WEHRMACHT PANZERJÄGER STANDING PANZERSCHRECK IN FRONT OF THE CHEST

The Panzerschreck (full name: Raketenpanzerbüchse Panzerschreck) was a German anti-tank rocket launcher from the Second World War. In the RpZB 54 version, the weapon weighed 10.7 kilograms, the barrel was 164 centimeters long, and the effective range was up to 150 meters. The caliber of the gun was 88 mm. The Panzerschreck was created as an individual anti-tank weapon of the German infantry, being a specific development of the famous Panzerfaust. Compared to him, the Panzerschreck was more complicated - both in production and handling - but it was a reusable weapon, and had a better range and accuracy than the Panzerfaust 30 or 60 models. Bazookas. This weapon was produced from 1943, but it appeared on a larger scale only in 1944. It was used by German troops both on the Eastern Front, in Italy, and on the Western Front until the end of the war. It was also used by the armed forces of Finland and Hungary, among others.The German army had experience in fighting enemy armored vehicles from the period of World War I (1916-1918). After the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, the development of anti-tank weapons was hindered, but in 1928 the gun was put into mass production 3.7 cm PaK 36 which at that time was one of the most modern anti-tank guns in the world. However, with time, especially in the 1930s and with the development of own armored weapons, the problem of anti-tank weapons was treated in the German army rather of secondary importance. As a result, the German army entered World War II, still having the P aK 36 caliber 37 mm, which turned out to be completely insufficient against the French Char B1 Bis or the Soviet T-34 and KW-1. Moreover, with the development of fighting on the Eastern Front, the problem of destroying Soviet armored weapons became more and more urgent, which led to the introduction of new 50 and 75 mm anti-tank guns into the line. From 1943, the Panzerfaust recoilless rifles were introduced on an increasingly larger scale, which were used to saturate their own infantry units as much as possible. For example, in 1943, the German infantry division had 108 recoilless guns and 35 towed and self-propelled anti-tank guns.