WW2 Armour Penetration

Introduction This document, which I hope will prove useful to WW2 wargamers, gives penetration performance details of WW2 anti-tank weapons. All the sources I have used are in the public domain. Those books no longer in print should mostly be easy to buy from a good book search service, or to borrow from a good library. The documents cited from the Public Records Office, Kew, are available for inspection there to anyone with a Reader’s ticket. Where page numbers are cited, tables usually appear in the original source. In other cases, it has been necessary to extract and tabulate data spread through the body of the text. Sometimes it has been necessary to reduce information presented as graphs or polar diagrams to tabular form, and some loss of accuracy is inevitable in the process. Given the inherent imprecision of all these figures, however, this does not much matter. Sources referring to the post-war period have been cited where they cover weapons developed during the war. Some entries refer to weapons never introduced into service, such as the British 32-pounder and Burney guns with "Wallbuster" (HESH) shell, American experimental 90mm guns, and a variety of German developments; these are included for interest. To be useful, armour penetration figures should specify not only the gun, range and penetration achieved, but also the ammunition nature and model fired, the angle of impact, the type of armour attacked and the penetration criterion used. I believe that the usual British penetration proof criterion early in the war was to have the complete projectile length pass through the target plate on 80% of proof shots fired. Later, some tables give the "critical thickness" of armour, that is, the one for which a shot win and a plate win are equally likely. The Russians used two penetration criteria, the "Army" criterion requiring complete perforation of the plate, and the more demanding "Naval" criterion requiring the complete projectile to pass through. Few, if any, sources provide all this information. An additional annoyance is that some sources are obviously mistaken or misprinted in places. This has been noted under the heading "Comments and Corrections" where I have been able to spot the error. The customary angle of impact when quoting penetration performance is 30º from the vertical, but some American weapons are quoted for 20º. German practice was (and current NATO practice is) to measure angles from the horizontal, so where 60º is stated, it is usually safe to assume that 30º from the vertical is intended. In action, unless firing from exactly right-angles to the target vehicle, there will be an additional angular component depending on the target tank’s facing. A table for rough conversions from sloped armour to an equivalent thickness of vertical plate is given as one of the extracts from WO 185/118; it will be seen that well-sloped armour seems to be more effective than would be indicated by a simple cosine calculation. It is also traditional to quote penetration against homogenous armour. Performance against facehardened plate, especially for smaller weapons firing uncapped rounds, can differ greatly. Armour hardness may vary considerably. For example, according to Kenneth Macksey's "The Guinness Book of Tank Facts and Feats" (Guinness Superlatives, Enfield, 1972), British homogenous armour at the outbreak of WW2 came in "soft" (machineable) and "hard" grades with Brinell hardnesses of 380 and 450 respectively, while Vickers Cemented armour had a Brinell hardness of 600 on the front and 400 on the back. 50 Brinell points corresponds to 10 tons per square inch; 1 Brinell point corresponds by my calculations to 0.315 Kg/sq. mm, or to put it another way 1 Kg/sq. mm is equivalent to 3.17 Brinell points. It seems that there is a certain velocity band which face-hardened plate protects against best, and for projectiles arriving outside this velocity band, face-hardened plate is less effective than the same thickness of homogenous armour. Where ammunition nature is not specified, it may be possible to make an educated guess based on the muzzle velocity, if the source quotes one, or simply by applying common sense to the magnitude of the penetration figure given — the widely-quoted 140mm penetration at 500m credited to the Soviet 57mm ZIS-2 can hardly apply to a standard AP round, for example. One source shows a significant difference in performance between APHE and APC or APCBC rounds for the same gun, and it can sometimes be difficult to decide which is meant. The nationality of the weapon can serve as a guide; the Germans never used solid steel AP, preferring APHE; the Russians seem to have had a strong preference for

1

Introduction APHE; the Americans seem to have been happy with both; and the British never used APHE after the 3pounder. The question is further complicated by the fact that rounds are sometimes misleadingly designated; for example, some American rounds designated APC are in fact APCBC. In the name of accuracy, some of these, and Panzergranate 39 for guns of 5cm calibre and above, should probably be designated APCBCHE, but they rarely are. For complete accuracy, the precise model number needs to be known. Sometimes even this is not enough, as the table from Hunnicutt's "Sherman" shows; there is an appreciable difference between the "early" and "late" 90mm M82 APC, due to "hotter" loading. Some sources do not help by propagating errors; many sources credit the 17-pdr firing APDS with 231mm penetration at 1000 yards on armour sloped at 30º, but it seems tolerably obvious that this figure really refers to armour at 0º. It is depressingly rare for original sources to be accurately credited. Even when all these sources of variation are accounted for, authoritative sources can seem to disagree. Consider the German 75mm PaK40, a common and well-documented weapon, firing PzGr 39 against homogenous armour at 30º at 500 metres (or 600 yards, which is near enough). Even discarding the highest and lowest observations as outliers, we find a variation between 90mm and 106mm, a difference of 17% of the lower figure. This highlights the point that armour penetration is far from being a deterministic phenomenon, and giving penetrative performance in millimetres (and even in some cases half-millimetres) suggests a degree of precision that does not really exist, even for proof shots fired under tightly-controlled conditions. Performance in the field, of course, is subject to very much greater variation. As Shelford Bidwell says in "Gunners at War", "All simplified tables showing the performance of anti-tank guns are misleading". The Bovington booklet "Fire and Movement" says "Chance also causes discrepancies — for instance, a normally certain penetration may be prevented by the deflection away of a projectile on a lifting-lug projecting from a turret; conversely, a normally certain immunity may be removed if that same type of projection deflects a projectile towards the armour at a different angle". Using penetration tables takes no account either of behind-armour effect following penetration, nor of non-penetrating damage. In principle, penetrating shell with a bursting charge should have better behind-armour effect than solid shot, but whether this matters in calibres above about 50mm seems highly questionable. The most supremely futile attempt to improve behind-armour effectiveness must surely be the German inclusion of a small tear-gas pellet in the AP bullet for the PzB 39 anti-tank rifle. It should still be borne in mind that most of these figures generally indicate the thickness of armour the projectile will just penetrate; the greater the degree to which the armour is overmatched, presumably, the greater will be the damage potential of the penetrating projectile. Hollow-charge weapons are a special case, in that the projectile itself does not penetrate the armour, but rather the jet formed by its charge does. Hollow charge weapons of the WW2 epoch were reputed to have less-than-ideal behind-armour effects. As the Bovington "Fire and Movement" booklet points out, "If the projectile is not an appreciable overmatch for the target, however, the penetration can be small enough to do little damage". One of the tables in WO 185/178 makes an interesting attempt to quantify behind-armour effects by estimating the weight of metal shot into the tank by a penetrating hit. Penetration tables also take no account of non-penetrating damage. The running gear of all vehicles can be vulnerable to AP or HE fire from nearly all calibres. Extremely large calibre rounds can cause catastrophic damage without needing to penetrate the target; a Soviet 122mm shell, for example, might completely remove the turret of its target. Germany and Russia began using welded construction in the 1930s, but Britain and America continued to use rivets until the beginning of WW2. A shot hitting an exposed rivet-head could cause the rivet shank to break off and be projected into the tank, causing damage. The British continued to use rivets in the Cromwell until the end of the war, but these were tapered to prevent this happening. Thanks to Tony Williams and Ernest Ashworth of the UK and Eero Juhola of Finland for the information they contributed to this collection. Anyone with comments, corrections or additions is invited to e-mail them to [email protected]. Please be sure to include title, author, publisher and year of publication for any source you refer to. 13 May 2002

2

Contents Barker, 1979 5 Bidwell, 1976 5 Blackburn, 1998 6 Bovington Museum, 1975 7 Braun, 1977 8 Brereton & Norman, 1972 9 Chamberlain, Doyle & Jentz, 1978 10 Chamberlain & Ellis, 1969 11 Chamberlain & Gander, 1974 12 Collier's Encyclopedia, 1995 13 DEFE 15/1107, The performance of Russian SU-100 APHE/T shot UBR-412B against armour plate 13 DEFE 15/1934, The scabbing of armour plate by static explosive charges 13 DSIR 27/60, Use of thin spaced plates of armour plate & mild steel to stop 0.303" AP shot 14 Encyclopædia Britannica, 1985 14 Ellis et al, 1962 15 Ellis, 1993 16 Farrar-Hockley, 1976 17 Featherstone, 1973 17 Fleischer, 1994 19 Forty, 1979 20 Forty, 1999 20 Foss, 1974 21 Funcken & Funcken, 1976 22 Gander, 1998 22 Gander & Chamberlain, 1977 22 Gander & Chamberlain, 1978 23 Godfrey, 1984 25 Grove, 1976 25 Handbook on the Italian Army 26 Hoffschmidt & Tantum, 1968 27 Hogg, 1975 29 Hogg, 1976 30 Hogg, 1977 31 Hogg, 1978 32 Hogg, 1997 34 Hogg & Weeks, 1977 35 Huhtala, 1940 35 Hunnicut, 1978 36 Hunnicut, 2001 37 Isby, 1974 37 Isby, 1979 37 Jentz, 1996 38 Kent, 1990 39 Kosnett, 1977 39 Labbett & Brown, 1988 39 Lucas, 1988 40 Lucas, 1994 40 Macksey, 1988 41 McRae & Coox, 1954 42 Messenger, 1982 43 Moore, 1991 44 Nash, 1974 44 Ogorkiewicz, 1960 45 O'Neill, 1981 45 Orgill, 1971 45 Perrett, 1990 46 Playfair, 1956 46

3

Contents Quarrie, 1989 47 Shephard, Hartley, Haysman, Thorpe & Bathe, 1988 48 Spielberger, 196? 48 TM 30-410 48 TM-E 30-451 49 Unknown 50 Vanags-Baginskis & Watanabe, 1993 51 von Senger und Etterlin, 1971 52 Weeks, 197? 53 Wiener, 1978 53 Williams, 1999 54 Woodman, 1991 55 WO 171/336, 30 Corps "G" War Diary 56 WO 185/15, Anti-tank grenades 56 WO 185/118, DDG/FV(D) Armour plate experiments 56 WO 185/122, Churchill tank with 17 pdr gun 58 WO 185/133, Tungsten Carbide Production 58 WO 185/145, New infantry anti-tank weapon 59 WO 185/171, Armour plate experiments 59 WO 185/178, Tank armament versus armour 60 WO 185/182, Recoilless weapons 63 WO 185/194, Tank and anti-tank armament 63 WO 190/706, German Army infantry weapons 63 WO 193/480, Anti-tank weapons and ammunition 64 WO 194/598, Interim damage assessment report on 20mm, 25mm and 30mm calibre cannon attacks against APC targets 64 WO 195/15062, Scab resistance of armour plate 64 WO 208/2079, Tactical and Technical Trends 65 WO 208/3003, German Infantry Weapons 65 WO 214/52, War establishments 65 WO 219/2785, SHAEF equipment and supply returns 65 WO 219/2801, SHAEF documents on tanks 66 WO 219/2806, Appendix G to SHAEF/16652/GCT/Arty 66 WO 279/200, The Development of Artillery Tactics and Equipment 68 WO 291/385, The Performance of the Infantry Sledge under Fire 68 WO 291/741, Comparison of the performance of 75mm and 76mm tank gun ammunition 69 WO 291/1143, Effectiveness of British and Russian tanks 70 WO 291/1407, The Characteristics of 13 SP Assault Guns 70 WO 291/1646, Testing of plastic armour, "bullet proof" glass, mild steel and armour plate as protection against small arms fire under Malayan conditions 71 Zaloga, 1979 71 Zaloga & Grandsen, 1984 72 Zaloga & Ness, 1998 73 Zaloga & Sarson, 1993 73 Zetterling, 2000 74

4

WW2 armour penetration Barker, 1979 "Japanese Army Handbook 1939–1945", A. J. Barker, Ian Allan, 1979, page 95. Armour at normal, armour type not specified, range not specified. Weapon 37mm ATk gun 47mm ATk gun

Penetration 25 51

Comments and corrections The original gives penetration in inches. The failure to specify range makes these figures less than informative, but we might assume 500 yards.

Bidwell, 1976 "Artillery Tactics 1939–1945", Shelford Bidwell, Almark, 1976, page 72. Armour at 30º slope, type unspecified. Ranges in yards. Weapon US or Ger 37mm 2 pdr Russian 45mm Russian 57mm 25 pdr German 50mm 88mm FLAK 6 pdr

Ammo

250

500 36 53 60

58

540

1000 27 40 38

2000

140 62 65 112 75 146 171 90 123

APDS German 75mm Russian 76mm 17 pdr APDS

54 53 103 63

86

130 83 113 231

Comments and corrections This book is one of Almark's "Mechanics of War" series. The original table has the last four rows misaligned; the error is corrected here. Many of these figures are also given on page 234 of Bidwell's "Gunners at War", A& AP, 1970, which states the slope as 30º and gives the 2 000 yard figure for the 88mm (possibly intended to be for the 17-pdr, as the formatting is unclear, but assumed to be for the 88mm by reference to the War Office document that appears to be Bidwell's source). The figures for APDS are included as notes, with no range given, but the main text attributes 231mm penetration to the 17-pdr with APDS at 1000 yards, which seems a lot, but agrees with Hogg's "The Guns of World War II". It seems likely that this figure refers to 0º slope. The figures for the Russian 57mm at 540 yards and the 2-pdr at 250 yards are added from the main text. Bidwell lists the 37mm as "British", as well as US and German. The "Russian" 76mm shown here is better known as the PaK 36(r) in German service. The German 75mm entry carries the comment "A very good gun, but short lived." and the footnote "supplies of tungsten carbide for its special shot ran out", from which it seems safe to conclude that the weapon referred to is the PaK 41 Gerlich gun, rather than the PaK40.

5

WW2 armour penetration Blackburn, 1998 "The Guns of Normandy", George Blackburn, Constable, 1998, page 496. Penetration in millimetres, 30º slope, armour type and range unstated: Weapon 6 pdr 88mm KwK 36 88mm KwK 43 75mm KwK 42 17 pdr plain shot 17 pdr sabot 75mm

Penetration 63 102 164 110 113 231 68

Comments and corrections These figures seem about right for 1000 yards. The source wrongly states that the 6-pdr was mounted in the Churchill VII.

6

WW2 armour penetration Bovington Museum, 1975 "Fire and Movement", RAC Tank Museum, Bovington, 1975, pages 22–25. "Penetration v. homogenous armour at 30º, at ranges in yards". The armour is machineable quality. Weapon 2-pr Mks IX and X

3-pr Mk II 6-pr Mk 3 or 5 75mm Mk V 77mm Mk 2 17-pr Mk 2 37mm M6 75mm M2 and M3 76mm M1A1 or M1A2 90mm M3 47mm mod 37 20mm L65 37mm L45 50mm L42 50mm L60 75mm L24 75mm L43 75mm L48 75mm L70 88mm L56 88mm L71 128mm L55 37mm mod 94 47mm Type 1 75mm 94 or 1 Sov 76 L41 Sov 85 L53 Sov 100 L46 Sov 122 L43

Ammo AP APCBC SV APHE APCBC APDS APC APCBC APCBC APDS APCBC APDS APC APCBC APC APCBC HVAP APCBC HVAP APC AP APCR APC APCR APC APCR APC APCR APCBC APCBC APCBC APCBC APCBC APCR APCBC APC APCBC APHE AP AP APCBC APCBC APCBC APCBC

100

500 53 88 87 131 68 103 120 182 125 187 46

55 31 49 68

(estd) (estd) (estd) (estd)

70 94 158 126 221 43 22 35 30 43 56 66 61 86 46 84 90 141 110 126 182 175 215 32 59 62 56 103 130 140

1000 40 49 72 25 80 117 61 94 110 165 118 170 42 62 59 89 134 120 200 29

22 47 42 50 55 41 72 79 121 101 103 167 150 202 25 45 53 50 94 120 130

1500

2000

44 60

40 48

73 103 54 86 100 148 110 153 40 48 55 81 117 114 177 23

67 90 47 78 90 130 98 135 37 40 50 76 99 105 154

2500

39 26 32 35 62 70 104 93 85 153 132 190

53 62 89 84 70 139 120 178

34 46 45 86 110 120

40 77 100 110

127

64 95 100

Comments and corrections Hollow charge rounds shown are the British 95mm How Mk 1 (110mm), US 105mm how M4 (100mm) and German 75mm L24 (43mm). The last of these seems remarkably ungenerous, but agrees with the figure given in Hogg's "German Artillery of World War 2" for plate at 30º. Dates for introduction of different kinds of ammunition are given as: 2-pr AP Sep 39; APCBC May 42; SV Jan 43; 6-pr APC, APCBC Oct 42; APDS Jun 44; 17-pr AP, APC, APCBC early 43; HE Jun 44; APDS Summer 44.

