launched on a

frontage extending from north of Villers-Bretonneux to the wood of

Senecat (three kilometres south-west of Thennes). There were three

divisions in the German first line, namely 228th Jägers, 4th Guards and

77th Jäger Reserve. They took under command the following numbers of

tanks: three with 228th Jäger Division; six with 4th Guards; four with

77th Jäger Division.

These thirteen machines were all we had available at the time.

When the bombardment began the German tanks went off to the assembly

areas, from where they set out a few minutes before the attack opened,

in order to be able to cross their own front line on time. At first the

assault made slow progress, since the thick fog limited visibility to

fifty metres, and the contact between tanks and infantry was immediately

lost. Whenever the British offered the least resistance the German

troops stopped, hung about and sometimes even fell back. Towards 1100,

however, the fog lifted, and the infantry resumed contact with the tanks

and began to make more rapid progress.

The three tanks with 228th Jäger Division gained their objective, and

were then ordered to assemble at Viencourt.

On the frontage of the central division, 4th Guards, four of the tanks

likewise reached their objective; one tank stuck in a shell crater, and

the -sixth broke down from engine failure. On the sector of the

left-hand division, 77th Reserve, one of the tanks managed to silence

several machine-gun positions and stretches of trench, but towards 0845

it became lodged sideways in a sandpit and was unable to get out (it was

later retrieved and spirited away by a French recovery team working

between the lines). The second machine destroyed a number of machine-gun

positions and actually came within 700 metres of the edge of Cachy

village, which it took under gun and machine-gun fire.

The third tank likewise accounted for a number of machine-guns, cleared

several hundred metres of trench and, having reached its objective, was

on the point of turning around to return to its assembly area. The

fourth tank was doing the same, after it had joined in the fire attack

on Cachy.

At this juncture the second tank spotted three British tanks emerging

from the southern tip of the wood of Arquenne - two females in the lead

and a male Mark IV following. What had been happening? As a safeguard

against any German attack the British had sent a tank company ahead into

the wood of Blangy from where a platoon of three tanks was pushed first

into the wood of I'Abbe and then, because of the German artillery fire,

to a position behind the southern tip of the Arquenne wood. Between 1000

and 1100 the platoon in question received the rather vague order to

secure the Cagny blocking position.

As soon as they left cover the two female Mark IVs spotted four German

tanks and at once advanced to attack the nearest machine. The German

tank immediately faced about and, taking advantage of some cover, opened

fire. One of the British females was seen to be hit, and both machines

gave up the attack. The third British tank, the Male Mark IV, now

materialized at two hundred metres from the German tank and scored

several hits with a 57mm gun. Five of the crew were killed; the

survivors abandoned the tank, though they were able to reoccupy it later

and bring it back behind their own lines.

The commander of the male Mark IV lost contact with the other German

tanks - in fact they had returned to their assembly area, knowing

nothing of the action that had just taken place. Shortly afterwards the

British tank was knocked out by a direct hit.

A little later seven British Whippets pushed out from Cachy, evidently

on reconnaissance. They caused considerable disorder and casualties

among the German infantry, but they were detected by the third German

tank under Lieutenant Bitter, who was in the process of turning round,

as we have seen. Bitter restored contact with the infantry and went over

to the attack. He engaged the British tank on the far right at a range

of 200 metres and set it on fire with the second round-, he then fired

at the tank 700 metres away on the far left and again set it ablaze with

his second shot. Unfortunately the spring of his firing pin broke at

this moment, but he opened fire with his machine-gun on the second

British tank from the left and was able to knock it out. Surprisingly

the remaining four Whippets meanwhile made an about turn and drove back

towards Cachy. The German tank pursued and proceeded to silence the

enemy at the nearest edge of Cachy by fire at a range of 150 metres,

which enabled the German infantry to establish themselves 400 metres

from the village. At 1445 Bitter returned to the assembly area.

