PAK40 German Anti-Tank Gun

   While most of my models have been of tanks or
airplanes, I was given this model of a gun crew of the German Army of World War II. It was a first for me and I admit to some hesitancy in assembling this model.
   The German campaign against France began on May 10th, 1940 and would only last six weeks before the French surrendered. The PAK artillery pieces have been with the German Army as early as the mid 1930's. The original field piece was the PAK37 and shot a 37mm projectile. In 1940 the gun was updated to 
7.5cm (48 caliber) twenty-five pound projectile with a range in excess of one-thousand yards. This is the caliber the field piece saw its most versatile form throughout the end of the war in 1945. There was some developmental models using the 88mm flak gun rounds, but these were never part of the PAK series for the regular army.

   On June 22nd, 1941 the Germans started 'Operation Barbarossa', the invasion of the Soviet Union and the PAK40 was used in abundance to support the leading units of the Wehrmacht. To repel the invaders the Russians sent waves of their new T-34 tanks, and although a superb tank, thousands of the T-34's were destroyed by the PAK40 anti-tank gun. The long 46 inch barrel was a one-piece construction but was designed with a double-action muzzle brake. The recoil mechanism was improved with the addition of hydraulic buffers to keep the gun stabilized after each round was fired. The gun was supported by an eight-man crew and usually transported behind the 3-ton truck, Sdkfz 11.