7

WW2 armour penetration

Braun, 1977 "Handbuch der Flugzeug Bordwaffenmunition", 1977, collected by Matthias Braun. Ranges in metres, angles given from the horizontal. Gun MG17

Cartridge SmK v

Target 140-150

13mm

Pzgr Patr L'spur

140-150

15mm

Pzgr Patr L'spur

140-150

15mm

H-Pzgr Patr

140-160

2cm

Pzgr Patr FFM

150

2cm

Pzgr Patr 151

150

3cm

Pzgr Patr L'spur

140-150

3cm

H Pzgr Patr L'spur

100 150

3.7cm

H Pzgr Patr Flak 18

150

Attack D D D I D D D I I I D D D I I D D D D D D I I I D D D I I I D D D D D D D D

Range 100 300 600 100 100 300 600 100 300 600 300 400 600 100 300 100 300 600 100 300 600 100 300 600 100 300 600 100 300 600 300 600 100 300 100 300 100 600

90º 12 9 6 4 17 11 5.5 16 9 5.5 25 19 14 15 11.5 48 42 31.5 21.5 17 12 12.5 11 8 24 23 15 13 12 8.5 32 27 100 95 78 74 140 95

60º 8 6 3.5 3 10 7 4 9.5 6.5 4 18 15 10.5 11.5 10 26.5 20 15.5 12 9.5 7 8.5 8 5.5 12 11.5 7 10 9 7 26 21.5 58 52 47 42 68 47

30º 4 3 1.5 3 4.5 3 2 4 3 2 11.5 9.5 6.5

12 9.5 7 7 5.5 4 5 4.5 3 8 7 4 6.5 5 4 19 14

Comments and corrections "Attack" type shows either indirect attack (I), after penetrating a 3mm thick plate of dural at 20º placed at 1.5m from the main armour, or direct attack (D) with no such encumbrance. "Target" shows the "festigkeit", which I take to mean literally "strength", of the target in Kg per square mm. I take this to be a measure of hardness, and by my calculations 1 Kg/sq. mm would correspond to about 3.17 Brinell points. These results are read by eye from graphs, and rounded to the nearest half millimetre. Thanks to Tony Williams for supplying this document, which summarises results collected from 1936 to 1945 at the "Luftwaffenmunitionsentwicklungsabteilung der Deutschen Wehrmacht" at Erprobungsstelle E6, Rechlin.

8

WW2 armour penetration

Brereton & Norman, 1972 "Russian T34", AFV/Weapons Profile 47, Profile Publications, 1972, page 8. Penetration in millimetres with "AP rounds", ranges in metres, armour type and slope unspecified.

76.2mm L41.2

500 69

1000 61

9

1500 54

2000 48

WW2 armour penetration

Chamberlain, Doyle & Jentz, 1978 Appendix I, "German Tank Armament ", in: "Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War Two", first edition, Peter Chamberlain, Hilary L. Doyle & Thomas L. Jentz, A&AP 1978, page 245. "Penetration of Homogenous Armour Plate at 30º from Vertical", ranges in metres. Weapon 7.92mm MGs 2cm KwK or FlaK sPzB41 3.7cm KwK or Pak35/36 3.7cm KwK34(t) 3.7cm KwK38(t) 3.7cm FlaK 43 4.7cm PaK(t) 5cm KwK38 5cm KwK39 5cm PaK38 7.5cm KwK37 or StuK37 7.5cm KwK40 or StuK40 L43 7.5cm PaK39, KwK40 or StuK40 L48 or PaK40 7.5cm Kwk or StuK42 7.62cm PaK36(r) 8.8cm FlaK18 or 37 8.8cm KwK36 8.8cm KwK or PaK43 10cm K18 10.5cm leFH18 or StuH42 12.8cm K40 12.8cm PaK44

Ammunition Patr SmK PzGr PzGr40 PzGr41 PzGr PzGr40 PzGr PzGr PzGr40 PzGr18 PzGr36(t) PzGr40 PzGr39 PzGr40 PzGr39 PzGr40 PzGr39 PzGr40 K Gr rot Pz PzGr39 Pzgr40 PzGr39 PzGr40 PzGr39/42 PzGr40/42 PzGr39 PzGr40 PzGr PzGr39 PzGr39 PzGr40 PzGr39-1 PzGr40/43 PzGr rot PzGr PzGr PzGr PzGr43

100 8 20 49 60 34 64 37 41 64 35 54 100 54 96 67 130 69 130 41 98 126 106 143 138 194 98 135 97 127 120 171 203 237 164 63 201 189 187

500 3 14 20 40 29 34 31 35 34 28 48 59 46 58 57 72 59 72 39 91 108 96 120 124 174 90 116 93 117 110 156 185 217 149 59 176 166 178

1000

1500

2000

9 19 22

19

26 29

22 24

21 41

17 35

36

28

22

44 38 48 38 35 82 87 85 97 111 149 82 94 87 106 100 138 165 193 133 54 150 143 167

34

26

38

29

33 72 69 74 77 99 127 73 75 80 97 91 123 148 171 119 50 132 127 157

30 63 64 89 106 65 58 72 88 84 110 132 153 109 46 120 117 148

Hollow charge rounds, penetration independent of range: Calibre 7.5cm Ammo Gr38 H1/A Penetration 70

7.5cm Gr38 H1/B 75

7.5cm 10.5cm Gr38 H1/C Gr39 H1/A 100 80

Comments and corrections These people know exactly what they are talking about.

10

10.5cm Gr39 H1/B 90

10.5cm 15cm Gr39 H1/C Gr39 H1/A 100 160

WW2 armour penetration

Chamberlain & Ellis, 1969 "British and American Tanks of World War II", Peter Chamberlain and Chris Ellis, A&AP, 1969, pages 202–207. Ranges in yards, armour type not specified, at 30º. Weapon 2pdr Mk IX, X & XA

Ammo AP APCBC

Range 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 1000 1000 1000 1000

6 pdr Mk 3 6 pdr Mk 5 75mm Mk V, VA 17pdr Mk II, IV, VI, VII APDS 77mm Mk II 95mm How Mk 1 37mm M6 75mm M2 75mm M3 76mm M1, M1A1, M1A1C, M1A2 90mm M3

HEAT

APC HVAP APC HVAP

Penetration 57 57.5 81 83 68 120 186 109 110 48 60 70 88 133 120 195

Comments and corrections This seems to be the source for the gun performance table on page 55 of Malcolm Bellis' splendid privately-published "Datafile" booklet, "British Tanks and Formations 1939–45". Other books that use these figures, in whole or in part, are Donald Featherstone's "Tank Battles in Miniature" and Terry Gander and Peter Chamberlain's Airfix Magazine guide no. 17, "British Tanks of World War 2", Patrick Stevens Ltd, 1976. This source states that APCBC for the 2pdr was introduced in September 1942, APDS for the 6pdr in early 1944, and for the 17pdr in 1944. The authors state that the American 90mm was inferior in penetrative power and accuracy to the 17pdr and similarly inferior to the 88mm.

11

WW2 armour penetration Chamberlain & Gander, 1974 Source: "Anti-Tank Weapons" Peter Chamberlain and Terry Gander, MacDonald and Jane's, 1974. Ranges in units specified, armour type not specified. Weapon Skoda 47mm vz 36 2.8cm sPzB 41 3.7cm PaK 35/36 4.2cm lePaK 41 5cm PaK 38 7.5cm PaK 40 7.5cm PaK 41 7.5cm PaK 97/38 7.62cm PaK 36(r) 8.8cm PaK 43 Panzerfaust klein Panzerfaust gross R PzB 43 R PzB 54 & 54/1 7.92mm Pz B 38, 39 Gross Pz Gr 46 It 37/45 It 47/32 M35 37mm Type 94 37mm Type 97 47mm Type 1 20mm ATR Type 97 wz 35 Marosczek Solothurn M SS 41 Solothurn s18-1100 2 pr 6 pr 17 pr Boys ATR 37mm M3A1 57mm M1 3-in M5 2.36 in RL M1, M9 Rifle Gren M9 37mm M30 45mm M32 45mm M42 57mm M41, 43 100mm M1944 PTRD, PTRS VPGS 1940

Ammunition

AP AP40 AP AP AP40 AP AP40

AP AP40 HEAT HEAT HEAT HEAT HEAT

AP APC

HEAT HEAT

Range 700 yds 400 yds 400 yds 400 yds 500 yds 500 yds 500 yds 500 yds 500 yds 500 yds 900 yds 500 yds 500 yds 500 yds

150 m 200 m 100 m 200 yds 400 yds 550 yds 1000 yds 400 yds 500 yds 270 yds 300 m 100m 300 m 500 yds 1000 yds 1000 yds 300 m 1000 yds 1000 yds 1000 yds 1000 yds 700 yds 400 yds 1000 yds 300 m 500m 450m 500m 65 yds

Angle 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º

60º 30º 0º 30º 30º

60º 30º 30º 20º 30º 0º 20º 20º 20º 20º 0º 30º 30º

Penetration 51 56 38 49 72 61 86 106 115 171 60 98 118 226 140 200 210 210 30 90 38 43 24 38 51 30 20 30 15-18 53 69 130 21 25 53 69 98 119 101 38 38 95 140 192 25 30

Comments and corrections It should be fairly obvious where performance is given for APCR ammunition, e.g. for the Soviet 45mm M42 and 57mm M41. I suspect the 60º angle given for two anti-tank rifles means 60º from the horizontal,

12

WW2 armour penetration and so means the same as 30º from the vertical. The claimed difference in performance between US 37mm AP and APC is hard to believe.

Collier's Encyclopedia, 1995 "Collier's Encyclopedia", P. F. Collier, 1995. The entry for "Bazooka", contributed by Patrick W Powers, says the 2.36" weapon had a range of 700 yards, which seems lavish, and "could penetrate about 4 in. of armour plate", which is 102mm. Neither type nor slope of armour are specified.

DEFE 15/1107, The performance of Russian SU-100 APHE/T shot UBR-412B against armour plate "Critical thickness of armour" at which there is a 50% chance of success or failure. Angle (to normal) 30º 45º 60º 70º

Critical thickness at 0 yds 164 133 96 59

Critical thickness at 1000 yds 140 115 82-85 51

Comments and corrections These figures are deduced from firing trials using two SU-100s and a stock of ammunition captured at Suez in 1956. The UBR-412B differs from the UBR-412 in having a ballistic cap. It has no piercing cap, but uses differential hardening to achieve the same effect. 10mm burster plates broke up 8 of 10 test shots, possibly due to detonation of the HE element. On a 60mm plate at 55º, 5 of 7 shots penetrated, including 3 that broke up.

DEFE 15/1934, The scabbing of armour plate by static explosive charges The minimum weight of plastic explosive required to scab IT80 armour is given by the formula: Wt (lb) = 3.9 × Thickness (mm) 2.9 × 10 − 6 The diameter of a charge of the minimum weight needed to scab a plate of a given thickness is given as roughly: Dia (mm) = 1.19 × Thickness (mm) The limiting diameter of a charge (of any weight) that will just scab a given thickness of armour is given as: Dia (mm) = 1.07 × Thickness (mm)

13

WW2 armour penetration DSIR 27/60, Use of thin spaced plates of armour plate & mild steel to stop 0.303" AP shot This report gives the results of a number of test shots of 0.303" AP rounds through multiple plates of armour or mild steel with different air gaps between them. Results are expressed in terms of shots stopped out of shots fired. All shots were fired at a range of 30 feet. It is noted that "mild steel plates appear to be less reliable than armour steel plates in upsetting the stability of the shot." The results of the tests are shown below; armour thicknesses are shown in millimetres, mild steel thicknesses in fractions of inches with the notation MS. If a shot was stopped by a plate other than the last, the number of shots stopped is show in [square brackets] by the thickness of the plate that stopped it. plate 1 3mm 2mm 3mm 3mm 3mm 3mm 3mm 4mm 4mm 4mm 4mm 1/8" MS 1/8" MS 1/8" MS 1/4" MS 1/4" MS 1/8" MS 3/16" MS + 1/8" MS 1/8" MS

gap 5" 5" 5" 5" 5" 3" 9" 10" 10" 9" 9" 9" 9" 5" 4 1/4" 5 1/2" 7" 9"

plate 2 3 mm 3 mm 3mm 3mm 3mm 3mm 3mm 4mm 4mm 4mm 4mm 6mm [2] 6mm [1] 1/16" MS 1/4" MS 1/4" MS 1/8" MS 1/8" MS

gap 5" 5" 5" 5" 1" 1" 1"   1" 1" 1" 1" 5" 4 1/4" 5 1/2" 7" 9"

plate 3 3 mm 3 mm 2mm 2mm 2mm 2mm 2mm   1/16" MS 1/16" MS 1/16" MS 1/16" MS 6mm 1/4" MS 1/4" MS 1/8" MS 1/8" MS

angle normal normal normal 10° 10° 10° normal normal 10° normal 10° normal 10° normal normal normal normal normal

stopped 4 0 0 5 4 1 4 0 1 1 4 6 2 3 2 2 0 0

out of 5 3 3 5 5 3 5 2 5 4 5 10 5 5 3 2 3 2

9"

1/8" MS

9"

normal

3

3

1/8" MS

5"

1/8" MS

5"

normal

3

3

1/8" MS 1/8" MS 1/8" MS 1/8" MS 1/8" MS 1/8" MS 1/8" MS 1/8" MS

5" 7" 7" 7" 7" 5" 4" 3"

1/8" MS 1/8" MS 1/8" MS 1/8" MS 1/8" MS 1/8" MS 1/8" MS 1/8" MS

5" 9" 8" 7" 6" 7" 7" 7"

3/16" MS + 1/8" MS 3/16" MS + 1/8" MS 1/4" MS 1/4" MS 1/4" MS 1/4" MS 1/4" MS 1/4" MS 1/4" MS 1/4" MS

normal normal normal normal normal normal normal normal

0 2 2 4 1 2 3 1

3 2 2 4 3 2 3 3

Encyclopædia Britannica, 1985 "Encyclopædia Britannica Micropedia", 15th edn., Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. 1985. The entry for "Bazooka" credits the 2.36" weapon with penetration of "as much as 5 inches (127mm) of armour plate at 300 yards (270 metres)". Neither type nor slope of armour are specified.

14

WW2 armour penetration Ellis et al, 1962 "Victory in the West, Volume I: The Battle of Normandy", Maj. L F Ellis with Capt G R G Allen, Lt-Col A E Warhurst and ACM Sir James Robb, HMSO, 1962, page 549. "Penetration against homogenous armour plate at 30º angle of attack", ranges in yards. Gun 75mm Mark V US 57mm 6-pdr Mark V US 3-in or 76mm US 90mm 6-pdr Mark V 17-pdr Mark II 75mm KwK or PAK 40 88mm KwK 36 75mm KwK 42 88mm KwK 43 128mm PaK 44

Projectile APCBC APC APCBC APC APC DS ('Sabot') APCBC DS ('Sabot') APCBC APCBC APCBC APCBC APCBC

100 74 93 109 123 143 149 221 99 120 138 202

500 68 81 87 99 113 131 140 208 92 112 128 187 212

1000 60 64 80 89 104 117 130 192 84 102 118 168 202

2000 47 50 67 73 87 90 111 161 66 88 100 137 182

Comments and corrections This is the first volume of the British official history of the NW Europe campaign. Elsewhere in the text it is stated that "a small quantity" of 6-pdr DS ammunition was available for the landings, and that "it was late in August before there was any for the 17-pdr." The Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck are mentioned: "these could penetrate 200mm of armour within a hundred yards or so but were rather of a 'do-or-die' nature." The figures given here for the 75mm Mark V, 17-pdr without sabot, 75mm KWK 40 and 42 and 88mm KWK 36 are repeated by Max Hastings in his "Overlord", Michael Joseph, 1984. Hastings fails to state the armour type and slope and ammunition type used, and perpetuates an error in Ellis by misidentifying the Sherman's 75mm gun as the British Mk V, when it is of course the US M3. The figures Hastings uses for the German guns at 1000 yards, and the Sherman's gun at all ranges, are also quoted in Chapter 3 of Patrick Delaforce's "The Black Bull: From Normandy to the Baltic with the 11th Armoured Division", Alan Sutton Publishing, 1993.

15

WW2 armour penetration Ellis, 1993 "The World War II Databook", John Ellis, Aurum, 1993, page 304. Ranges in yards, armour type and slope not stated. Weapon 37mm SA18 47mm SA37 37mm L46

Ammo

250

500

32 40 56 83 67 109

28 28 53 60 61 77 46 75 92 108 96 120 110 156 24

PzGr 40 PzGr 40 50mm L60 PzGr 40 75mm L24 Hl 75mm L43 PzGr 40 75mm L48 PzGr 40 88mm L56 PzGr 40 It 20mm It 37mm It 47mm Jap 20mm ATR 37mm type 94 47mm type 1 Marosczek 37mm wz 36 Boys ATR 2pdr

29

48 (400)

1500

2000

46 42 56 46 42 75

40

28

22

50

38

29

41 75 82 87 85 97 100 138

33

30

72 69 74 77 91 123

63

84 110

38

52 96 46 56 56

82 38 51 51

64

32 32

30 (270) 24 51

HV shot

75mm M3 76mm 25pdr Sov 37mm Sov 45mm Sov 57mm 76mm F-34 85mm D-5 100mm D-10 122mm M-30

1000 30

80

50mm L42

37mm 6pdr 17pdr 75mm M2

750

M72 M61 M61

DS AP HE AP HE AP

20 (300) 40 (100) 21 (300) 58 64 58

33 52 57 53 79

26 46 51 48 72 120

61 66 66 63 38 (400) 80 140 92 138 195 145

58

40 45 47 65 113 53 61 61 98 54 50

145

60 100 185 145

Comments and corrections The figures for the Soviet 45mm and 57mm are obviously with APCR ammunition, although this is not stated in the original. The idea that the French 47mm has better penetration than the 6pdr is extremely hard to believe. It also rather hard to believe that the US 75mm guns M2 and M3 have the same performance with M61. The original shows penetration figures for the German 75mm L24 with a Panzergranate 40 round; presumably the hollow charge round is meant. This has been corrected here. Identical figures for the

16

WW2 armour penetration US, UK, USSR, German and Italian weapons listed above appear in Table 62 of the same author's "Brute Force", André Deutsch, 1990.