12 October , 2004

Thanks for that, Borden Battery!

12 October , 2004

From the British Official History:

'Major-General Heneker had at hand the four tanks of the 1st Tank Battalion, one male (two 6 pounder guns) and two female (machine guns only), and, in view of the enemy's use of tanks, his thoughts not unnaturally turned to them. Accordingly he placed them at the disposal of Br-Gen Grogan (23rd Bde), who ordered them to help in the defence of Cachy Switch, north-east of Cachy. There they arrived about 9.30 am. Soon after, an enemy tank (of Group II) appeared and at once knocked out the female tanks, while the male was afterwards hit by artillery fire. The male tank, though one of its guns was disabled by a shell, obtained a hit, and the Germans at once abandoned their machine. Two more enemy tanks appeared, and were engaged. The crew of one got out and ran; the other attempted to approach Cachy, but was met by the concentrated fire of six guns of the 58th Machine-Gun Battalion, and the crew, put out of action by the splash of the bullets, surrendered.

At 10.20 am, the seven light tanks of the 3rd Tank Battalion, were in the little wood a mile south of Blangy Tronville. Placed under the 58th Divn, they were ordered to clear up the situation in front of Cachy, where the tank fight was now over. A message dropped from aeroplane gave information that two enemy battalions were resting in a hollow in front of Cachy, and that they might be taken unawares if the tanks got there quickly. The tanks moved without delay, came on the two battalions, which belonged to the 77th Reserve Division, and at once charged in line southwards, then turned round and repeated the process northwards, causing, it was estimated, at least four hundred casualties and dispersing the rest of the Germans. Out of the seven, one tank was put out of action by artillery fire, one officer and two men, its whole crew, being killed, and three others were disabled.'

Captain Price, commanding one of the Whippets A277 reported:

'We lost one tank, the tank commander in his enthusiasm crossing the sky line which I had indicated as the limit of the advance, and being knocked out by a battery placed somewhere in the vicinity of Hangard Wood'.

He makes no mention of an enemy tank, though he may not have seen the A7V that presumably engaged the unfortunate Whippet.

Lieutenant Bitter's account does not quite square with these accounts but it is all very interesting. Captain Price was writing some time after the action so his account may lack detail.

Robert

13 October , 2004

My grandfather was a crew member in the knocked out Whippet. Reports of his death are exaggerated! Second Lieutenant Harry Dale (the commander) was killed and is buried at Crucifix Corner Cemetery, nearby. My grandfather and the other crew member (John Herbert) both survived and were taken prisoner.

One can still identify almost the exact spot where it happened, it having narrowly avoided vanishing under the new autoroute.

I would love to know whether the tank was knocked out by artillery or an A7V - it is a mystery which can never be resolved.

I have walked the battlefield in the area where all this happened with the Great Nephew of Harry Dale and we, together, left flowers on Harry Dale's grave.

13 October , 2004

Fabulous input Simon. Really interesting! I think this information needs to be made more widely known. Have you ever forwarded this to David Fletcher at Bovington Museum? He is probably the most prolific writer about WW1 British tanks at the present.

From his book 'Tanks and Trenches: First hand accounts of tank warfare in the First World War', Fletcher recounts the following:

'Tank No 4 (Leutnant Bitter), in the course of its advance on Cachy, destroyed several machine gun nests. The garrison of a trench about 200 metres long was attacked from the flank and was partly destroyed and partly put to flight. At about 12.30 pm the commander of the tank observed the retirementof Allied infantry in front of Cachy. He immediately turned northwards, halted the infantry, and then advanced on Cachy. About 800 metres from the village, seven enemy tanks suddenly appeared. Two of these were set on fire by Leutnant Bitter and a third was put out of action. The remaining four were bombarded by him and fled. In the meantime, the gun, as a result of breaking two springs, was out of action. The retreating enemy tanks were pursued with machine-gun fire to within 200 metres of Cachy. At 3.45 pm the tank returned to its rendezvous.

