New Zealand soldiers posing for a photograph with a captured German Tank Gewehr, August 25, 1918.

The German "Mauser Tankgewehr M1918", usually just called the T-Gewehr (Tank Rifle), was the first ever designated anti-tank rifle in the history of warfare, and the only one used in the First World War.

By June 1917, the British were deploying the Mark IV tanks on the battlefield, and the Germans discovered their standard armour-piercing bullets were no longer effective at putting them out of action.

Not even their MG-08 machine-guns could pierce the British tanks and hand-grenades and artillery were too unreliable to stop a tank advancing directly towards a German trench.

Following the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917, in which the British really demonstrated the potential of their tanks to break the trench stalemate, the Germans began development of a new rifle designated for anti-tank purposes.

By January 1918, the Tankgewehr M1918 had been developed, manufactured by Mauser, a high-caliber, single-shot, bolt-action rifle, heavily inspired by rifles used to hunt elephants in Africa.

Mass production of the Tank Gewehr began in May 1918, and 15,800 had been built by the end of the war.

The Tank Gewehr weighed 15.9 kg alone, 18.5 kg with the bipod, and was operated by a two-man crew, a gunner and an ammunition bearer.

The gunner carried the rifle itself and 20 specially designed 13 mm Mauser cartridges, whilst the ammunition bearer carried two shoulder bags with 20 rounds each, and an ammunition box with an additional 72 cartridges.

With an effective range of 500 meters, the Tank Gewehr did its job at stopping enemy tanks. However, missing a muzzle brake, the rifle suffered from massive recoil, and shooting multiple rounds often led to headaches for the gunner.

The bipod had to be anchored to the ground before firing if the gunner did not want to risk serious injuries due to the recoil.

don't forget to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Comments

Meet The Man Who Broke World Record By Sleeping With 57 Women In 24 Hrs But Later Rushed To Hospital

Meet The Man Who Broke World Record By Sleeping With 57 Women In 24 Hrs But Later Rushed To Hospital Meet a man who managed to make it to the Guinness book of records after breaking a long standing world record of sleeping with 57 women in a span of 24 hours. The 34 year old man hailed from Singapore and broke the record in Prague, the capital of Czech Republic, in an annual event run by a local brothel. According to reports, the unnamed man disclosed that he had been training hard for months to break the previous record which stood at 55 and he was delighted that he broke it. Quoting him, he said, “I've always been a bit of a sex addict, and when I learned that the brothel was having a world record attempt I knew I had to come and give it a go. I take it really seriously and train for it just like an athlete would prepare for a marathon. In some ways, it's actually much harder than a lot of professional sports.`` The Singapore man was very focused on his goal in that by mid...

Honoring Leo Henry Schweiter: Veteran of World War II, The Korean War and The Vietnam War

Honoring Leo Henry Schweiter: Veteran of World War II, The Korean War and The Vietnam War Leo Henry Schweiter was born in Wichita Kansas on April 16, 1917. Leo enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1941. He then transferred to the 101st Airborne Division. While serving as Captain and Assistant Chief of Staff G-2 Intelligence Officer Schweiter took part in the Normandy airborne landings on June 6, 1944. During this time he was knocked unconscious by a grenade blast. Captain Schweiter was subsequently captured by the Germans but released a day later upon their retreat. A veteran of Operation Market Garden, the Siege of Bastogne and the counter attack at Haguenau, Schweiter remained in service with the US Army after World War II. Leo Henry Schweiter would go on to serve with the 7th Infantry Division during the Korean War. In 1959 he was named Chief of Staff of the 8th Infantry Division and later became Assistant Chief of Staff, G2, Headquarters, in the XVIII Airborne Corps. During...

The Holocaust: 18. War Crimes

**The Holocaust: 18. War Crimes** G.M. Gilbert was one of the prison psychologists during the Nuremberg war crimes trial. On April 9, 1946 he had a brief conversation with Colonel Rudolph Hoess, who had been the commandant of Auschwitz. The following is an excerpt of his book *Nurember Diary*: We discussed briefly his activity as the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp from May, 1940, to December, 1943, which camp was the central extermination camp for Jews. He readily confirmed that approximately 2 1/2 million Jews had been exterminated under his direction. The exterminations began in the summer of 1941. In compliance with [Hermann] Goering's skepticism, I asked Hoess how it was technically possible to exterminate 2 1/2 million people. "Technicall?" he asked. "That wasn't so hard -- it would not have been hard to exterminate even greater numbers." In answer to my rather naive questions as to how many people could be done away with in an hour, et...

WORLD OF ALL

Search This Blog