Farrar-Hockley, 1976 "Infantry Tactics 1939-1945", Anthony Farrar-Hockley, Almark, 1976, page 41. Ammunition and armour type not specified, range in yards. Weapon 2 Pounder

Range 1000

Slope 30º

Penetration 40

Comments and corrections This is another title from Almark's "Mechanics of War" series.

Featherstone, 1973 "Tank Battles in Miniature: A wargamer's guide to the Western Desert Campaign 1940–1942", Donald Featherstone, Patrick Stevens Ltd, 1973, pages 141–143. "At 50º–90º angle-of-impact gun can penetrate maximum armour thickness of: (in millimetres)", ranges in yards, armour and ammunition types unspecified. Weapon 37mm

Angle 50º 90º 75mm M2 50º 90º 75mm M3 50º 90º 2 pdr 50º 90º 6 pdr 50º 90º 25 pdr 50º 90º 20/55 50º KwK 90º sPzB 41 50º 90º 37/45 50º KwK 90º 37/45 50º PaK 90º 47mm 50º PaK 90º 50/60 50º PaK 90º 50/60 50º KwK 90º 75/24 50º KwK 90º 75/43-48 50º KwK 90º 75/46 50º PaK 90º 88/56 50º KwK 90º

200 56 65 66 76 77 87 56 66 93 108 80 89 32 35 54 63 49 61 55 64 55 69 120 142 67 89 50 60 100 115 115 144 118 130

400 50 58 61 70 69 80 50 58 85 99 71 73 24 28 50 57 40 52 47 55 57 66 98 129 63 82 45 53 93 107 109 138 112 134

600 42 51 55 64 62 73 42 51 79 92 66 68 16 19 38 45 32 43 39 46 53 62 80 112 59 75 38 45 87 102 104 132 108 122

1000 26 29 45 53 50 59 26 29 60 70 52 58

12 15 16 26 22 29 46 54 55 84 50 61 27 30 80 93 94 121 101 107

17

1600

2000

2600

3000

28 33 33 39

19 23 22 25

36 43 31 38

20 24 19 26

10 19

5 15

35 41 33 54 34 40 12 14 63 74 79 103 90 94

27 30 18 35 23 28

12 14 0 5 10 12

52 63 72 91 82 86

35 50 53 70 71 76

24 39 40 59 63 68

WW2 armour penetration

On p. 95, the following figures for the 88mm FlaK are given, against homogenous armour at 30º: Ammunition PzGr 39 PzGr 40

500 111 157

1000 102 141

1500 93 126

2000 86 114

It is also stated that the hollow-charge Gr 39 Hl penetrates 90mm at all ranges. Comments and corrections These figures were calculated by R. D. Miles, and include many more range bands than there is space to show here. Some figures matching those from Chamberlain & Ellis are also given on pp 96-97. In the main table, angles seem to be given in German style, from the horizontal. The figures are given in pairs; it is not wholly clear that the lower is at 50º and the higher at 90º, but that is how they have been interpreted here. The strange behaviour of the lower figure for the 47mm is not accounted for. From their higher penetration, it seems that PaKs have been credited with APCR ammunition, although their performance does not seem to fall off as rapidly as one might expect with increasing range.

18

WW2 armour penetration Fleischer, 1994 "Panzerfaust and other German Infantry Anti-Tank Weapons", Wolfgang Fleischer, Schiffer, 1994, page 47 (figure for 3.7cm PaK from text). Ranges in metres, armour type and slope not specified. Weapon 3.7cm PaK AP rifle bullet ATk rifle gren 30 Large ATk rifle gren ATk Rifle Gren 46 ATk rifle gren 61 ATk rifle gren GGP Wurfkörper 326 HL/LP Panzerwurfkörper 42 LP Panzerbüsche 38 or 39 Granatbüsche 39 Panzerbüsche 35(P) Panzerbüsche 783(r) or 784(r) ATk hand gren 41 ATk throwing mine (short) ATk hand mine 3 ATk hand mine 4 Hollow charge 3 Hollow charge 3.5 T-mine 35 Clustered charge 3Kg Faustpatrone Panzerfaust klein Panzerfaust gross (30m) Panzerfaust 60 m Panzerfaust 100 m Panzerfaust 150 m Panzerfaust 250 m Raketenpanzerbüsche 54 or 54/1 Raketenpanzerbüsche 10.5 cm

Range 500 100 40 80 60-80 60-80

75 300 80 100 100 10-15 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 70 (max) 30 30 60-75 100 150 250-300 150-180

Penetration 29 8 50 80 90 125 45 50 80 25 80 30 30 30 150 130 150 140 180 80-100 60 140 140 200 200 200 220 220 160 220

Comments and corrections The ranges are maximum effective ranges, so kinetic-energy weapons (ATRs here) may not have the performance indicated at exactly the range indicated. Panzerfaust 150 was undergoing troop trials at the end of the war. Neither Panzerfaust 250 nor 10.5cm Raketenpanzerbüsche were ever issued.

19

WW2 armour penetration Forty, 1979 "U.S. Army Handbook" (first edition), George Forty, Ian Allan, 1979, pages 99 and 107. Ammunition and armour type unspecified, ranges in yards Weapon 37mm M3A1 57mm M1 3in M5 M1 or M9 Bazooka

Range 1000 1000 1000

Angle 20º 20º 20º 90º

Penetration (inches) Penetration (mm) 2.1 53 2.7 69 3.85 98 4.7 119

Comments and corrections The conversion from inches in the original has been done into centimetres, using assuming 2.5cm to the inch, giving figures of 5.25cm, 6.75cm and 9.63cm respectively for the guns, and 11.75cm for the Bazooka. The figures given here use the correct conversion factor of 25.4mm to one inch. Evidently the 90º is from the horizontal; the 20º, however, must be from the vertical. "The Imperial War Museum Book of the Desert War 1940–1942", Adrian Gilbert, BCA 1992, page 134, gives a figure of 2.7in penetration at 1000 yards for the 6-pounder.

Forty, 1999 "Japanese Army Handbook 1939–1945", George Forty, Alan Sutton Publishing, 1999, pages 132, 147 and 150. Ammunition type and armour type and slope unspecified. Weapon Type 97 20mm ATR Type 94 37mm gun Type 01 47mm anti-tank gun US 37mm M3A1

Range 250 metres 1000 yards 500 yards 1000 yards

Penetration 2.95 24 50 52.5

Comments and corrections The performance given for the Type 97 anti-tank rifle seems unbelievably poor, unless it is for a very high angle of strike. On the other hand, if it is a misprint for 29.5mm, it seems believable against vertical plate.

20

WW2 armour penetration Foss, 1974 "Artillery of the World" (first edition), Christopher Foss, Ian Allan, 1974. Ranges in metres, armour type and slope not specified. Weapon 6 Pounder 17 Pounder M-1943 D-1 M-1938 M-10 M-1937 ML-20 M-1931/37 A-19 M-1938 M-30 M-1944 D-10 M-1945 D-44

Calibre 57mm 76mm 152mm 152mm

M-1942 ZIS-3

76mm

M-1943 ZIS-2

57mm

M-1942 M-1939 (LAA) ZPU-1 M-101A1 How M-1 LAA

45mm 37mm 14.5mm 105mm 40mm

152mm

122mm 122mm 100mm 85mm

Ammunition

Semi-AP Semi-AP APHE APHE HEAT APHE APHE HVAP APHE HVAP HEAT APHE HVAP HVAP AP API HEAT

Range 475 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 1500 900

Penetration 118 222 82 82 124 190 200 185 102 130 69 92 120 106 140 66 46 32 102 50 @ 30º

Comments and corrections D-1, M-10 and M-30 are howitzers; A-19, D-10 and all smaller calibre pieces are guns; ML-20 is a gunhowitzer. The 45mm M-1942 is the long-barrelled (L/66) version of the weapon. The M-1939 KS-12 and M-1944 KS-18 85mm AA guns are credited with the same penetration performance as the M-1945 D-44. Foss quotes 380mm penetration for the 100mm D-10 HEAT round, but this sounds like post-war ammunition. The 120mm quoted for the ZIS-3 76mm ammunition is more believable for WW2 ammunition, but still more generous than the figure stated by Zaloga. Although the ZPU-1 is a post-war weapon, it is mentioned here because the KPV 14.5mm HMG fire the same cartridge as the wartime PTRS and PTRD anti-tank rifles. It is not clear what the significance of the range figure is for the US 105mm howitzer HEAT round, but perhaps this represents the maximum effective engagement range. The performance given for the U.S. M-1 LAA gun – the familiar 40mm Bofors – seems quite optimistic. The 1976 second edition of the book amends none of the figures cited here.

21

WW2 armour penetration Funcken & Funcken, 1976 Source: "Arms and Uniforms: The Second World War, Vol. 4", Liliane and Fred Funcken, Ward Lock, 1976. Ammunition type and armour type and slope not stated, ranges in yards. Weapon US 37mm PTRD sPzB41 German ATk grenades PIAT Jap hollow charge grenade Lunge mine

Range 1000 333 440 100–200 100 0 0/90º 0/60º 200

Stielgranate

Penetration 38 38 51 63–127 102 76 152 102 152

Comments and corrections Penetration figures in the original are given in inches.

Gander, 1998 "The Bazooka: Hand-Held Hollow-Charge Anti-Tank Weapons", Terry J Gander, Parkgate Books, 1998. Ranges irrelevant, armour type unspecified. Weapon Bazooka M1(A1) or M9(A1) 3.5" Super Bazooka M20 RPzB 43, 54 or 54/1 Panzerfaust klein Panzerfaust gross Japanese panzerfaust PIAT

Projectile HEAT M6(A1, A3, A5) HEAT M28 RPzBGr 4322 or 4992 (54)

Angle unspecified unspecified 30° 30° 30° unspecified unspecified

Penetration 120 265 160 140 200 120 100+

Gander & Chamberlain, 1977 Airfix Magazine guide 26, "American Tanks of World War 2", Terry Gander and Peter Chamberlain, Patrick Stevens Ltd, 1977. Ranges in yards, ammunition type and armour type and slope unspecified. Weapon 37mm gun M6 75mm gun M2 75mm gun M3 3-inch gun M7 76mm gun M1 90mm gun M3

Range 500 500 500 1000 1000 1000

Penetration 61 60 70 80 88 120

Comments and corrections It is not clear why Chamberlain did not use the figures from "British and American Tanks of World War II", which he co-authored with Chris Ellis. These figures seem to show that the 37mm is as good as the 75mm M2 at 500 yards, and that there is a noticeable performance difference between the 76mm and 3-inch guns.

22

WW2 armour penetration Gander & Chamberlain, 1978 "Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the Third Reich", Terry Gander and Peter Chamberlain, Macdonald and Jane's, 1978. Armour type unstated, ranges in metres. Weapon 12.8 cm Pak 44

Ammunition

7.92 mm PzB 38, 39

7.92mm M SS 41 13mm EW 141 8 cm PAW 600 7.5/5.5 cm Pak 44 10 cm PAW 600 Hammer 3.7 cm Pak 36(p)

Hollow charge

Penetration @ 0º 219 202 187

500 400 600 900 300 300 100 300 500 100 300 30 30 80 100 150 200

7.92mm PzB 35(p) 13.9mm PzB 782(e)

14.5mm PzB 783 or 784(r) 2cm PzB 785(s)

StielGranate 41

Weapon 2.5cm Pak 112(f) (L/72) 2.5cm Pak 113(f) (L/77) 4.7 cm Pak 36(t) 4.7cm Pak 181 or 183(f) 4 cm Pak 192(e)

5.7 cm Pak 208(r)

200 Range 600 600 1200 200 183 365 548 500

23

Penetration @ 30º

25 20 25 140 120 200 100 37

Hollow charge

4.5 cm Pak 184(r)

Panzerfaust klein Panzerfaust 30 Panzerfaust 60 Panzerfaust 100 Panzerfaust 150 Panzerfaust 250 RPzB 54, 54/1 PaK 35/36

Range 500 1000 1500 300 300 300 750 2500

40 38 25–33 21 30 27.5 25 20–22 15–18 140 200 200 200 200 200 160 180 Penetration 50 50 (not confirmed) 60 (homogenous) 80 60 55 51 140

WW2 armour penetration Comments and corrections The authors also include most of the armour penetration data given in Hoffschmidt & Tantum 1968, although the ranges have mysteriously been changed from yards to metres. This book also includes a large number of non-German weapons. Those given here include: Country of origin Poland Russia

England Switzerland France

Czechoslovakia

German designation 7.92mm PzB 35(p)

3.7 cm Pak 36(p) 14.5mm PzB 783(r) 14.5mm PzB 784(r) 4.5 cm Pak 184(r) 4.5 cm Pak 184/1(r) 5.7 cm Pak 208(r) 7.62 cm Pak 36(r) 13.9mm PzB 782(e)

4 cm Pak 192(e) 2cm PzB 785(s) 2.5cm Pak 112(f) (L/72) 2.5cm Pak 113(f) (L/77) 4.7cm Pak 181 or 183(f) 4.7 cm Pak 36(t)

Original designation wz 35 Maroszcek wz 36 PTRD-41 PTRS-41 45mm PTP M-1930 45mm PTP M-1932 57mm PTP M-1941 ZiS-2 76mm M-1936 0.55" Boys Mk I OQF 2 pr Solothurn s18-1100 SA-L mle 1934 SA-L mle 1937 SA mle 1937 or 1939 Skoda PUV vz 36

The Czech 47mm was mounted in the Panzerjäger 1. The Polish 37mm is the Bofors model, widely used by other nations, including Britain. The Maroszcek ATR was also in Italian service. The penetration quoted for the Soviet 57mm is presumably with APCR. Of the German weapons listed, the following were experimental, and did not see service during the war: 13mm EW 141, Gerät 318 7.5/5.5 cm Pak 44 10 cm PAW 600, PWK 10H64 Hammer, Panzertod, Panzerschreck Panzerfaust 150 and 250

1938: Intended for RK 9 and VK 601 recce cars Under development 1942-45 Work started 1944 Work started Oct 1943, suspended most of 1944. At trials stage by end of war

The authors state that APC was introduced with the 5cm Pak 38, and APCBC with the 7.5cm Pak 40. Mention is made of PzGr 40 being used in "the early days" of the invasion of Russia. These authors give the date of the decision to give priority for tungsten supplies to the machine-tool industry as 1941.

24

WW2 armour penetration Godfrey, 1984 "The Pusan Perimeter", Maj. F A Godfrey, in: "The Korean War: History and Tactics", Ed. David Rees, Orbis, 1984, page 24. Penetration at 500 metres, ammunition type and armour type and slope not specified. Weapon 85mm in T-34 76mm in M4A3 Sherman

Penetration 114 110

Comments and corrections The accompanying graphic suggests that these figures are for an impact angle of 30º. These look like APCR performance figures in both cases.

Grove, 1976 "World War II Tanks", Eric Grove, Orbis, 1976. Armour type unstated, conventional armour-piercing ammunition unless otherwise stated, ranges in yards. Weapon 20mmm KWK 30 75mm L/43 KWK 40 PaK 36(r) ...with PzGr 40 88mm KWK 36 75mm KWK 42 88mm PaK 43 88mm KWK 43 2-pounder 3-pounder 77mm 17-pounder M-40 76mm L/41 D-5T85 (M-44) 85mm D-10S 100mm 75mm M2 75mm M3 76mm M1A1C or M2 3-in M7

Slope 0º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 0º 30º 30º 30º 30º

Range 500 500 500 500 500 1000 500 500

500 500 500 1000 1000 500 500 500 500

Penetration 24 89 83 118 112 120 226 182 57 27 109 120 about 65 95 160 60 70 94 over 100

Comments and corrections The difference between the performance stated for the two "long" 88s is presumably due to the figure for the PaK43 applying to APCR. The muzzle velocities quoted tend to support this view.

25

WW2 armour penetration Handbook on the Italian Army "Handbook on the Italian Army", Athena Books, 1983, pages 106 and 156. Ranges in yards, armour type and ammunition unspecified. Weapon 20mm Breda

Range 500

Solothurn ATk rifle Hotchkiss 25mm L/72 37mm L/35

550 100 400

Angle 0º 30º 15º 30º

Comments and corrections This source is a facsimile edition of a 1943 original.