Compiled from German sources by Maj-Gen JFC Fuller'

In Captain Price's account of the Whippets, he has them going into action at 10.30 am and returning at 2.30 pm. This fits with the story about Leutnant Bitter.

In Fletcher's book 'The British Tanks 1915-1919', he says that:

'Price lost one of his Whippets, probably to an A7V, and its crew of three were killed [which now seems to be incorrect].'

One more twist in the story. This time from Frank Mitchell, who wrote (some time after the war):

'As I peeped through [my driver's] flap I noticed that the German infantry were forming up some distance away, preparing for an attack. Then my heart bounded for joy, for away on the right I saw seven small whippets, the newest and fastest type of tank, unleashed at last [though this was not their first time in action] and racing into action. They came on at six to eight miles an hour, heading straight for the Germans, who scattered in all directions, fleeing terror-stricken from this whirlwind of death. The whippets plunged into the midst of them, ran over them, spitting fire into their retreating ranks.

Their work was soon over. Twenty-one men in seven small tanks overran some twelve hundred of the enemy and killed at least four hundred, nipping an attack in the bud. Three of the seven came back, their tracks dripping with blood; the other four were left out there in front, and their crews could not hope to be made prisoners after such slaughter. One broke down not far from Cachy, and I saw a man in overalls get out, and, with a machine gun under his arm, run to another whippet, which stopped to pick him up.

We continued to cruise to and fro in front of the Cachy switch-line, and presently a fourth German tank appeared, about eight hundred yards away. The left gunner opened fire immediately, and a few minutes later the reply came swift and sharp, three shells hitting the ground alongside of us. Pursuing the same tactics as before [when they attacked an A7V], we increased our speed and then turned, but the Jerry tank had disappeared; there was to be no second duel.'

Clearly, there are differences in each of the accounts. If Mitchell's account is correct, then Bitter may not have engaged the Whippets and actually engaged Mitchell's Mk IV. The fact that Bitter's tank is not mentioned in infantry accounts around Cachy from the British Official History lends some credence to this, as does the lack of mention by Captain Price. In the latter case, he was riding in a Whippet with restricted vision and in the heat of battle so may have missed the A7V. Equally, the tankers may not have wanted to admit that the Whippet was vulnerable to the A7V so deliberately left out this detail.

Mitchell's tank was actually disabled by an artillery shell so German field guns were active in the area.

Sorry that I cannot clear up the mystery.

Robert

22 October , 2004

Thanks, Robert, for the information. I am sorry to have been so long returning to this thread. I have recently been in touch with a chap in France called Marc Pilot who takes an interest in this engagement, and who has also been trying to identify whether my grandfather's Whippet was hit by a tank or by artillery. His English is not 100% but my impression is that he veers to the view that it was a tank.

Despite what is said in David Fletcher's book, I think we must be well aware that my grandfather survived, as the records of the Tank Corps show this. Furthermore, way back in approximately 1997 when I first began to trace my grandfather's First World War history, David Fletcher told me that he had been captured in this engagement. I have indeed corresponded with David Fletcher about the matter a couple of times over the years.

At the risk of being repetitive I thought it might be worth saying a little more about the story of my grandfather's Whippet and the men in it. I will repeat the story as if I had not given the resume which I gave earlier. I am sorry if this seems to hijack the thread, in relation to a matter which is not strictly relevant.

There were three men in the tank. My grandfather (Arthur Harold James Lincoln), the officer in command Second Lieutenant Harry Dale, and a man called John Herbert. I suspect that my grandfather and Harry Dale may have had a certain amount in common. Harry Dale had relatively recently been promoted from the ranks, and a letter which we have in the family makes it clear that it was likely that my grandfather was also about to be promoted from the ranks.

