The 39, abbreviated PzB 39 (German: "tank hunting rifle model 39"), was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

anti-tank rifle An anti-tank rifle is an anti-materiel rifle designed to penetrate the vehicle armor, armor of armored fighting vehicles, most commonly tanks, armored personnel carriers, and infantry fighting vehicles. The term is usually used for weapons that ca ...

used in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was an improvement of the 38 (PzB 38) rifle.

Development

PzB 38

German anti-tank rifles originated back in 1917 with the

Mauser 1918 T-Gewehr The Tankgewehr M1918 (), also known as the Mauser 13mm anti-tank rifle and T-Gewehr in English, is a German anti-tank rifle—the first rifle designed for the sole purpose of destroying armored targets—and the only anti-tank rifle to see servi ...

, the world's first anti-tank rifle, using a special 13.2 mm (0.52 in) cartridge. It was created in response to the appearance of the first British tanks on the Western Front. That single shot manually operated rifle enjoyed moderate success; approximately 15,800 rifles were built. German development resumed in the late 1930s. In an effort to provide infantry with a man-portable lightweight anti-tank rifle, ''Dipl.-Ing.'' (certified engineer) B. Brauer at Gustloff Werke in

Suhl Suhl () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located SW of Erfurt, NE of Würzburg and N of Nuremberg. With its 37,000 inhabitants, it is the smallest of the six urban districts within Thuringia. Together with its northern neighbour-town Zella ...

designed the ''Panzerbüchse'' 38 (PzB 38). It was a manually loaded single-shot weapon with a recoiling barrel, using a special 7.92 mm (0.311 in) cartridge. When fired, the barrel recoiled about , which opened the breech and ejected the spent cartridge casing. The breech block was then arrested in the rear position, remaining opened for the gunner to manually insert a new cartridge. The gunner then released the cocked breech with a lever at the grip. The breech and barrel would then move forward again and the trigger was cocked in preparation to fire. This rather complicated mechanism was reportedly prone to jamming as the system got dirty in field use. Although manufactured with pressed steel parts that were spot-welded, because of the complicated vertical breech block mechanism it was difficult to manufacture and only a small number of 1,408 PzB 38 rifles were built in 1939 and 1940 at the ''Gustloff Werke'' plant; 62 of these weapons were used by German troops in the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

in 1939. The rifle was long - folded for transport - and weighed . It used a specifically designed cartridge with a standard caliber of 7.9 mm, but a very large 94 mm long case (nominal 7.92×94mm). also known as the "7.92 x 94 ''Patronen''".

PzB 39

The next development, onto which production was immediately switched, was the ''Panzerbüchse'' 39 (PzB 39), an improvement made by Gustloff on their PzB 38. It also used a vertical breech block mechanism and the same cartridge as the PzB 38. It retained the barrel of the PzB 38 and had an only slightly increased overall length of ; weight was reduced to . Performance was basically the same as that of the PzB 38. To increase the practical rate of fire, two cases each containing 10 rounds could be attached to the sides of the weapon near the breech - these were not magazines feeding the weapon, but merely put the cartridges closer to hand for the gunner. 568 PzB 39 were used by the German army in the invasion of Poland; two years later, at the beginning of

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

, 25,298 PzB 39 were in use by German troops. Total production from March 1940 to November 1941, when production ceased, was 39,232 rifles. The PzB 39 remained in use until 1944, by which time it had become hopelessly inadequate against all but the lightest armored vehicles.

Variants

Starting in 1942, remaining PzB 39 rifles were rebuilt with a shortened barrel (590 mm) and an affixed '' Schiessbecher'' ("firing cup") attachment threaded to the barrel and used to launch standard

rifle grenade A rifle grenade is a grenade that uses a rifle-based launcher to permit a longer effective range than would be possible if the grenade were thrown by hand. The practice of projecting grenades with rifle-mounted launchers was first widely used dur ...

s. The cup was the standard type used with the ubiquitous Kar 98k infantry rifle and the ammunition was also interchangeable; there were three types of grenades: an anti-personnel grenade, a light anti-tank grenade and a large-diameter anti-tank grenade. The grenades were propelled by a special cartridge with a wood bullet. The rifle was also outfitted with a special sighting arrangement for firing up to 150 m and the wooden forend was removed. These converted rifles received the designation ''Granatbüchse Modell'' 39 (GrB 39) and remained in use until the end of the war.

References

External links

Small Arms ReviewAnti-Tank Rifle History and Collecting

Forgotten Weapons - Panzerbüchse 39 German Anti-Tank Rifle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Panzerbuchse 39 Anti-tank rifles of Germany World War II infantry weapons of Germany 8 mm firearms Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1939