26

Penetration 25 15 25 40 38

WW2 armour penetration Hoffschmidt & Tantum, 1968 "German tank and anti-tank", WE Inc, 1968. Armour type unstated expect where noted, ranges in yards except where noted. Weapon

Ammunition

7.92 mm PzB 39

2.8 cm sPzB41

hollow-charge hollow-charge StielGranate PzGr 42

3.7 cm Pak 35/36

PzGr

Gross PzGr 46 Gross PzGr 61 3.7cm PaK 36

PzGr 40

4.2 cm Pak 41

PzGr 41

5 cm Pak 38

PzGr

PzGr 40

7.5 cm Pak 40

PzGr 39

PzGr 40

Range 100 300 218 (max) 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 200 400 500 600 100 200 300 400 0 250 500 750 1000 0 250 500 750 1000 1200 1500 0 250 500 750 1000 1250 0 500 1000 1500 2000 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

27

Penetration @ 0º 32 (FH) 25 (FH) 90 (H) 126 (H) 229 (H) 94 86 79 72 66 60 54 49 56 51 48 46 79 72 65 58 124 105 87 70 60 99 88 78 69 61 53 47 165 141 120 101 84 70 149 135 121 109 98 176 154 133 115 98 83

Penetration @ 30º 19 @ 20º (FH)

69 65 60 56 52 48 44 41 42 38 36 34 68 61 55 49 95 83 72 62 53 73 67 61 56 50 45 40 143 109 86 69 55 44 121 106 94 83 73 137 115 96 80 66 53

WW2 armour penetration /continued... Weapon 7.5 cm Pak 41

Ammunition PzGr 41

7.62 cm Pak 36(r)

PzGr 39

PzGr 40

8.8 cm Pak43, 43/41

PzGr 39/43

PzGr 40/43

12.8 cm Pak 44

Range 0 250 500 750 1000 1250 1500 1750 2000 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 0

Penetration @ 0º 245 226 209 192 177 162 149 136 124 133 120 108 97 87 78 190 158 130 106 84 65 225

Penetration @ 30º 200 185 171 157 145 133 122 111 102 108 98 88 79 71 64 152 118 92 71 55 43 198

500 1000 1500 2000 2500 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 1000 yds

207 190 174 159 145 311 274 241 211 184 159

182 167 153 139 127 265 226 192 162 136 114 202

Comments and corrections The figures these weapons are reproduced in Gander & Chamberlain 1978, except for the 7.62cm Pak 36(r) firing PzGr40, the PaK 44, the PzGr 39 and the hollow-charge weapons. Where Hoffschmidt & Tantum say the ranges are in yards, Gander & Chamberlain say they are in metres. The figures for the 8.8cm PaK 43 at 1,000 and 2,500 yards are repeated in "The 88" by Ellis & Chamberlain, PRC publishing 1998, who keep the units as yards. The figures for the PzB 39 are apparently taken from WO 208/3003.

28

WW2 armour penetration Hogg, 1975 "German Artillery of World War 2", Ian V. Hogg, A&AP, 1975. Ranges in metres, penetration of homogenous armour. Weapon SPzB41

Ammo PzGr 41

Pak 36

PzGr PzGr 40

PJK 41

PzGr41

Pak 38

PzGr 38 PzGr 40

Pak 40

PzGr 39 PzGr 40

Pak 41

PzGr 41 HK

Pak 36(r)

PzGr 39 rot PzGr 40

Pak 43

PzGr 39 PzGr 40

Pak 44 10.5 cm le FH 18 Flak 36 Flak 41 Flak 39

PzGr 43 PzGr rot PzGr PzGr 40 PzGr 39/1 Pz Sprgr

Angle 0º 30º 0º 30º 0º 30º 0º 30º 0º 30º 0º 30º 0º 30º 0º 30º 0º 30º 0º 30º 0º 30º 0º 30º 0º 30º 30º 0º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º

100 94 69 65 50 79 68 120 90

250

88 67 141 109 148 120 175 135 226 185

500 66 52 48 36 50 40 87 72 78 61 120 86 132 104 154 115 209 171 120 98 158 118 207 182 274 226 67 56 110 126

1000

60 53 61 50 84 55 116 89 133 96 177 145 108 88 130 92 190 167 241 192 230 62 52 105 103 202 140

1500

102 76 115 80 149 122 97 79 106 71 174 153 211 162

2000

3000

124 102 87 71 84 55 159 139 184 136 200

173

59 49

Hollow charge rounds, same at all ranges:

7.5cm le IG 18 (or LG 40) 10.5cm le FH 18 (or LG40)

Weapon

Ammo 7.5cm I Gr 38 Hl 10.5cm Gr 39 rot Hl/A

Flak 36 Pak 36 Pak 38 PAW 600

8.8cm Hl Gr 39 Stielgranate 41 Stielgranate 42 8cm W Gr H1

Angle 30º 0º 30º

29

Penetration 45 100 70 165 180 180 140

WW2 armour penetration Comments and corrections The author notes that there are 4 models of hollow charge shell for the leFH 18; the Gr 39 Hl, Hl/A, Hl/B and Hl/C. The experimental 7.5cm Pak 44 has a claimed performance of 120mm at 2500 metres. Stielgranate 41 has max range 300m; Stielgranate 42 has max recommended range 150m. PAW 600 has max range 750m. PzGr43 for the 128mm PaK44 is a standard APCBC round. Some penetration figures are quoted as being at 3º, but it seems clear that this is a misprint for 30º. The text refers to the "the 1942 ban on tungsten" halting production of PzGr 40 for the Pak 40. In the same author's "The guns 1939–1945", Macdonald, 1970, he gives the date of the Führer's order that tungsten was no longer to be used for weapons as June 1942.

Hogg, 1976 "The Guns of World War II", Ian V. Hogg, Macdonald and Jane's, 1976. Ammunition type and armour type unstated, ranges in yards. Weapon 2-pounder Ger 75mm 88mm

Ammunition

PzGr 40 Hollow charge Pak 36(r) PzGr 40 US 90mm M1–3 US 90mm T54 US 90mm T8 17-pounder

HVAP HVAP HVAP APDS

Ger 105 FH 18/40 PzGr 39TS

Range 1000 1000 1000 500

Angle

30º

1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000

Comments and corrections The 90mm T54 and T8 were experimental only. In this book, Hogg says tungsten supplies for ammunition dried up "after 1943".

30

Penetration 50 94 105 126 165 108 130 109 173 300 250 110 231 62 80

WW2 armour penetration Hogg, 1977 "The Encyclopedia of Infantry Weapons of World War II", Ian V. Hogg, A&AP, 1977, page 190 and from the text in the "Grenades" chapter. Ranges in units specified, armour type not specified. Weapon 6 pounder Mk 2 37mm M3A1 57mm RCL M18 75mm RCL M20 57mm M1 45mm M42 57mm M43 2.8cm s PzB 41 3.7cm PaK 36 4.2 cm PJK 41 5 cm PaK 38

Ammunition

AP APCR AP APCR APCNR AP APCR APCNR AP

AP APCR

7.5 cm PaK 41

APCNR

8cm PAW 600 8.8cm PaK 43

HEAT AP APCR

37mm Model 94 47mm Model 01 Boys ATR PTRS, PTRD PzB 38, 39 S 18-1000 Type 97 WZ/35 RPG-43 Grenade, rifle, 68 ATk grenade M9 ATk gren M9A1 PIAT 2.36 in RL Haft Hohlladung 3Kg Gross/Klein Gew PzGr Gew PzGr 46mm SS Gew PzGr 61mm Panzerfaust R PzB 54

Angle 30º 0º

1000 yds 500 m 500 m 500 m 500 m 500 m 500 m 500 m 500 m 1000 m 500 m 250 m 1000 m 500 m 250 m 1000 m 500 m 1000 m 500 m 2000 m 1000m 500m 850 yds 2000 m 1000m 2000 m 1000m 500m 700m 500m 500m 300m 300m 200m 300m

20º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 0º 30º 30º 0º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 0º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 0º 0º 30º 0º 0º 0º

100m

0º

HEAT HEAT

APCR

7.5 cm PaK 40

Range 1000 yds 1000 yds

AP AP

HEAT HEAT HEAT HEAT HEAT HEAT HEAT HEAT HEAT HEAT HEAT HEAT

100 yds 400 yds 100m 100m 200m 30, 60, 100, 150m 150m

31

30º 0º

Penetration 74 54 75 100 (est) 68 50 54 86 100 52 36 40 72 50 61 88 55 86 141 89 104 96 115 171 145 102 140 167 139 192 136 32 70 20 25 25 35 12 20 76 (homogenous) 50 40 60 75 (approx) 80 (approx) 110 40 90 125 200 100 (approx)

WW2 armour penetration RW 43 Puppchen

HEAT

750m

0º

100 (approx)

Comments and corrections Hogg himself points out the difficulty of believing both the Russian and the Japanese figures for their 47mm guns. Barry Gregory and John Batchelor's "Airborne Warfare 1941–1945", Phoebus, 1979, also gives "approximately 75mm" as the penetration of the PIAT, with no further qualification. The 50mm penetration figure for the British No. 68 rifle grenade is repeated in Hogg's "Illustrated Encyclopedia of Ammunition", The Apple Press, 1985, although again without specifying armour type or slope.

Hogg, 1978 "British & American Artillery of World War 2", Ian V. Hogg, A&AP, 1978. Armour type in most cases not stated, but assumed to be homogenous. Ranges in yards. Weapon 2pdr 6pdr

6pdr 6cwt AA 17pdr

25pdr 3in 20cwt AA 3.7in AA 37mm M3 57mm M1

Ammo AP Mk 10T AP Mk 1-7T APCBC Mk 9T APDS Mk 1T APC Mk 3T AP Mk 3T APC Mk 4T APDS Mk 1T AP Mk 1T-6T, 8T AP Mk 2T AP Mk 5T AP M74 APC M51B1/2 AP M70 APC M86

75mm M1916 3in or 76mm

APC M61 AP M79

90mm

AP M77 APC M82

105mm T8 37mm AA

APC AP M59A1

40mm AA

AP M18A1

Armour

Angle 30º 30º 30º

100

400

30º 30º 30º 30º 0º 30º 30º 0º 0º 20º 20º 20º

H FH H H FH H H FH H H FH H

500

70 84 117 36 61 73 73 79 70

0º

100 70 142 130 140 210

0º

25 48 52

Hollow charge rounds, same at all ranges, armour type and angle unspecified: Weapon 105mm howitzer M1 75mm pack howitzer M3A1 3.7in mountain howitzer Smith gun

1000 42 74 88 146 75 109 118 231

Ammo HEAT M67 HEAT M66 HEAT 3.7in Mk 1 Bomb, SB, HEAT, Mk 1

32

Penetration 115 89 63 63 (approx)

42

WW2 armour penetration

Comments and corrections The 105mm T8 was experimental. The 6pdr 6cwt AA gun, Britain's effort at an "intermediate" AA gun, never entered service. The 3.7in howitzer HEAT was developed in 1942 for the Indian Army. The figures claimed for British ATk guns at 1000 yards seem much more believable for 500. Conversely, the figures stated for the US 90mm are unbelievably poor. It does not seem likely that the 37mm M59A1 is really almost twice as good against face-hardened as homogenous armour. In this book, Hogg states that 6pdr APDS was issued in June 1944, although in "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Ammunition", Apple Press, 1985, he says on p. 58 that it "appeared" in 1944, and on p. 151 that it was "first introduced for the 6-pdr" in 1943. In the same book, he refers to "the grave shortage of tungsten which affected Germany from 1943 onwards".

33

WW2 armour penetration Hogg, 1997 Source: "Tank Killers", Ian Hogg, Pan, 1997. Ranges in yards. Weapon sPzB41

Ammo

6-pdr Boys ATR Marocszek PzB 39 s18-1100 PTRS, PTRD

APDS

Panzerfaust 37mm Bofors PaK 36 47mm SA-37 2-pounder PaK 38 PzGr 40 PaK 40 PzGr 40

AP APC APDS APDS

PaK 43 PzGr 40/43 PaK 44 Sov 57mm 76mm M-42 85mm D-44 APCR Bazooka 100mm DS-3

APCR APCR

37mm M3A1 3-in M5 US 105mm 57mm RCL 75mm RCL US 90mm HVAP Sov 122mm Rotkäppchen 30mm MK101

Angle

APCR

Armour Homogenous

30º 30º

1000 545 545 875 1000

25mm SA-L 34

lePaK 41 PaK 41 25-pounder 17-pounder

Range 545 600 1000 330 330 110 330 545 545

30º

1000 1095 110 1095 545 2185 440 1000 1000 1000 1000 2185 2185 1000 3280 545 545 545 545 109 1095 1095 545 1000 1000

30º 30º 30º

1000 1000 1095 1095 330

0º 30º

Comments and corrections

34

Face-hardened

Penetration 66 60 146 21 20 33 27 25 20 140 20 48 40 70 42 51 60 84 116 133 87 124 70 109 118 231 230 159 184 200 173 140 69 100 113 or 130 178 185 180 64 100 210 76 92 122 230 160 200 75

WW2 armour penetration Hogg gives the introduction dates for APDS as June 1944 for the 6-pdr and August 1944 for the 17-pdr, and dates the German tungsten decision to "early 1942". The ambiguity about the Soviet 85mm D-44 occurs in the original. The Rotkäppchen ATGW and the US 105mm never saw service.

Hogg & Weeks, 1977 "Military Small Arms of the 20th century", Ian V. Hogg and John Weeks, A&AP, 1977, pages 266 to 273. Armour type unspecified, ranges in metres. Weapon Mauser T-Gewehr PzB 38 or 39 PzB 41 Boys ATR wz 35 Marosczek PTRD or PTRS

Range 200 100 250 300 300 500

Angle 0º 30º 0º 0º 0º 0º

Penetration 25 30 30 21 20 25

Comments and corrections The original gives and angle of 90º for the penetration performance of the PzB 41, changed to 0º here for consistency with the other entries. This source states that tungsten-cored bullets were available for the Marosczek, that these were copied by the Germans, that in 1940 the Boys was issued with a tungsten-cored bullet with a plastic/aluminium body, and that Soviet ATRs originally fired a boat-tailed steel bullet which was replaced by a nonstreamlined tungsten-cored round. Unfortunately, neither this nor any other source consulted distinguishes between the penetration performance of tungsten and steel ammunition.

Huhtala, 1940 "Reserviupseeri - Reserviupseerien ja-aliupseerien kertaus-ja jatko-opiskelukirja", P. Huhtala, Werner Soderstrom Osakeyhtio, Porvoo, Finland, 1940 Penetration at normal impact, ranges in metres Bofors 37mm ATk gun

Range 300 600 1200

Penetration 40 30 15

Comments and corrections Thanks to Eero Juhola of Kirkkonummi, Finland, for this reference. Eero renders the source's title into English as "Officer of the Reserve - A Brush-Up and Advanced Studies Book for Officers and NonCommissioned Officers of the Reserve".

35

WW2 armour penetration Hunnicut, 1978 "Sherman, A History of the American Medium Tank", R. P. Hunnicutt, Presidio Press, 1978, pages 559– 570. Ranges in yards; armour type (FH = Face-hardened, H = Homogenous) as shown at 30º. Weapon 37mm M6 2 pdr IX-X 6 pdr III & V 75mm M2

75mm M3 or M6

76mm M1 and 3-in M7 17 pdr IV, VII

25 pdr II, III 90mm M2

155mm M1918 155mm M1, M2

Ammo APC M51 APHV/T AP/T APCBC-T APC M61 APC M72 APC M61 APC M72 HVAP T45 APC M62 HVAP M93 AP M79 APCBC Mk VIII T APSV/DS AP-T chg 3 APC M82(early) APC M82(late) HVAP M304 AP T33 AP M112B1 AP M112B1

Type H FH H H H FH H FH H FH H FH H FH H H H H H

250

64 58

H H H H H H H FH H FH

500 53 46 57 52 81 76 60 69 60 58 66 74 76 66 117 93 157 109 140 208 63 120 129 221 119 127 109 160 135

750

51 46

58

1000 46 40 45 40 74 74 55 60 53 46 60 67 63 53 97 88 135 92 130

1500 40 38

2000 35 33

63 68 51 55 46 33 55 60 51 41 79 82 116 76 120

56 63 46 48 38 25 50 54 43 33 64 75 98 64 111

192 54 112 122 199 117 119 102 152 130

176

161

104 114 176 114

96 106 156 109

Comments and corrections The HVAP T45 round for the 75mm was experimental only. The 105mm howitzer M2A1 and M4 fires HEAT M67, which penetrates 102mm of homogenous armour at 0º at all ranges. Hunnicutt says "a few" 17 pdr APDS became available in Aug 44, but that the early rounds were "somewhat erratic", and less accurate than APCBC.

36

WW2 armour penetration

Hunnicut, 2001 "Half-track, A History of American Semi-Tracked Vehicles", R. P. Hunnicutt, Presidio Press, 2001, pages 229–336. Ranges in yards; armour type (FH = Face-hardened, H = Homogenous) as shown at 30º. Weapon 37mm auto M1A2

Ammo M59A1 APC-T

37mm M3

M51 APCBC-T

40mm auto M1

M18A1 AP-T

57mm M1

M86 APCBCHE-T

75mm M1897A4

M61 APCBCHE-T M72 AP-T

Type H FH H FH H FH H FH H FH H FH

500 23 25 53 46 48 46 81 76 64 71 74 64

1000 18 18 46 40 41 38 74 74 58 64 61 51

1500 15 15 40 38 30 30 63 68 53 58 48 38

2000 13 13 35 33 25 25 56 63 48 51 38 30

Comments and corrections The 105mm howitzer M2A1 and M3 fires HEAT M67, which penetrates 102mm of homogenous armour at 0º at all ranges. The 75mm howitzer M1A1 fires HEAT M66, which penetrates 91mm of homogenous armour at 0º at all ranges. The figures given here for the 37mm and 57mm anti-tank guns are identical with those in the author's "Sherman", but note that the 75mm M1897A4 is credited with performance intermediate between that of the 75mm M2 and 75mm M3 from that book.

Isby, 1974 "Patrol! Modern Infantry Tactics, 1914–74", David C. Isby, in: Strategy & Tactics No. 46, Simulations Publications, Inc., Sept/Oct 1974, page 35. Armour type and slope not specified, ranges in metres. Weapon M9 2.36" Bazooka Panzerfaust 60 Panzerfaust 44-1

Range 100 80 200

Penetration 100 203 320

Comments and corrections The original notes the PF-44 as "In svce., 1944 to date", but the penetration figure looks as if it applies to a post-WW2 warhead, I suspect that of the Lanze.