Robert, you say in your comments that Tommy Price would have observed the incident from inside a tank. With respect, I think that is probably wrong. I cannot lay my hands at the moment upon my copies of the relevant records but I am fairly sure that you will find that Tommy Price was in fact accompanying the tanks which he commanded, and which took part in this engagement, on a horse. I know that he speaks of receiving news from men of his old Regiment (the Northamptonshire Regiment) of the presence of German troops in the area shortly before the engagement and I am pretty sure that at this stage he was on a horse. Furthermore, he is not, as far as I can recall, listed as amongst the actual crews of the tanks.

The details of the engagement have been set down adequately already in this thread. Essentially, either the driver (I do not know whether this was my grandfather or Herbert) of my grandfather's tank or Harry Dale as command, let the tank go too far and it found itself ahead of the others and over the skyline and was hit. I have always assumed that in the description of the incident my grandfather's tank must be the one which is described as being hit but not burning. This is because accounts which I shall come to in relation to what happened to Harry Dale indicate that he stayed in the tank for several minutes after it was hit. Although the other tanks burned, it is clear that the crews were rescued either by simply running away, or by being picked up by other tanks because no one else was wounded, killed or taken prisoner other than the occupants of my grandfather's tank.

Harry Dale's story, both before and after the engagement, is an interesting one. Well before the outbreak of the War he had emigrated to America from his home at Petworth in Sussex. He seems to have made a settled life there and had a fiancée. However, he returned to join up and went into a cavalry unit. He was eventually transferred to the Tank Corps and, as far as I can tell, the Cachy Incident was the first engagement in which he was involved. It was a long time before his fate became absolutely clear. Tommy Price gives an account of visiting, two days after the engagement, a derelict tank on the battlefield. It is apparent that he and the officer who was with him were looking to see what had happened to the missing crew (i.e. my grandfather's tank crew). Accordingly, I am fairly sure that the tank which they approached was my grandfather's. When they approached it they were met with a burst of fire coming from within the tank. Newspaper accounts of what had happened to my grandfather state that my Great Grandmother received two letters from officers in my grandfather's Battalion, one of whom was wounded. Sadly only one of these letters (from a Captain Silver) survives but I think it is likely that the one described as coming from the wounded officer came from Tommy Price. I would love to have seen this letter -- I have an interest in Tommy Price from various angles and would have liked to have known more about the man.

At the time of the Battle of Amiens, Harry Dale's body was found close to the knocked out tank (presumably where it had been left by the Germans who appear to have turned him out of the wrecked tank and set up a machine gun in it) and identified by Captain Silver. He was buried where he was found. After the war his body was "concentrated" into the very nearby cemetery at Crucifix Corner. Harry Dale's PRO file makes fascinating reading. There is a copy of a letter from my Great Grandmother recording that she has heard from my grandfather in a prisoner of war camp and that he has said that Harry Dale was certainly killed. She says in her letter that that she does not want Harry Dale's family to go through the agony which she went through waiting to hear what has happened to my grandfather. There is further correspondence with John Herbert's father in which he encloses news received by John Herbert's fiancée, in effect, passing on the same message. There is then in the file correspondence directly with John Herbert (passing via the Red Cross) in which he set down what happened. He reports that immediately after the tank was hit he got out of the tank. He also reports that he suffered gunshot wounds in his arms and legs (presumably at this stage in proceedings). He also reports that Harry Dale was killed immediately by the shell which entered the cab of the tank (rendering is extraordinary, in my view, that my grandfather and Herbert seem to have survived with significant but not serious injuries). John Herbert further reports that my grandfather emerged from the tank somewhat later. I know that my grandfather was wounded, probably in the leg, in this incident. My strong suspicion is that he was either beaten up or shot by the Germans before being taken prisoner. Certainly all observers state that they cannot believe that any survivors in my grandfather's tank will be taken prisoner because of the number of Germans which they have killed.

