Shoot a tank with a gun? What, what? Looking at the well-known Tiger and Panther tanks, a modern person may have serious doubts about the effectiveness of such an anti-tank weapon as an armor-piercing gun. What were the PTRs created in the 1930s and 1940s in fact: a useless waste of precious resources, an artifact to calm soldiers down, or is it still an effective means of combating armored vehicles?
Today, the idea that an enemy tank can be stopped with a shot from a gun, albeit a large-caliber one using special ammunition, seems somehow unconvincing. Especially when you come across evidence that already at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, German tanks did not always stop even with the help of some kind of "forty-five" cannons. If the armor cannot take 45 mm, then where is there some "pathetic" 14.5 mm? But in practice, everything is not so simple.
Contrary to popular belief, anti-tank guns were not only at the disposal of the Soviet Union. Germany also had them. Here it is enough to recall the 7.9 mm PzB 38, which were produced for the needs of the Wehrmacht up to and including 1942. His own gun, for example, was in the army of His Majesty. We are talking about the famous British 12.7-mm Boys anti-tank rifle, which was in service until 1965! In the Soviet Union, there were two guns at once: PTRD and PTRS. Their total circulation was about 400 thousand copies during the war years.
Considering the fact that in 1941 the country was in an extremely difficult situation, it is easy to guess: it is unlikely that GKOs would be scattered over something dubious. In other words, anti-tank rifles were quite effective until 1943. And they were especially effective from 1939 to 1942. First of all, because the tanks with which all countries met the war were very different from the ones with which they ended it.
For a better and more visual understanding of the issue, we present the numbers. The heavy tank "Tiger" appeared in 1942 and had a frontal armor thickness of 100 mm. Tank "Panther" - 80 mm. At the same time, late German tanks could have additional armor in the form of lining plates or protective screens attached to the turret and sides. Now let's look at the tanks with which Germany attacked the Soviet Union.
For example, Pz. Kpfw. IV from 1938 had a frontal booking of 50 mm. For comparison, the Panther had the same armor on board. Only after 1942, a modification of the "four" appeared with armor reinforced to 80 mm. Another German tank from 1938, the Pz. Kpfw. III acquired 30 mm frontal armor, which was increased to 50 mm after 1942. Finally, one cannot fail to recall the numerous German assault guns (self-propelled guns). So, some StuG III from 1937 had a frontal booking of 25-50 mm at different times.
It is important to understand that the speed of departure of an armor-piercing bullet from an ATR is much higher than the speed of departure of most shells from anti-tank guns. And therefore, from the point of view of physics, a small, but highly overclocked disc, much more dangerous than a large one. For comparison, the initial velocity of the projectile in the already mentioned "forty-five" is 760 m / s, and in the PTRS-41 gun - 1,020 m / s. Finally, do not forget that the PTR was most often fired not at the frontal armor, but at the side armor. Therefore, at the first stage of the war, the defeat of important units of armored vehicles, the wounding or killing of crew members with the help of armor-piercing rifles was only a matter of the marksman's accuracy.
Continuing the topic, read about what it was like "Army of Ghosts": what the secret division of the United States was doing.