Isby, 1979 "Panzer Battles: The Evolution of Mechanized Warfare, 1939–1979", David C. Isby, in: Strategy & Tactics No. 73, Simulations Publications, Inc., March/April 1979, page 9. Armour type and slope not specified, ranges in metres. Vehicle Grant Pz IIIj

Ammo APC AP

500 66 61

1000 61 48

Comments and corrections

37

1500 56 38

2000 51

WW2 armour penetration It is assumed that the weapons intended are the 75mm M2 for the Grant and the 50mm L/60 KwK 39 for the Pz III Ausf J.

Jentz, 1996 Appendix D, "German Tank Armament ", in: "Panzertruppen: The Complete Guide to the Creation & Combat Employment of Germany’s Tank Force, 1939-1945", volume 2, Thomas L. Jentz, Schiffer 1996, page 296. "Thickness of Armor (mm) Perforated at 30º Angle", armour type unspecified, ranges in unspecified units, presumably metres. Weapon MG 34 2cm KwK 30 & 38 3.7 cm KwK L45 3.7 cm KwK 34(t) 3.7 cm KwK 38(t)

5 cm KwK L42

5 cm KwK L60

7.5 cm KwK L24

7.5 cm KwK 40 L43 & L48

7.5 cm KwK 42 L70 8.8 cm KwK 36 L56

8.8 cm KwK 43 L71 2.5 cm KwK 121(f) 3.7 cm KwK 144(f) 3.7 cm KwK 143(f) 4.7 cm KwK 173(f) 4.5 cm PaK 184(r) 7.62 cm KwK L30.5 7.62 cm KwK L41.5

Ammunition SmK SmKH PzGr PzGr 40 PzGr PzGr 40 PzGr(t) PzGr(t) umg PzGr(t) PzGr(t) umg PzGr 40 PzGr PzGr 39 PzGr 40 PzGr PzGr 39 PzGr 40 K Gr rot Pz Gr 38 Hl/A Gr 38 Hl/B Gr 38 Hl/C PzGr39 PzGr 40 Gr 38 Hl/B Gr 38 Hl/C PzGr 39/42 PzGr 40/42 PzGr 39 PzGr 40 Gr 39 Hl PzGr 39-1 PzGr 40/43 PzGr 122(f) PzGr 144(f) PzGr 146(f) PzGr 176(f) PzGr(r) PzGr 39 rot PzGr 39 rot

100 8 13 20 40 35 64 35 34 36 41 64 53 55 95 67 69 130 41 70 75 100 99 126 75 100 138 194

500 3 8 14 20 29 31 30 29 31 33 33 43 47 55 57 59 72 38 = = = 91 108 = = 124 174

1000

1500

2000

22

20

23 25 24 27

21 22 22 24

32 37

24 28

44 47

34 37

35 = = = 81 87 = = 111 150

32 = = = 72

30 = = = 63

= = 99 127

= = 88 106

90 202 237 35 25 29 39 42 72 82

= 185 217 29 19 23 33 35 66 75

= 165 193 20

= 148 170

= 132 152

16 26 28 58 67

12 20 23 51 60

54

Comments and corrections The French and Russian guns listed are indicated as having been "Tested by Wa Pruef". Many of the figures for German guns are remarkably similar to those in Chamberlain, Doyle & Jentz 1978 and Zetterling 2000.

38

WW2 armour penetration Kent, 1990 "German 7,9mm military ammunition, 1888-1945", Daniel W Kent, privately published, 1990. Armour type not specified, ranges in yards. Cartridge 7.9x57 SmKH

Range

7.9x94 SmKRs L'Spur

100 300

Angle 0º 30º 0º 0º

Penetration 18-19 13.5 32 25

Comments and corrections Thanks to Tony Williams for providing this information. The original gives performance at 90º and 30º; presumably the first is from the horizontal and the second from the vertical. Penetration for the L'Spur (Leuchtspur, tracer) cartridge is given in inches in the original. Mr. Kent seems to take an enthusiastic and practical direct approach to his subject. He has confirmed the brittleness of a tungsten-carbide core by shattering it with a hammer, and verified the continued potency of the tear-gas element in German ATR rounds by personally experiencing its effects.

Kosnett, 1977 "Highway to the Reich: Operation Market-Garden 17–26 September 1944", Phil Kosnett, in: Strategy & Tactics No. 61, Simulations Publications, Inc., March/April 1977, page 32. Ammunition type and armour type and slope not specified, ranges in metres. Weapon Panzerfaust Panzerschreck PIAT Bazooka PAK 40 PAK 43 Ger 50/60

Range 30 400 50 400 500 500 500

Penetration 175 100 100 150 154 274 75

Weapon Ger 75/48 Ger 75/70 Ger 88/56 2-pdr US 75/40 6-pdr/US 57mm 17-pdr

Range 500 500 500 500 500 500 500

Penetration 125 155 117 55 96 80 120

Comments and corrections No other source is so generous as to give Panzerschreck a range of 400m. The 6pdr is mis -designated as "6-lb" in the original, and the German 75/70 and 88/56 mis -designated 75/90 and 88/42 respectively.

Labbett & Brown, 1988 "Technical Ammunition Guide Series 2 Pamphlet 8, British Anti-Tank Rifle ammunition 1917-1945", P Labbett and F A Brown, Labbett-Brown, 1988. Proof penetration by 7 out of 10 bullets at 100 metres range and 20º angle of strike, armour type unspecified: Boys anti-tank rifle firing: Cartridge SA Armour Piercing .55 inch W Mark 1 Cartridge SA Armour Piercing .55 inch W Mark 2

Penetration 16 19

Comments and corrections An APCR round approved "for record purposes only" in September 1945 and not adopted was considered to give as good a performance at 500m as the W Mark 2 did at 50m. Has this round been adopted, it would almost certainly have been designated W Mark 3. Thanks to Tony Williams for providing this information.

39

WW2 armour penetration Lucas, 1988 "Storming Eagles", James Lucas, Grafton Books, 1988. Armour type unstated, range in yards. Weapon Panzerfaust sPzB 41 7.5cm LG40

Range

Slope

400

30º 30º

Penetration 200 53 50

Lucas, 1994 "The Last Year of the German Army", James Lucas, BCA, 1994. page 82. Penetration in millimetres, ranges in metres, armour type and slope unstated: Weapon 88mm KwK L/71

500 205

1000 186

40

2000 154

2500 140

WW2 armour penetration Macksey, 1988 "Tank versus Tank", Kenneth Macksey, Guild Publishing, 1988. Ranges in metres at which "highvelocity projectiles fail to penetrate" the specified target at 30º. Weapon 40mm (2-pdr) 47mm (Somua) 37mm (Pz Kw III)

Ammo AP

88mm L/56 FlaK

AP

50mm L60

APC

75mm L48

APCBC

Sov 76mm

APCBC

75mm L/40

APC

57mm L50 (6-pdr)

APCBC

85mm L/53

APCBC

88mm L/56

APCBC

75mm L/70

APCBC

88mm L/71

APCBC

76mm L/55

HVAP

76mm L/50 (77mm)

APDS

90mm L/53

HVAP

122mm L/43

APCBC

APC

Target Pz Kw III " Matilda II Somua Matilda II Somua T34/76B KV1 Sherman M4A1 T34/76B KV1 Sherman M4A1 Pz Kw IIIJ Pz Kw IVF Pz Kw IIIJ Pz Kw IVF Tiger I Panther D Tiger I Panther D Tiger I Panther D Sherman M4A1 Churchill IV T34/85 Sherman M4A1 Churchill IV T34/85 Sherman (76) Comet Pershing JS2 Sherman (76) Comet Pershing JS2 Panther D Tiger II Panther D Tiger II Panther D Tiger II Panther D Tiger II

Armour 30 30 70 60 70 60 60 90 85 60 90 85 57+20 50 57+20 50 110 120 110 120 110 120 84 88 75 84 88 75 105 101 145 160 105 101 145 160 120 185 120 185 120 185 120 185

Range 1200 1000 0 200 2000 2000 500 0 350 2000 500 800 200 1000 0 2000 0 0 200 0 500 100 1500 1400 1400 2000+ 2000+ 2000+ 1600 1500 600 400 2500+ 2500+ 1800+ 1200 1500 0 1500 500 2000+ 1300 1500 1200

Comments and corrections Each table bears the weird legend "Range which high-velocity projectiles fail to penetrate vary according to range and angle of impact". On p. 129, the 17pdr is cited as penetrating 118mm with APCBC, 170mm with APDS; and the 88mm, 101mm with APCBC, 103mm with APCR, against homogenous armour at 1000m and 30º. The British introduction of APC is dated to May 1942.

41

WW2 armour penetration

McRae & Coox, 1954 "Tank-vs-Tank Combat in Korea", Vincent V McRae & Alvin D Coox, ORO Johns Hopkins University, 1954: Tactics Division Armor Group Technical Memorandum ORO T-278.

0 − 350 351 − 750 751 − 1150 over 1150 All ranges

Penetration probabilities: US tank guns vs T-34 Penetrations Rounds fired Hits Number Per hit 90mm APC 43 34 18 0.52 ± 0.09 31 21 12 0.57 ± 0.11 32 15 8 0.53 ± 0.13 5 2 1 0.50 ± 0.35 110 72 39 0.54 ± 0.06 90mm HVAP 35 30 22 0.73 ± 0.08 4 3 2 0.66 ± 0.27 2 1 1 1.00 7 2 1 0.50 ± 0.35 48 36 26 0.72 ± 0.07 76mm APC 22 14 11 0.78 ± 0.13 9 6 3 0.50 ± 0.20 5 3 3 1.00 17 5 3 0.60 ± 0.22 53 28 20 0.72 ± 0.06 76mm HVAP 31 14 10 0.71 ± 0.12 11 8 6 0.75 ± 0.15 0 0 0  1 1 1 1.00 43 23 17 0.71 ± 0.06

Range (yds) 0 − 350 351 − 750 751 − 1150 over 1150 Unknown All ranges

Penetration probabilities: T-34 vs. US medium tanks Penetrations Rounds fired Hits Number Per hit 28 13 12 0.92 62 21 7 0.33 16 0 0  15 0 0  16 10 5 0.50 137 44 25 0.55

Range (yds) 0 − 350 351 − 750 751 − 1150 over 1150 All ranges 0 − 350 351 − 750 751 − 1150 over 1150 All ranges 0 − 350 351 − 750 751 − 1150 over 1150 All ranges

Per round fired 0.42 ± 0.08 0.39 ± 0.09 0.25 ± 0.08 0.20 ± 0.018 0.35 ± 0.07 0.63 ± 0.08 0.50 ± 0.25 0.50 ± 0.35 0.14 ± 0.13 0.54 ± 0.07 0.50 ± 0.13 0.33 ± 0.16 0.60 ± 0.22 0.18 ± 0.09 0.38 ± 0.09 0.45 ± 0.09 0.54 ± 0.15  1.00 0.39 ± 0.10

Per round fired 0.42 0.12   0.63 0.32

Comments and corrections The variation in penetration probability tabulated is the standard sampling error, which is given by the formula √(P(hit) × (1 − P(hit) )/num_shots). Of the US penetration data, the report says "Statistically speaking the penetration data obtained at ranges greater than 350 yd are in general insufficient for conclusive interpretations with perhaps the exception of 90mm APC ammunition." The report fails to note that the value of the data for the T34 is rather limited by the fact it gives no indication of whether the penetrated tank is an M24, M4, M26 or M46, which have quite different levels of protection.

42

WW2 armour penetration Messenger, 1982 "The Unknown Alamein", Charles Messenger, Ian Allan, 1982, pp 29–31. Armour type and impact angle unstated, ranges in yards. Weapon 2pdr 6pdr 25pdr US 37mm US 75mm Ger 20mm Ger 37mm 50mm (short) 50mm (long) 75mm (short) 75mm (long) 76.2mm 88mm It 20mm Breda It 47/32

Range 1000 1500 1000 1000 2000 500 500 750 1000 1000 2000 2000 2000 500 1000

Penetration 40 52 54 46 38 25 28 46 50 41 62 53 83 24 32

Accompanying the above figures is a graph showing penetration of 30º armour against range in yards. The curves shown are almost exclusively linear; the following approximate figures can be read off: Weapon Short 50mm 2pdr US 37mm Long 50mm US 75mm 25pdr 6pdr 75mm L43 88mm

250 59 59

500 53 54 55 62 63 64 79 89 111

1000 42 46 50 55 56 66 79 103

1500

47 54 69 93

Comments and corrections Note that the figures given on the graph do not always exactly match those given in the text. The author indicates that a hollow-charge round was available for the long 75mm gun, with a penetration of approx. 75mm.

43

2000

40 59 84

WW2 armour penetration Moore, 1991 "Panzer Bait: With the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment 1940–1944", William Moore, Leo Cooper, 1991. Armour type and slope not specified, range in yards. Weapon 50mm It 47mm in M13, M14 88mm 75mm in Mk IV special Improved 75mm Panther 75mm

Ammunition PzGr40

Range 440 400 2000 1000 1000 2000

Penetration 78 48 83 70 84 100

Comments and corrections It is fairly obvious which weapons are referred to here; the 50mm is the PaK 38, and the 88mm is the FlaK 36. Of the 75mm guns, the Mk IV special gun is the L/43, the improved version is the L/48, and the Panther's gun the L/70. This source says that in Spring 1941, British technical intelligence estimated the penetrative performance of the 88mm as being in the same class as the 50mm, 80–90mm at 400 yards; equally oddly, they overestimated the performance of the "short" 75mm (L/24) as being 100mm at 600 yards. Moore also states that it was only by early summer 1942 that face-hardened plate was identified on German tanks, and that time "Only the Honey had capped rounds and these were not entirely satisfactory".

Nash, 1974 "Wargames", David Nash, Hamlyn, 1972, page 94. A graph is presented purporting to show penetration reated to shot diameter plotted against impact velocity in feet per second. Armour type and slope and projectile type are unstated. The following values have been read off by eye. Impact velocity Penetration (dia)

500 0.25

1000 0.50

1500 0.75

2000 1.10

2500 1.55

3000 2.15

3500 2.85

4000 3.95

4500 5.4

Comments and corrections On page 96, a formula is given purporting to give the percentage loss of velocity of a round over the first 250 yards of its flight, which is merely 250 divided by the calibre of the round in mm. The percentage thus arrived at is applied repeatedly for every successive 250 yards.

44

WW2 armour penetration Ogorkiewicz, 1960 "Armour", Richard M Ogorkiewicz, Stevens & Sons, 1960, page 314. Penetration "using standard armour-piercing ammunition against armour plate inclined at 30° to the vertical". Armour type unspecified, ranges in yards. Weapon 8.8 cm L71 7.5 cm L70 8.8 cm L56 7.5 cm L48 5 cm L60 5cm L60 APCR 5cm L42 3.7 cm L45 6-pounder 6-pounder APDS

500 183 142 120 92 61 88 50 35 87 132

1000 167 121 104 80 50 56

1500 152 103 93 69 41

2000 135 90 80

81 119

74 106

67 90

Comments and corrections These figures are read by eye from the graphs on pages 314, 316 and 317. In the text, figures are given for the hollow-charge warheads of the Panzerfaust of 200mm and the 8cm PAW 600 of 140mm, both at normal impact.

O'Neill, 1981 "Suicide Squads", Salamander, 1981. On page 266, the author credits the Japanese lunge-mine with 100– 150mm penetration at 0º, but says "details of its effectiveness are scanty".

Orgill, 1971 "T-34, Russian Armour", Douglas Orgill, Macdonald, 1971. Armour type unstated, ammunition type unstated, ranges in yards. Weapon 76mm L/41 100mm 88mm L/71

500 69

1000 160

182

Comments and corrections I assume "about a mile" means 1500 yards.

45

"about a mile" 54

WW2 armour penetration Perrett, 1990 "Tank Warfare", Bryan Perrett, A&AP, 1990, page 59. Armour type and slope not specified, at 1000 yards. Weapon 122mm L/43 in IS-II

Penetration 185

Comments and corrections The author also states that the German 75mm L/43 "could penetrate 89mm armour set back at 30 degrees", but this time without specifying the range. Elsewhere he makes the rather dubious statement that "The IS-II was regarded as more than a match for the up-gunned Pz Kpfw IV and the Panther, but could be penetrated by the Tiger E at 1,900 yards". Given that he credits the IS-II with 160mm of armour, I assume that Tiger B was intended. On page 62, Perrett states that the Germans began using APCR in 1941, the Russians in 1942 and the Americans in 1944; that the British introduced APDS in 1944; and that HEAT began reaching the battlefield in 1942.

Playfair, 1956 "The Germans come to the Help of their Ally (1941)", Volume II of the Official History "The Mediterranean and Middle East, Maj-Gen I. S. O. Playfair, HMSO, 1956. Penetration of homogenous plate at 30º, ranges in yards. Weapon Pak 35/36

Pak 38 50mm L42 Flak 36 2-pdr

Ammo PzGr

200 42

PzGr 40 PzGr PzGr 40 PzGr

61

250

400 38

500

750

1000

67 109 54

61 86 49

56 69 44

50 55 39

PzGr 40

83

53

AP

58

66 112 52

42 103 40

2000

49

46

83

Comments and corrections The accompanying text reminds the reader that "in battle the conditions are so variable that, except in extreme cases, only broad forecasts can be made". The author cites DAK ammunition returns as showing that 13% of ammunition for ATk guns was at first PzGr40. "They asked for a great deal more, but their demands were not met in full".