That was not the end of the agony for Harry Dale's family. In their minds there remained doubts for some time as to whether Harry was in fact dead. This was because his fiancée in America wrote to say that she had been told by the Red Cross that he was in a prisoner of war camp in Baden. It would appear that this was in fact a reference to an officer taken prisoner called Hugh Retford Dale. Part of the reason for the potential mis-identification was that living opposite Harry Dale's parents, at a farm called Retford Farm, was a farmer's son whose name was Hugh. Hence, probably clutching at straws, his parents obviously very much wanted to believe that he was still alive and suggested that he might have suffered a head wound and become confused about his correct identity and confused in his own mind the name of the relevant farm, the name of the farmer's son and his own surname. However, there does not seem to be any real doubt that the man whose body Captain Silver identified on the battlefield was indeed Harry Dale, and, eventually, the War Office wrote a letter setting the record clearly straight.

I know very little about John Herbert. I have managed to establish that after the War he worked as a millwright, and married his fiancée in Manchester and that they went on to have at least one child (Gladys). However, despite a great deal of effort, I have not been able to establish anything further about what happened to John Herbert. I have gone to some lengths to attempt to trace members of the Herbert family, but so far my efforts have failed. My last hope is a newspaper appeal in the Manchester area and I am hoping to make such an appeal shortly.

My Grandfather's history is also worth recounting briefly. He joined up when he was slightly underage in 1915. He went into the Royal Sussex Regiment. I believe that he probably fought as an infantryman in the Battle of the Somme, before joining the Tank Corps (before someone picks me up I know that that was not what it was called at the time). At the Battle of Arras, with the Tank Corps, he won a Military Medal at The Harp on the first day of the Battle and went on to win a Bar to that medal on 23/4/1917 (probably at the Roeux Chemical Works, but one cannot be sure). I believe him to have almost certainly been the first man to win both elements of a Military Medal and Bar while serving in the Tank Corps. Once he had gone missing after the Cachy engagement my Great Grandmother was sent the two letters which I have already referred to. The one from Captain Silver is an extraordinarily sensitively and carefully written letter, which I have read many times. My heart never fails to go out to the man for the efforts which he made to give my Great Grandmother Anne honest assessment of the prospects that her son was alive, whilst comforting her in her uncertainty. After the War my grandfather built up a successful small business as a pharmacist in Birmingham. He died in 1982. He next to never spoke of the War -- almost all that I know of his War career I have learned since his death. While certainly not a pacifist he was virulently anti the glorification and glamourisation of war and I remember that if a war film came on the television he would always change channels.

By an extraordinary coincidence, I have managed to establish contact with Harry Dale's great-nephew. My first ever visit to the Western Front was in April 1998. This visit was, in part, designed to coincide with the unveiling of the memorial to the tank-to-tank battle just outside Villers Bretonneux. Whilst I was in the area I visited the site of the Cachy engagement and I also visited Harry Dale's grave at Crucifix Corner Cemetery. There I found the following entry in the Visitors' Book. "11/10/97 John Dale, [xx] Farm, [xx county], England. First of family to visit for 80 years. Rest in peace we will return". Immediately upon my return to England I sent a letter addressed to John Dale at this very limited address. Notwithstanding that the address which he had given in the Cemetery Visitors' Book was in fact far from complete, the Post Office delivered the letter to John Dale the following day. This meant that, entirely by coincidence, I established communication with him on the exact 80th anniversary of the day upon which Harry Dale (his great-uncle) had been killed and my Grandfather taken prisoner. Since then I have met John Dale and we have together walked the battlefield at Cachy and stood upon what is almost exactly the spot where Harry Dale was killed. This was at the time just before the Autoroute was built. In fact when we visited there were archaeological diggings going on close to Crucifix Corner Cemetery.

