German 13mm AT Rifle

[David]

Due to the increased useage of tanke on the western front, the German High Command, somewhat belatedly, after Cambrai, sought a suitable defensive weapon for use by the Infantry. This resulted in the development by Mauser in 1917/18 of this heavy 13mm Anti-tank rifle, the so called T-Gewehre: Tank Gewehre. It was a single shot bolt action rifle and was mounted on a tripod for firing. The heavy bullet was a 52.5g scaled up version of the 7.92mm bullet with steel mantel and lead core. The muzzle velocity was 785 m/sec and was, at leat in theory, capable of penetrating 22mm armour at the range of 200 meters, and 20mm at the range of 500 meters. The first copies were manufactured in January 1918. An order of 30.000 Rifles was placed, and rushed to the front as they were produced, and they were employed on the front in ever increasing numbers from the end of March 1918.

On the battlefield it was carried in a special harness. It was not a success. Firstly, the recoil was very heavy, and it was foolhardy to try and fire it from the shoulder. Secondly, it was not effective enough. The troops soon found out that it was ineffective against the Renault FT-17 with it's many sloped armour plates: the bullet required hit at a 90º to penetrate. (The same 13mm ammunition was also used in the dual purpose AT/AA "Tank und Flieger" (T, u. P. ) Machine gun. However, the Armistice was completed before this much more potent weapon was put into mass production.)

Weight af rifle: 16.5kg. Length: 169cm.