46

WW2 armour penetration Quarrie, 1989 Source: "Encyclopaedia of the German Army in the 20th Century", Bruce Quarrie, Patrick Stephens Ltd, 1989. Armour type unspecified, angle of impact 30º, ranges in metres. Weapon sPzB41 PaK 35/36 le PaK 41

Ammo APCNR PzGr 39 PzGr 40 APCNR

4.7 PaK 36(t)

PaK 38 PaK 40 PaK 41 PaK 97/38 PaK 36(r) PaK 43

PzGr 39 PzGr 40 PzGr 39 PzGr 40 APCNR PzGr 39 PzGr 40 PzGr 39/43 PzGr 40/43

PaK 44 2cm 30 3.7cm L45 5cm L42 5cm L60 7.5cm L24 7.5cm L43 7.5cm L48 7.5cm L70 8.8cm L56 8.8cm L71 Weapon Stielgranate 41 PzB 38/39 RPzB 54 Panzerfaust Haft-Hohlladung Panzerwurfmine Gew PzGr Gross Gew PzGr Gross PzGr 46 Gross PzGr 61 SchussGranate P-40 Pappmine Panzer Schnell Holzmine 42 Sprengriegel 43 Tellermine 29–43 Topfmine R-mine 43 LPZ Eismine 42

500 50 36 55 70 55 61 86 104 115 171 100 98 118 182 226

1000

2000

3000

71 55 139 136 202

173

50 50 55 89 96 145 88 92 167 192 230

20 30 56 61 41 89 104 141 110 182 Range 300 100 300 120 30, 60, 100, 150 0 18 45 90 200 200 90 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Angle 30º 90º 90º 30º 30º

Comments and corrections

47

Penetration 180 30 25 100 140 110 64 20 33 90 126 37 22 26 23 35 24 25 17 10 8

WW2 armour penetration Mine figures are from US TM-9-1900, German Explosive Ordnance, 1953.

Shephard, Hartley, Haysman, Thorpe & Bathe, 1988 "Applied operations research: Examples from defence assessment", R W Shephard, D A Hartley, P J Haysman, L Thorpe & M R Bathe, Plenum Press, 1988. Page 59 has a graph showing the probability of a tank being killed against the overmatch of its armour by the projectile striking it. Overmatch is defined as the penetration performance of the round divided by the thickness of the armour. Values read from this graph by eye are as follows: Overmatch P(k)

0.9 .03

1.0 .10

1.1 .16

1.2 .28

1.3 .40

1.4 .53

1.5 .65

1.6 .70

1.7 .75

1.8 .77

1.9 .79

2.0 .80

2.1 .81

2.2 .82

2.3 .82

2.4 .83

The curve continues flat beyond an overmatch of 2.5; if extrapolated it would cut the zero P(k) line just above an overmatch of 0.8. Comments and corrections The book bears the warning that "…data should not be taken as representative of any past, current or future systems. Even where exercises are loosely based on past case studies, they will have been greatly simplified and the data altered".

Spielberger, 196? "Panzerkampfwagen III", AFV profile 2, undated but priced in shillings, page 12. Penetration in millimetres, ranges in yards, armour type and slope unspecified.

5cm KWK L42 PzGr 39 5cm KWK L42 PzGr 40

100 97 55

500 47

Comments and corrections The source says that Panzergranate 40 (APCR) "was less effective than APC over about 700 yards."

TM 30-410 "Handbook on USSR Military Forces", HERO, 1978?, pages IX 120 and XI 91–100. Angle unspecified, ranges in metres. Weapon ShKAS 7.62mm 12.7mm MG

20mm ShVAK LMG rocket mine

Ammunition B-32 API BV-46 AP-T B-22 API BSF-46 AP-phos BST AP-T BS API Hollow charge

Armour type cement cement "strong"

Range 200 200 200 200 200 1000 any

Penetration (mm) 7–8 6 20 20 15 25 102

Comments and corrections This source is a facsimile edition of a 1945 original, TM 30-430. Probably "cement" means cemented, that is, face-hardened armour.

48

2.5 0.83

WW2 armour penetration

TM-E 30-451 "Handbook on German Military Forces", 1945, section VII, pages 22–100. Armour type unspecified except where indicated, ranges in yards. Weapon 7.5cm LG40 2.8cm sPzB41 3.7cm Pak 4.2cm le Pak 41 5cm Pak 38 7.5cm Pak 40 7.5cm Pak 41 7.62cm Pak 36(r) 8.8cm Pak 43, 43/41

Ammunition Hollow-charge AP AP40 Stick bomb AP AP APCBC AP APCBC APCBC

SS Gew PzGr 46

APCBC APCBC or AP40 APC APCBC APC APCBC Hollow charge

SS Gew PzGr 61

Hollow charge

12.8cm PaK 44

Range 400 400 150 (mvng target) 700 1000 1000 1000 1000 500 1000 1500 500 500 1000 1000 "long" "short" (18 ft) 220 "short" (18 ft)

Angle 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º

Penetration 50 53 49 152 (approx) 68 56 102 130 83 184 169 130 172 212 148 200 90 70 126 100

Comments and corrections This source is a facsimile edition of the original. Obviously, the AP rounds listed for the sPzB41, le Pak 41 and PaK 41 Ge rlich guns are APCNR. The figures for the Pak 36, PaK 36(r), Pak 41, Pak 43 and Pak 44 specify homogenous armour.

49

WW2 armour penetration Unknown Pages 186-187 of an unknown small-format (8 × 5½inches) hardback, possibly about anti-tank artillery, as no tank-only guns are listed. Ranges in metres, armour type and slope not specified. Weapon 2 pounder 6 pounder

17 pounder

37mm M3 57mm M1 3 inch M5 90mm M1 It 47/32 Model 37 It 90/53 AA gun Jap 37mm Type 97 Jap 47mm Type 1 45mm M1937 45mm M1942 57mm M1943 100mm M1944

2.8 cm SPzB41 (Taper) 3.7 cm PAK 36 4.2 cm PJK41 (Taper) 5 cm PAK 38 7.5 cm PAK 40 7.5 cm PAK 41 (Taper) 7.62 cm PAK 36(r) 8.8 cm PAK 43, 43/1 12.8cm PAK 44

Ammunition AP APCNR AP APCBC APDS AP APCBC APDS APHE APC AP APCHE APHE APHE AP AP APHE AP AP APHE APCR APHE APCR AP APHE APCR APCNR APHE APCR APCNR APHE APCR APHE APCR APCNR APHE APCR APHE APCR APHE

Range 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 500 500 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 500 1000 1000 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000

Penetration 42 @ 30º 57 74 88 136 109 119 200 30 50 70 70 85 110 26 101 35 40 38 50 54 86 100 186 153 181 52 36 40 53 50 55 89 96 145 88 92 167 192 230

Comments and corrections Note the significantly inferior penetrative performance of APHE to AP for the US 37mm, and of APHE to AP for the Soviet 100mm. Unfortunately, Hogg's "British & American Artillery of World War 2" considers the M74 AP round inferior to the M51B1 APC (APHE). Failure to specify the ammunition nature being used may be one of the main reasons for disagreement between sources.

50

WW2 armour penetration Vanags-Baginskis & Watanabe, 1993 "Aggressors Volume 1: Tank Buster vs. Combat Vehicle", Alex Vanags-Baginskis and Rikyu Watanabe, Airlife, 1993. Armour type not specified, ranges in metres. Weapon 3-inch rocket 45mm M-1932 L/45 57mm L/73 BK 3.7 30mm MK 101

Ammo type solid AP rocket

AP APCR APCR

BK 7.5 (Pak 40L) Panzerfaust Hollow charge Panzerschreck II Hollow charge Panzerblitz II (Pb II) Hollow charge PbIII R4/HL Hollow charge PTAB 2.5-1.5 1.5Kg ATk bomb Förstersonde 45mm SG113A

Range 460 500 500 100 100 100 300 1000

Angle 0º 0º 60º 60º

100-120 500 0º 0º

Penetration 100 50 140 58 120 103 75 130 200 120 110 160 60 48

Comments and corrections It is assumed that the 60º slope specified is in the German style, from the horizontal. The Panzerblitz II only just made it into service before the end of the war, serving for five or six weeks with I(Pz)/SG9. The Förstersonde, an unusual weapon fired by an electro-magnetic probe, did not quite make it. The penetration figure for the Förstersonde is based on the observation, on page 40, that trials at Rechlin showed it could just penetrate the 48mm roof armour of the M4A3 Sherman. The AP warhead of the 3-inch rocket, developed for attacking tanks, was stable under water, and so an excellent anti-submarine weapon; it was however inferior as a tank-killer to the 60lb HE warhead, originally developed for use against submarines. The German SD4/HL anti-tank bomb is credited with being able to penetrate the roof armour of "any Soviet tank", but no penetration figure is given. There was also an SD9/HL, the designations indicating hollow-charge bombs of 4 and 9Kg respectively. Two other snippets from the variety of fascinating information to be found in this book: PTAB attacks (a Shturmovik carried 220) against "small groups of tanks" showed a hit probability of 15%; US P-47 pilots found they could destroy German AFV with 0.5" API fire from the rear.

51

WW2 armour penetration von Senger und Etterlin, 1971 "German Tanks of World War II Tanks", Dr F. M. von Senger und Etterlin, A&AP, 1971, pp 209–210. Armour type unstated, ranges in metres. Weapon sPzB 41

Ammo AP 41

KwK 35 PaK 36 AP40 PaK 4.7t KwK 42 KwK 39 PaK 38

AP39 AP40

KwK 37 7.5 L43 7.5 L46 (PaK 40)

AP39 AP40

7.5 L48 7.5 L70 PaK 36(r)

AP39 AP40

KwK 36 KwK 43

AP 39/43

PaK 43

AP 40/43

PaK 44

AP 43

Slope 90º 60º 90º 60º 90º 60º 60º 60º 90º 60º 90º 60º 60º 60º 90º 60º 90º 60º 60º 60º 90º 60º 90º 60º 60º 90º 60º 90º 60º

0

99 73 165 143

149 121 176 137

133 108 190 152 225 198 311 265

457 66 52 48 36 51 43 55 56 78 61 120 86 41 89 135 106 154 115 90 141 120 98 158 118 110 207 182 274 226 215 (500m)

915

1372

1829

2286

47 61 50 84 55

47 40

121 94 133 96 80 121 108 88 130 92

109 83 115 80

98 73 98 66

83 53

97 79 106 71

87 71 84 55

78 64 65 43

190 167 241 192 202 (1000m)

174 153 211 162

159 139 184 136

145 127 159 114

Comments and corrections It is unlikely that the 7.5 cm L46 is really superior to the L48 by the amount indicated. The author indicates that hollow-charge rounds were available for most 7.5 and 8.8cm guns.

52

WW2 armour penetration Weeks, 197? "Men against Tanks, A History of Anti-Tank Warfare" (Book Club edition), John Weeks, Purnell, undated, but after 1973. Ammunition type and armour type not specified, ranges in units stated. Weapon Various 20mm Various 37mm Armstrong 37mm Marosczek ATR Boys ATR No. 74 "Sticky bomb" PAK 36 stick bomb 20mm PzB41 PAK 40 Panzerfaust

Range 400 yds 1000 yds 300 yds 300 yds 300 yds 0 200 yds 250 yds 1000 metres

Slope

30º

Pen (ins) 0.6–1 just over 1 just over 1 ¾ just over ½ 1 5 1¼ 3.7 7–8

Pen (mm) 15–25 26 26 19 14 25 127 30 94 178–203

Comments and corrections Penetration figures in the original are given in inches. PAK 41 performance quoted as being "about 50 percent better than the PAK 40". The Japanese 75mm anti-tank gun M90 is quoted as being able to knock out a Sherman at 1000 yards.

Wiener, 1978 "The Armies of the Warsaw Pact Nations" (second edition), Friedrich Wiener, Carl Uebereuter, 1978, pages 197–199 and 210. Armour at 0º, type unspecified, ranges in metres. Weapon 57mm M-43 ZiS-2 85mm M-44 (D-45) 152mm M-3 (ML-20) 122mm M-31/37

Ammunition HVAP HVAP AP AP

Range 500 500 1000 1000

Penetration 140 130 124 160

Comments and corrections This book is a translation of the German-language original, "Die Armeen der Warschauer-Pakt-Staaten".

53

WW2 armour penetration Williams, 1999 "The Vickers 40mm S gun with Littlejohn Adpator", A G Williams, article published in "The Cartridge Researcher", 1999. Ranges in metres, armour type unspecified, angle of impact 30º. Weapon 2-pdr Vickers S gun

Ammo APCBC APSV Mk 1 AP

Range 450 450 360

Penetration 53 88 47

The following figures come from "US military intelligence papers prepared immediately after WW2", from which Tony extracted hand-written notes on Japanese weapons: Weapon 37mm Type 94 Tank Gun

Range (metres) 275 900

37mm Type 94 Anti-tank Gun and Type 98 Tank Gun

100

Angle 90° 60° 90° 60° unspecified

Penetration 37 29 26 21 50

Comments and corrections Thanks again to Tony Williams for providing this information, which is from his own original research. It appears that in May 1944, an air test was conducted at Boscombe Down using a Hurricane IID mounting S guns fitted with the Littlejohn Adaptor. The equipment was found to be insufficiently reliable. The Vickers 'S' figures given above include the effct of the velocity of the aircraft. Tony estimates that at close range the Littlejohn-equipped gun might have achieved a penetration performance of some 80mm. He also mentions that some armoured car crews fired APSV from 2-pounders without the Littlejohn adaptor fitted, so that they could also fire HE rounds. For Japanese guns, Tony states that the performance of the 47mm Type 1 Tank/Anti-tank Gun is "probably similar to the German 5cm KwK 38 L/42", and mentions that the 57mm Tank Gun was provided with a HEAT round.

54

WW2 armour penetration Woodman, 1991 "Tank Armament in World War Two", Paul Woodman, in: Airfix Magazine, Vol. 3 No. 5, Alan W. Hall (publications) Ltd, August 1991, page 174. "All penetration figures come from official archive material and are from tests performed against Homogenous type armour plate". Slope is stated as 30 degrees. Ranges are in metres. Weapon 2 Pounder

6 Pounder 17 Pounder 77mm 3.7cm KwK36 5cm KwK38 7.5cm KwK40 7.5cm KwK42 8.8cm KwK36 8.8cm KwK43 Sov 45mm Sov 76mm Sov 85mm Sov 100mm Sov 122mm Sov 152mm 37mm M5/6 75mm M2 75mm M3 76mm M1 90mm M3 It 47mm Jap 75mm?

Ammo AP APCBC APCNR APCBC APDS APCBC APDS APCBC APC HVAP APCBC HVAP APCBC HVAP APCBC HVAP APCBC HVAP APCBC HVAP AP APC HVAP APC HVAP APCBC APC APC APC AP APC AP APC APCBC HVAP APCBC APC AP

500 52 57 88 81 131 140 208 120 29 34 46 58 96 120 124 174 110 156 185 217 51 60 80 96 121 170 138 125 46 60 65 76 66 94 158 126 55 59

1000 40 45 72 74 117 130 192 110 22

1500

2000

36

28

85 97 111 149 100 138 165 193 36 53 52 88 80 160 132 110 42 53 55 63 60 89 134 120 43 51

74

64

99 127 94 123 148 171

88

40 68 103 120 176 100 19

63 111 161 90

83 132

47

41

76

68

151 117

139 98

37 46 49 51 55 81 116 114

76 105

42

Comments and corrections In the original table, the British 77mm is mis -labelled 76mm, and the APCNR ammunition for the 2 pounder is mis -labelled as HVAP. These errors are corrected here. It is not stated which version of the Soviet 76mm is intended, but the L41 version is assumed. Unless the performance of this gun increases with range, the entries for 500 and 1000 metres have been transposed: The error is corrected here. The designation of the Japanese weapon is missing in the original. It is noted as being the armament of the Type 97 and Type 1, which is not as helpful as it might be, as there are Type 97 light and medium

55

WW2 armour penetration tanks, and Type 1 medium and gun tanks. It is assumed from the performance figures that the 75mm is intended, as they agree quite closely with those given in the Bovington "Fire and Movement" booklet.

WO 171/336, 30 Corps "G" War Diary Quoting 21 A Gp Int Summary No. 131, Penetration of homogenous armour by 2cm KwK 38, ranges in yards. Slope Range AP-T AP 40

Normal 100 48 57

Normal 400 38 43

30º 100 31 49

30º 400 25 37

WO 185/15, Anti-tank grenades Trials comparing the British No. 68 Mk III grenade with the American "trombone" (presumably M9) grenade. A 1-inch (25mm) deal screen 1 inch in front of 1¼-inch (32mm) FH plate gave immunity to the US grenade at normal impact; the No. 68 grenade penetrated at 20º. US Ordnance stated that the limit of effective regular penetration for the American grenade was 1¼-inch (32mm) FH at angles between normal and 20º. Against this, the US grenade was easier to aim. Another report says that "the greatest thickness of tank armour that can be perforated by these grenades at 30 degrees to the normal is approximately 30mm. At this limiting thickness, the fragment effect behind the plate is poor."

WO 185/118, DDG/FV(D) Armour plate experiments "...the following figures for penetration are given for attack on MQ plate": Range 500 yards 1500 yards

Normal 128 106

3" M62 20º 112 91

30º 94 83

Normal 95 76

75mm M61 20º 75 60

30º 65 55

Annoyingly, the first digit of the first range bracket has been removed by a hole punched in the paper of the original, but comparing these figures with those given by Hunnicut I take it to be a 5. The figures at normal and 20º are taken from graphs issued by the American Ordnance Office; the figures at 30º are estimates. ____________________________________________________ The following "armour basis curve" is taken from a US publication, and it is suggested that it be adopted, as it does not differ too greatly from that previously used in Britain: Slope (degrees) 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Multiplier 1.01 1.03 1.07 1.15 1.25 1.37 1.52 1.69

56

Divisor 0.99 0.97 0.935 0.87 0.8 0.73 0.658 0.59

WW2 armour penetration 50 55 60

1.89 2.13 2.5

0.53 0.47 0.4

"It is considered, however, that the facts are too complex to be represented even approximately by any single armour basis curve, and, as illustrated in figures I to V, the armour basis curve varies widely according to the type of projectile and plate attacked." "...in the case of the 6pdr the armour basis curve is wrong by 7% and in the case of the 2pdr wrong by 28%." It is noted that the Panther's front plate is 75mm thick (in fact it is 80mm) and sloped at 55º. This is calculated to be equivalent to 155mm of vertical armour (my arithmetic makes it more like 160mm, and 170mm if the correct thickness is used). It is stated that the 17 pdr APC round will perforate 155mm at normal at 650 yards, and APCBC at 1200 yards. "...but recent trials have shown that a 75mm plate at 53º can only be holed at point blank range by 17 pdr APC and that the 17 pdr APCBC will not defeat the plate at any range." ____________________________________________________ Commenting on the interlocking plates on the Tiger, it is said: "Attention had previously been drawn (Minute 177) to the poor quality of German welding from the point of view of holding the hull and turret structures together under attack." On armour hardness: "A survey of the plates on the Pz.Kw.VI with the portable hardness tester had shown that all the plates were of machineable quality. The hardness of the 26mm plates was in the range 298–343 Brinell which was harder than British plates of the same thickness namely 262–311 Brinell. The hardness of the plates in the range 60–102mm was 257–310 Brinell which was essentially the same as that of British plates of the same thickness." ____________________________________________________ A test shoot on a captive Tiger in Tunisia gave the following penetration ranges: Plate Side superstructure

Thickness 82mm

Tilt N

Rear plate

82mm

10º

Angle N N 30º N 30º N 20º

Driver's visor plate

102mm

10º

10º

Front lower plate

102mm

25º

25º

Yds 1250 900 shatters 850 shatters 800 1000 650 700 350 shatters 1600

Gun & ammo 6pr Mk V+ HV AP 6pr Mk III + LV AP 6pr Mk V + HV APC 75mm M3 + APC M61 6pr Mk V+ HV AP 6pr Mk III + LV AP 6pr Mk V+ HV AP 6pr Mk III + LV AP 6pr AP 17pr Mk I AP

"An occasional bad plate may be found in German tanks, such as the port side superstructure. This should not be considered typical nor predictions based on its performance." (The above figures are for the starboard superstructure plate.) ____________________________________________________ A memo dated 27 Oct 1943 gives the following vulnerability ranges, in yards, for Churchill and "Heavy Churchill", which will have 95mm of side armour, which I take to mean the Churchill Mks VII and VIII:

57

WW2 armour penetration

Standard Churchill Heavy Churchill

88mm Flak 36 Normal 30º over 3000 over 3000 2250 1500

50mm APHE Normal 30º 900 200 Immune Immune

____________________________________________________ The following vulnerability table is given for the proposed Valiant tank: Plate 4" rear, vertical 4½" side of hull, vertical 5" side of turret, vertical 6" hull front 20º Turret front vertical

88mm APCBCHE Normal 30º 2020 860 1650 350 1160 Immune Immune Immune 270 Immune

75mm APCBCHE Normal 30º 950 Immune 520 Immune 120 Immune Immune Immune Immune Immune

WO 185/122, Churchill tank with 17 pdr gun Commenting on the advantage of sloped armour, a memo in this file says "Two examples indicate the advantage of this based on results of firing trials". The first example is for the assumed thickness and slope of the Panther lower nose plate and the equivalent weight of vertical armour; the second is for the assumed thickness and slope of the Panther upper nose plate and equivalent weight of vertical armour. Thickness (mm) 75 125 85 156

Slope 53º 0º 57º 0º

Range immune to 17 pdr AP 800 yds 1600 yds 0 yds 900 yds

Mention is made of the possibility of mounting the 3.7" Mk VI as a turret gun. "The penetration performance of this weapons is likely to be considerably in excess of the 17 pdr." A pencilled note in the margin says "(+25%)".

WO 185/133, Tungsten Carbide Production Weapon 2 pdr 2 pdr Littlejohn

Ammo AP APCNR

6 pdr

APCBC

Range "limit of perforation" "limit of perforation" at least 1,000 yds 1,500 yds

Angle 30º 30º 30º 30º

Penetration (mm) 55mm 80-90mm 55mm 60mm

A letter in this file dated 14th Nov 1942 contains an interesting postscript: "Since this subject was raised we have struck a snag in the attack of double skin frontal armour as used in the latest German Tanks." A 20mm thick front plate breaks up or distorts the core of 2 pdr Littlejohn shot sufficiently to prevent penetration of the 50mm plate behind. Mention is made of a "rumoured new tank" with 100mm front and 60mm side armour, a fairly good approximation to the Tiger, but erroneously believed to have double skin armour. It is stated that AP steels "properly treated" can defeat plates 25% greater in thickness than the projectile diameter. It also says that 2 pdr service shot had to date defeated the side and rear armour of German AFV up to 1,000 yards at 30º. Diameters of tungsten carbine penetrating cores for various weapons are given as (inches in original):

58

WW2 armour penetration Weapon Diameter (ins) Diameter (mm)

37mm Littlejohn 0.66 17

2 pr Littlejohn 0.79 20

6 pr APCR or DS 1.1 28

17 pr APDS 1.5 38

In each case, this is half the projectile calibre.

WO 185/145, New infantry anti-tank weapon This is a post-war file, dealing only with requirements, but is of interest because it gives a clue as to the expected effectiveness of spaced armour against HEAT rounds. The final requirement is stated as being penetration of 120mm of armour protected by a 10mm skirting plate positioned at 3 feet from the main armour (earlier statements mention figures of 100 and 160mm), or 200mm of armour unprotected by skirting plates. It is stated that trials of the 3.45" RCL showed a blind rate of 6%. Mention is made of an abandoned "improved PIAT" bomb, capable of penetrating 145mm of armour at normal or 125mm at 30º. The fighting range was to be 125 yards from the existing projector. Penetration of the 3.5" bazooka is stated, from American sources, to be 11", or 279mm. Mention is also made of the low lethality of HEAT rounds, "follow-though" rounds, and the MisznaySchardin effect, which seems to be the basis of an early form of self-forging fragment warhead.

WO 185/171, Armour plate experiments This file states that 50 Brinell points corresponds to 10 tons per square inch. Referring to armour on German light AFVs, it says "The hardness of the homo -hard plates was reduced in 1938 from a minimum of 495 Brinell to the range of 415–461 Brinell" in order to reduce cracking. Information collected up to June 1944 shows the Brinell hardness ranges of British and German plates of different thicknesses in mm:

German British

Thickness: Upper Lower Upper Lower

40 335 280 302 262

60 320 270 293 255

80 300 250 277 248

100 290 220 269 240

over 100 250 215 269 240

Another report in this file mentions trials conducted in Australia of Japanese 75mm HEAT against Matilda. The weapon is credited with 75mm penetration at normal impact.

59

WW2 armour penetration

WO 185/178, Tank armament versus armour This file is dated 1943. "Perforation of armour in millimetres": Gun

6 pdr Mk II & III

Ammo

AP APC APCBC

6 pdr Mk IV & V

AP APC APCBC

2 pdr Mk IX & X

AP APCBC L/john

17 pdr

AP APC

75mm M2

AP APCBC

75mm M3

AP APCBC

8 pdr (short)

APCBC

8 pdr (short)

APCBC

Type

MQ MQ FH MQ FH MQ MQ FH MQ FH MQ MQ FH MQ FH MQ MQ FH MQ MQ FH MQ FH MQ FH MQ FH MQ FH

Range (yards) 500 100 96

At normal 1000 87 83

93 104 106 102 110 97 108 67 63 67 111 111 138 138 155 79 82 80 88 80 94 92 107 112 114 118

84 95 92 88 96 88 98 48 56 59 87 87 126 126 135 66 72 70 75 65 85 83 101 103 105 110

1500 62 58 64 76 66 62 70 70 81 26 39 42

102 102 110 44 56 54 51 45 68 66 84 87 89 92

500 82 72 90 68 80 82 78 95 72 97 51 54 58 90 90 118 118 135 62 63 67 73

At 30º 1000 68 63 74 60 75 71 67 78 64 82 41 47 51 71 71 110 110 118 54 58 61 64

76 75 79 97 86 104

69 67 73 87 78 94

1500 46 46 47 44 57 48 44 50 49 64 24 35 38

89 89 91 39 44 47 55 58 52 66 69 64 75

The 75mm AP round is the M72, the APCBC is M61. The figure for 75mm M3 APCBC on homogenous armour at 500 yards and 30º is given as 67 in the original, but ringed; I assume this indicates a transposition error, and have corrected it to 76. In the original, the figures for the 8 pdr on facehardened armour at normal were originally 7 to 10mm greater than shown here, but have been corrected by hand. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ "Performance against Homogenous Plate at 30 degrees Angle of Attack":

60

WW2 armour penetration 88mm APCBCHE 17 pdr APC 6 pdr APCBC

m.v. (fps) 2600 2900 2725

weight 21lb 17lb 7lb 3 oz

500 yds 114 135 121 86.5

1000 yds

1500 yds

118 109 79.8

103 98 73.5

It is stated that the 3.7" howitzer and 95mm tank howitzer penetrate a minimum of 90mm at all ranges. The reason for the 17 pdr figures being crossed out and replaced is not clear, but the uncorrected figures are preserved here. ____________________________________________________ "Thickness of armour penetrated by 80% of projectiles striking the plate at an angle of 30º to the normal": Gun 6 pr Mk III

Ammo AP

m.v. (fps) 2650

AP

2800

APC

2800

6 pr Mk V

APC

2800

17 pr

APC

2900

75mm M2

APCBC

1850

75mm M3

APCBC

2050

5cm KWK 39 7.5 cm KWK 40

AP APCBC

2700 2400

Armour MQ FH MQ FH MQ FH MQ FH MQ FH MQ FH MQ FH MQ MQ

500 yds 73 64 79 69 72 88 78 93 118 133 63 65 69 74 65 89

1000 yds 62 51 66 55 61 72 67 76 110 116 55 56 62 65 56 79

1500 yds 41 31 44 34 40 45 44 48 84 89 42 44 47 50 38 62

This table contains numerous corrections by hand; the final figures are given here. ____________________________________________________ A memo from the Ministry of Supply dated 1st April 1943 gives the following figures for "Single homo plate penetration at 30º in mm.": 500 yds 86.5 123 109 121 155 69.5

6-pdr APCBC 6-pdr Littlejohn 6-pdr composite rigid 17-pdr APC 3" (17-pdr) composite rigid 75mm APCBC (MV 2030 fps)

1000 yds 79.8 111 90 109 138 63

1500 yds 73.5 101 75 98 122 57

____________________________________________________ "Penetration in mm against homogenous plate": Range (yds) 7.5cm KwK40 APCBC 7.62/36(r) APCBC 6 pdr AP 17 pdr APC 3" 20 cwt AP

500 89 79 75.9 112.7 88.5

1000 79 70 67.1 111.2 76.5

1500 70 61 55.2 99.8 65.5

The usual cautions about the spurious precision of fractional millimetres apply.

61

2000 62 53 44.7 88.7 55

WW2 armour penetration ____________________________________________________ On 95mm shaped charge ammunition: "For the reasons given in paragraph 4 above, the characteristics of the weapon greatly reduce the chances of direct hits with all types of projectile – at a range of 1,000 yards, the chances are about onethird those of the 6 pdr and at longer ranges the falling-off increases rapidly. For effective anti-tank engagement the maximum opening range of the 95mm is say 600/700 yards, preferably less." ____________________________________________________ "The German 28/20 Gerlich projectile penetrated a 76mm MQ plate at 100 yards and nearly succeeded against 87mm F.H. plate at the same range." ____________________________________________________ The following table shows "Performance against Homogenous Plate at 30 degrees Angle of Attack", and includes estimates of the "Minimum weight of metal shot into tank by perforation of 75mm plate". Gun 75mm KWK 40 75mm long Pak 75mm Pak 41 88mm 88mm Flak 41 75mm M3 6-pdr 17-pdr 3.7" or 95mm how

500 yds 1000 yds 1500 yds 90 80 71 114 105 94 142 121 101 114 105.5 96.5 159 149 139 70 63 57 86.5 79.8 73.5 121 109 98 Minimum of 90 at all ranges

pen dia 75 75 30 88 88 75 57 76 25

Wt of metal (lbs) 6 + 12 = 18 6 + 12 = 18 ¾+ 2 = 2¾ 8¼ + 18 = 26¼ 8¼ + 18 = 26¼ 6 + 12 = 18 3¼ + 6¼ = 9½ 6 + 15 = 21 2/3 + 1/3 = 1

American and German guns fire APCBC/HE, except the Pak 41 (the paper also mentions a KWK 41), the 6-pdr APCBC, the 17-pdr APC and the howitzers hollow charge. The original penetration diameters were given in inches, but have been converted to millimetres here. The figures in the last column show the expected weight of armour plus the weight of projectile entering the tank, added to give a total weight. A note on the howitzer entry says "Perforation of Hollow Charge projectiles is not controlled by striking velocity but by chances of hitting. The maximum range at which a sufficiency of hits is likely is probably 700 yds. owing to low velocity. The nature of the damage is small, usually about a 1" hole." __________________________________________________ "The 6 pdr hitherto in use perforated with AP ammunition, the 80mm homogenous side armour and turret of the Tiger tank in Tunisia at ranges between 600 and 700 yards at various angles of strike estimated at between 15 and 35º. The higher velocity long barrelled 6 pdr gun is now being issued. APCBC ammunition, which will be used by both types of gun and should begin to reach UK depots about May, should improve on the performance of the present AP shot by being effective at longer ranges." "6 pdr AP shot successfully engaged the Pz.Kw. VI tank in Tunisia, perforating 84mm plate at 550 yards at 20º attack." "17 pdr APC ammunition will be produced this year which will perforate 114mm homogenous armour at 750 yards 30º attack." ____________________________________________________ The following table of fighting ranges is based on hits on the heaviest front armour at 30º. Armour thickness of the Pz IV is taken as 50mm, of the Pz. III as 50+20mm.

Crusader 50mm

Pz III 300

Penetrates

62

Pz IV 1000

WW2 armour penetration Grant Sherman

Is penetrated Penetrates Is penetrated Penetrates Is penetrated

1300 150 Immune 700 Immune

2000 1500 1200 2000 1200

It is unfortunate that the armament of the enemy tanks was not specified, but we might guess at the 50/42 for the Pz III and the 75/43 for the Pz IV.

WO 185/182, Recoilless weapons This says that the 4.7" Burney "Wallbuster"(HESH) shell knocked 20–30lbs of scabs off a 6" plate at 30º.

WO 185/194, Tank and anti-tank armament A table of "important German SP equipments" gives the following figures for penetration of homogenous armour at 30º with APCBC ammunition: 500 yds 84 141 184 172 (APC) 212 (APCBC)

7.5 cm PaK 39 (L/48) 7.5 cm StuK42 (L/70) 8.8 cm Pak 43/1 (L/71) 12.8 cm Pak 44 (L/55)

1000 yds 72 121 169 148 (APC) 200 (APCBC)

WO 190/706, German Army infantry weapons This document is dated 1938. Range in units stated, penetration in mm. Weapon 7.92mm s.m.k bullet 20mm "Tankbusche"

MG30 2cm Mk 65/80 A.T. gun 3.7

Angle 90º 90º 90º 90º 90º 60º 60º 60º 90º 60º 90º 60º 60º 45º

Range 400m 100m 100m 300m 600m 100m 300m 600m 1000m 500m 650 yds 650 yds 1090 yds 765 yds

Penetration 8.5 10 35 30 22 23 18 13 25 15 33 26 22 14

Comments and corrections The performance of the "Tankbusche" is quoted against armour of hardness 170 Kg/mm2.

63

WW2 armour penetration WO 193/480, Anti-tank weapons and ammunition A memo dated 31 Jan 1942 gives the following: Weapon 3 inch 20 cwt

Penetration at 800 yards and 30° 80

Comments and corrections This weapon is mentioned in the context of plans to mount 24 3-inch 20 cwt tubes on 17-pdr carriages to provide an interim heavy ATk gun in summer 1942. Plans to mount the same weapons on a Churchill chassis are also mentioned.

WO 194/598, Interim damage assessment report on 20mm, 25mm and 30mm calibre cannon attacks against APC targets This file is dated 1967, and details trials of different cannon against a box target made armour plates to represent a Soviet APC and against an FV432. Against the box target: Ammo 30mm Hispano AP (RINT) 30mm Hispano APHE (RIA) 25mm Oerlikon APHE

25mm Oerlikon APDS

20mm Hispano APHE (RIA) 20mm Hispano AP (RINT)

Plate 25mm 40mm 25mm 15mm 25mm 15mm 15mm 25mm 25mm 40mm 15mm 15mm 15mm

Angle 60º 45º 45º 60º 45º 60º 45º 60º 60º 40º 45º 45º 45º

Range (m) 500 500 500 1000 500 500 1000 1000 500 500 500 1000 500 or 1000

Results 2 attacks, 2 failures 5 attacks 4 failures 4 attacks 2 failures 2 attacks 1 failure 2 attacks 2 failures assumed to fail successful 2 attacks 2 failures 2 attacks 0 failures 5 attacks 5 failures 2 attacks 0 failures assumed to fail successful

Against the FV432 the 30mm RINT and RIA rounds could penetrate the frontal armour (12.5mm at 41º and 16mm at 39º) and cause serious internal damage at 1000 metres. The 25mm was also successful, but caused less internal damage.

WO 195/15062, Scab resistance of armour plate This paper is dated 1960 and reports the problem that there is considerable unexplained variation in the "scabbability" of armour plate. Trials of 100-150mm plates suggest that variations in plate quality might be worth up to 20mm or more if thickness. In particular, a Swiss firing of 105mm HESH showed scabbing of a 154mm thick Dutch plate, but only minor bulging of a higher-quality French 140mm plate, including 3.88% nickel. The Izod test gives a "rough but incomplete pointer to 'scabbability'". The report shows that tests had been run using the BAT 120mm HESH on 120, 140, 150 and 160mm thick plates; using the 120mm tank HESH on 100-110 and 150-160mm thick plates; and using the 165mm AVRE HESH on 200mm thick plates. Specific test results reported were: Weapon 25 pdr 25 pdr BAT BAT

Plate thickness 90 mm 100 mm 150 mm 150 mm

Weapon successes 3 5 0 5

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Weapon failures 4 0 5 0

WW2 armour penetration WO 208/2079, Tactical and Technical Trends This booklet, dated June 1945, credits the Japanese lunge mine with penetration of 150mm of steel plate at normal, and 100mm at 60 degrees.

WO 208/3003, German Infantry Weapons "German Infantry Weapons", US Military Intelligence Special Series no. 14, May 25, 1943. Ranges in yards. Weapon

Ammunition

PzB 39

7.5cm IG

Igr 38

Range 100 300 300 any any

Armour FH FH FH

Angle normal normal 20º normal 30º

Penetration 32 25 19 55 45

WO 214/52, War establishments This file contains a letter from General Montgomery to the CIGS dated January 1943 which gives the following penetration performances, "All above figures at 30º angle of impact".

Panther gun 75mm in Sherman 6-pdr in Cromwell

1000 yards 130 62 72

1500 yards 114

2000 yards 100

Comments and corrections The contents of this letter belie the myth that Monty was to blame for inadequate gun power in British tanks, having said "the Sherman is all we require". He identifies the Honey and the Sherman (or perhaps the Cromwell, which he has not seen) as the best light and "capital" tanks currently available, and says that a heavy infantry tank is not wanted. However, he then calls for a tank with sloped armour, like the Panther -- "100mm of armour is enough for any tank" -- and a high-velocity gun with a good HE round and capable of penetrating 150mm of armour at 30º and 1500 yards. He says "You cannot put too heavy a gun in a tank", and suggest choosing the gun first and designing the tank around it, instead of designing the tank and then fitting the gun.

WO 219/2785, SHAEF equipment and supply returns Against armour sloped at 20º, at any range, the 57mm recoilless rifle penetrates about 51mm of armour and the 75mm recoilless rifle about 76mm. Comments and corrections The penetrations are given in the original as 2 and 3 inches. The specific memo containing these figures is from the New Developments Division to the Chief of Staff, dated 13th April 1945. It states that 20 57mm and 2 75mm recoilless rifles were dropped during the airborne operation around Wesel. One 57mm knocked out three tanks, and one or two 57mms knocked out two tanks, but the type of tank is not identified.

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WW2 armour penetration WO 219/2801, SHAEF documents on tanks Appendix A to 21 AGp/1420/12/G(SD), dated 11 Mar 1945, on the vulnerability of the King Tiger, states that the King Tiger's glacis is invulnerable to 17-pdr DS. It is stated that the nose can be penetrated up to 1,200 yards, and the turret front at 1,100 yards. For the performance of the 77mm gun, subtract 1,100 yards from the APCBC performance and 650 yards from the DS performance of the 17-pdr. To penetrate a King Tiger, 75mm M61 must strike the lower hull side at 750 yards or the turret side at 400 yards. A number called the "critical azimuth at 1,000x" is mentioned, but not explained.

WO 219/2806, Appendix G to SHAEF/16652/GCT/Arty Dated 11 July 1944. "Perforation of homo at 30º Strike", ranges in yards. Weapon US 57mm Br 6-Pr US & Br 75mm US 76mm Br 77mm(c) Ger 75mm PAK 40

(d) PAK 41 (e) KWK 42 US & Br 3" M -10

US 90mm Br 17-Pr German 88mm KWK 36 (f) KWK 43 (f) Br 32-Pr (g)

Ammo AP M70 APCBC SABOT(b) APCBC M61 APC M62A APCBC SABOT APCBC

600 78 81 130 100 97 110 178 110

1000 64 74 118 93 90 100 149 102

1600 55(a) 64 101 82 80 91 131 92

2000 50(a) 58 90 77 74 85 120 86

AP APCBC APC M62 APC M77 APCBC SABOT APCBC

137 119 97 111 127 183 108

100 100 90 103 120 172 102

? 95(a) 80 93 112 155 94(a)

? 89 74 86 107 145 87

APCBC APCBC SABOT

178 138 215

140 131 205

131(a) 121 189

121 115 180

Notes: (a) Approximate figure (b) Fits US 57mm (c) In production but NOT in service

(d) Tapered bore (e) PANTHER gun (f) TIGER gun

(g) A 1945 project

Comments and corrections The original table shows note (b) where note (f) is plainly intended. This has been corrected here. The high figures for the 75mm gun match those given for APCBC in the Bovington "Fire and Movement" booklet, but are much more generous than other sources. A memo in this document says there seems "little to choose" between the 75mm and 76mm. The US 90mm round given here seems to be a very weak load — a memo in this document says that 90mm ammunition is being loaded for a higher velocity. In the memo this table accompanies, it is claimed that "the U.S. 76mm is ineffective against TIGER and only effective against PANTHER flanks", but, by an ordnance officer in the USA that "75mm gun will penetrate Panther tank turret, sides and rear and lower hull to ranges of 2,000 yards. 76mm gun will penetrate Panther tank at all points except chassis front plate to ranges of 5,000 yards and turret front at 2,500 yards, hull front nose plate 1,600 yards". A very sensible comment by a Colonel Burlton, originator of the memo to which this table forms an appendix, says "Probably, there is a conflict between theory and practice".

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WW2 armour penetration

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WW2 armour penetration WO 279/200, The Development of Artillery Tactics and Equipment Homogenous armour, ranges in yards. Weapon Ger 3.7 cm 2 pdr Ger 5 cm 8.8 cm 6 pdr

Ammo

APDS 17 pdr APDS 25 pdr

Angle 30º 30º 30º 30º 30º 0º 30º 0º 30º

500 36 53 65 112 75 123 62

1000 27 40 53 103 63 146 113 231 54

2000

86

93

Comments and corrections Thanks to Ernest Ashworth for providing these figures; only later did I find the book in the PRO. It was published by the War Office in 1951, compiled by Brigadier A L Pemberton MC. A copy also exists as WO 277/5. This source says that APDS ammunition was introduced in Summer 1944. It also states that "...where APCBC could penetrate, it did greater damage inside the tank and was less likely to pass straight through a lightly armoured target. In consequence both kinds of shot had to be retained in the service." Notice that these figures seem to have been copied, with some inaccuracy, in Bidwell's "Artillery Tactics" and "Artillery at War".

WO 291/385, The Performance of the Infantry Sledge under Fire This paper mentions trials of a low-profile armoured sledge for the transport of infantry, towed by tanks. The armour protection of 7mm thick IT100 plate. This is credited with giving immunity from AP small arms fire at about 700 yards at normal impact, and at all ranges at 35º.

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WW2 armour penetration WO 291/741, Comparison of the performance of 75mm and 76mm tank gun ammunition "Thickness of homogenous armour plate penetrated at 30°angle of attack by APCBC/HE shell." Ranges in yards. Range Point blank 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000

75mm 79.5 75.3 72 68.5 65.5 63 60.3 57.8 55 52.6 50

76mm 108.2 104.2 100.2 96.7 93 89.7 86.3 83.1 80 77 74

Comments and corrections Precision in fractional millimetres seems excessive, and suggests results by interpolation rather than measurement. This document also compares the HE performance of the two guns, concluding that in this respect the 75mm is noticeably superior. It also points out that inferior HE performance can be compensated for by using more of the less effective shell, whereas it is impossible to remedy a deficiency in penetrative performance.

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WW2 armour penetration WO 291/1143, Effectiveness of British and Russian tanks Penetration in millimetres, ranges in yards: Weapon 77mm APCBC

17 pdr APCBC

17 pdr APDS

20 pdr APDS Mk 1

85mm APCBC

{from Russian range tables) 122mm APCBC

(from Russian range tables)

Range 600 1000 1500 600 1000 1500 600 1000 1500 600 1000 1500 600 1000 1500 600 1500 600 1000 1500 600 1500

0º 145 136 124 172 162 150 248 232 213 300 280 260 137 128 118 110 96 203 193 182 149 130

30º 115 108 100 136 128 119 200 188 172 240 225 210 110 103 95 88 76 162 153 145 118 104

60º 52 48 45 62 58 55 70 65 60 80 75 67 49 46 43 39 35 74 70 66 53 47

Comments and corrections This document is dated August 1951. The figures for Russian guns are derived from 17-pdr APCBC performance; the figures quoted from Russian range tables are much lower. The report concludes that the Centurion 3 is slightly superior to the JS-3, and the Comet roughly equivalent to the T-34/85.

WO 291/1407, The Characteristics of 13 SP Assault Guns Penetration in millimetres at normal impact at 1000 yards: Gun 7.5cm L24 7.5cm L48 7.5cm L70 8.8cm L71 12.8cm L55 Sov 85/52 Sov 100/56 Sov 122/45

APCBC penetration 40 98 149 200 245 147 214 204

Special ammo HC

Penetration 55

AP40 AP40

170 222

HVAP/CR

112

Comments and corrections The figures for Russian guns are "Ordnance Board estimates".

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WW2 armour penetration WO 291/1646, Testing of plastic armour, "bullet proof" glass, mild steel and armour plate as protection against small arms fire under Malayan conditions This report indicates that the following number of quarter-inch thicknesses of plastic armour, or SIGLA bullet-proof glass, are needed to protect against small arms: Protection type 1 thickness of plastic armour 2 thicknesses of plastic armour 6 thicknesses of plastic armour Light SIGLA bulletproof glass Heavy SIGLA bulletproof glass

Thickness in mm 6 13 38 25 60

Protects against SAA from pistol at 25-30 yds 0.3" from M2 carbine 0.303" from no.4 rifle pistol 0.303" from no.4 rifle

The report also comments on the "warm round" effect, whereby small-arms ammunition (SAA) left in the sun to heat up produces a higher muzzle velocity than it otherwise would. Also noted is the curious fact that the M2 carbine round penetrates oak better at 200 yards than it does at 50 feet, which is attributed to the yawing of the bullet close to the muzzle.

Zaloga, 1979 "Modern Soviet Armour", Steven J. Zaloga, A&AP, 1979, page 57. Penetration at 1000 metres and 0º, armour type not stated. Weapon 57mm Ch-51M 85mm D-5S85

with APHE 85 102

with APCR 100 130

Comments and corrections Both weapons are developments of WW2 weapons, so performance is assumed to be similar. Still, it seems strange that the figure for the 57mm should be so far inferior to the 140mm normally quoted.

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WW2 armour penetration Zaloga & Grandsen, 1984 "Soviet Tanks and Combat Vehicles of World War Two", Steven J. Zaloga and James Grandsen, A&AP 1984, page 225. Ranges in metres, "against vertical steel armour plate". Weapon 20mm TNSh L/107 45mm mod 32, 34, 38 L/45 76.2mm mod 27/32 L/16.5 76.2mm L-11 L/30.5 76.2mm F-34 L/42.5 85mm ZiS-S-53, D-5 L/54.6 57mm ZiS-2 100mm D-10 L/56 122mm A-19, D-25 L/46.5 152mm ML-20 L/28.8

Ammunition APHE BR-240 APHE BR-240P APCR BR-350 APHE BR-350 APHE BR-350A APHE BR-350P APCR BR-365 APHE BR-365P APCR BP-571P APCR BR-412 APHE BR-471B APHE BR-540 APHE

500 22 42 80 35 62 69 92 111 138 140 195 145 124

1000 38 50 30 56 61 60 102 100 185 145 124

Hollow charge rounds, same at all ranges: Weapon 76.2mm F-34 L/42.5 122mm M-30 L/22.7, and A-19 or D-25 L/46.5

Ammunition BR-353A HEAT BR-460A HEAT

Penetration 75 200

Comments and corrections In the original, APCR rounds are noted as APDS. This has been corrected here. It seems extremely odd that the 122mm BR-471B and 152mm BR-540 APHE should both have the same penetration at 500 as at 1000 metres; this is probably a typographical error. The author states that HEAT for the short 122mm in the original SU-122 "never lived up to expectations". This book seems to be the source for the Soviet figures in the "World War II Databook", although Ellis has arbitrarily changed ranges into yards from the metres specified here.

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WW2 armour penetration Zaloga & Ness, 1998 Source: "Red Army Handbook 1939–45", Steve Zaloga and Leland Ness, Sutton Publishing, 1998, page 203. Ranges in metres, armour type unstated. Weapon 45mm Model 37

Ammunition AP

45mm Model 42

AP HVAP

57mm ZiS-2

AP HVAP

100mm BS-3

AP

Slope 90º 60º 90º 60º 90º 60º 90º 60º 90º 60º 90º 60º

500 43 35 61 50 81 52 84 145 120 200 150

1000 35 28 51 41

185 140

Comments and corrections The text of the source also attributes to the PTRS and PTRD ATRs a penetration performance of 35mm at 100 metres, which seems remarkably generous, and repeats the assertion that seems to be gaining currency that German Schürzen were intended to counter these. This source also states that the HVAP round for the 45mm Model 37 became available in April 1942.

Zaloga & Sarson, 1993 "Sherman Medium Tank 1942-1945", Steve Zaloga and Peter Sarson, Osprey 1993, pages 10 and 14. Armour type and slope unspecified, ranges in yards. Weapon 75mm M3 76mm M1A1C

Ammunition M61 APC M-62 APC-T T-4 HVAP-T

500 68 98 150 (approx)

1000 60 90 132

Comments and corrections The authors say that, before 1945, seldom were more than 2 or 3 HVAP rounds available per tank, and maybe 5 thereafter, as preference was given to tank destroyer units.

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WW2 armour penetration Zetterling, 2000 "Normandy 1944: German Military Organization, Combat Power and Organizational Effectiveness", Niklas Zetterling, J J Fedorowicz 2000. Penetration of homogenous armour at 30º, ranges in metres. Weapon 8.8cm KwK 43 8.8cm KwK 36 7.5cm KwK 42 75mm L48, StuK 40 75mm L43 75mm L24 5cm L60 5cm L42 10.5cm StuH 42

Ammunition APCBC APCR APCBC APCR APCBC APCR APCBC APCR APCBC APCR APCBC APC APCR APC APCBC

100 237 171 194 143 126

130

500 185 217 110 156 141 174 96 120 89 108 39 67 72 45 59

1000 165 193 100 138 126 149 84 97 78 87 35 52 38 35 54

1500 148 171 90 123 112 127 74 77 68 69 32 40

2000 132 151 82 110 101 106 65

27 50

21 46

60 29 31

Comments and corrections The armament of the Panzer IV Ausf E is mistakenly given as the 75mm L37, which should be L24; and that of the Ausf F1 as the 75mm L43, which should also be the L24. Penetration performance figures given in the original for the Ausf E match those for the right gun, those for the F1 do not. These numbers are very similar to those given in both Chamberlain, Doyle & Jentz 1978 and in Jentz 1996. They are, however, not identical, differing by a millimetre or two in places. The author gives a formula for calculating penetration of vertical homogenous armour as: Penetration(mm) = (plate_coefficient × proj_mass(kg) × proj_velocity(m/sec)2) ÷ proj_diameter(mm) 2 The plate_coefficient is given as 0.182 for high quality plate, and higher for poorer quality. The decrease of velocity with distance from the muzzle is given as: muzzle_vel × e − (ballistic_coefficient × proj_diameter(mm) × distance(m) ÷ proj_mass (kg)) where e is the base of natural logarithms. Example ballistic coefficients are given as: 8.8cm guns: 7.5cm guns: 5 cm guns:

0.0000001335 0.000000135 0.000000144

The author also offers a selection of armour basis curves in a graph on page 406. Reading values off by eye gives the following multipliers for armour thickness penetrated as compared to normal impact: Shell 37mm 50mm 75mm 88mm 128mm

10° 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.99

20° 0.90 0.92 0.93 0.93 0.94

30° 0.75 0.79 0.82 0.83 0.84

40° 0.57 0.63 0.66 0.67 0.69

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50° 0.41 0.47 0.51 0.52 0.55

60° 0.30 0.35 0.39 0.40 0.43

70° 0.22 0.26 0.29 0.31 0.32

WW2 armour penetration As can be seen, the effect of slope is greater for the smaller calibres.

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