Before the Autoroute was built it was possible to identify, using maps which are at the Public Record Office in the records of the Tank Corps, to within a matter of a metre or two exactly where my grandfather's tank was when it was hit. Now, after the Autoroute has been built, it is more difficult, because the layout of minor roads which featured in the maps drawn in 1918 is no longer there. When I visited at Easter this year, after a good deal of thought, I decided that I could still identify the spot. I believe it to be right against the fence on the south side of the motorway at the top of the motorway embankment. It was nice to know that the spot where poor Harry was killed and my Grandfather suffered his wounds had not vanished underneath the Autoroute! I have an ambition, if it is possible, one day, to plant a small tree on this spot as a memorial to these brave men.

I hope folks found all this interesting. Because of the detail of the Tank Corps records it has been possible to find out a very great deal about what happened to these three men in the action. However, sadly, neither my grandfather's records, nor John Herbert's records survive.

22 October , 2004

Absolutely fascinating! Thanks very much for taking the time to share this information.

Your comment about Captain Price is correct: 'I led the tanks until we reached a small hollow where I left them and rode forward to reconnoitre'.

As to the fact that your grandfather and his colleague survived the hit, that was truly amazing. It is possible that the shell went clean through the cab (and Lt Dale, though he was recognizeable when his body was discovered). Alternatively, the shell did not penetrate and exploded on the outside, with splash or concussion killing Lt Dale. These options would explain why it was possible for there to be a delay in exiting the cab. The tank itself may have been hit a second time, setting it on fire after they had got out.

The A7V (if that is what indeed hit the Whippet) carried a Belgische 5.7cm KasemattKanone, which fired shells with a delayed impact fuse - Aufschlagzuender mit Verzoegerung (Az mV) - for anti-infantry work; an armoured point - Panzerkopf - for engaging tanks; and cannister. The semi-armour-piercing shells had a fuse that could be adjusted to enable the shell to penetrate adequately before exploding inside the tank. In the heat of battle, it is quite possible that the fuse was not correctly adjusted or simply failed to work. Either way, a truly fortunate event for your grandfather.

Robert

27 October , 2004

All,

Just a note of clarification regarding Guderian's description of the German infantry divisions that were in the front lines at the time of the attack. The the divisions, Nr.228 and 77.Reserve were not Jäger divisions, nor did they have any Jäger subunits. There was only one division in the German army called a "Jäger" division. There were other divisions with some or all of their infantry components being comprised of Jäger regiments or battalions, but not these two. A short investigation of the 228th infantry division and the 77th Reserve infantry division reveals that they were both involved in the action mentioned in this story.

It is unclear as to why Guderian would identify them as Jägers.

Robert,

Just as a side note. I have a 57mm German round, which has a solid armor piercing nose. Do you have any additional information on this ammmunition?

Regards,

Chip

27 October , 2004

Chip

It sounds like you have a round that would have been fired from the version of the 57mm used as an infantry gun. I will post more details when I get to my references.

Robert

28 October , 2004

Robert,

Would be interested to know what the difference would be between a round used in a tank and one used by an infantry gun of the same caliber. I will look forward to your reply.

Best regards,

Chip

28 October , 2004

Having gone back to Jaeger's book 'German Artillery of World War One', there is a picture of the 5.7 cm Infanteriegeschuetz L/30 in the front line. It is a staged picture, with the crew holding 'special armour-piercing shells'. I will see if I can scan it for you. The later antitank/antiaircraft version (5.7 cm KasK Kw), mounted on a lorry, fired 'both semiarmour-piercing and armour-piercing, and canister too'.

The semiarmour-piercing shells were fused, having an explosive inside. A small percentage of armour-piercing shells, presumably solid projectiles such as you have, were carried by tanks.

The French/American 3.7 cm Trench Gun M1916 also fired a solid projectile. This was used to engage armoured targets, namely MG shields. The French and Americans also used these guns in an anti-tank role, though whether they actually fired in anger against German tanks is something I have not been able to corroborate.

Robert

30 October , 2007

Achtung-Panzer - Heinz Guderian (1937) pps. 184-186: