Mauser Tankgewehr M1918

The Tankgewehr M1918 (transl. Tankgun), also known as the Mauser 13mm anti-tank rifle and T-Gewehr in English,[2][3] is a German anti-tank rifle[4]—the first rifle designed for the sole purpose of destroying armored targets—and the only anti-tank rifle to see service in World War I. Approximately 16,900 were produced.

Mauser Mod. 1918 13.2 mm Tankgewehr
13.2 mm Rifle Anti-Tank at the Musée de l'Armée in Paris
TypeAnti-tank rifle
Anti-materiel rifle
Place of originGerman Empire
Service history
In service1918–1933
Used by
Wars
Production history
ManufacturerMauser
ProducedJanuary 1918 – April 1919
No. built16,900
VariantsM1918 shortened
Magazine-fed[1]
Specifications
Mass15.9 kg (35 lb), 18.5 kg (41 lb) loaded with the bipod
Length169.1 cm (5 ft 7 in)
Barrel length98.4 cm (3 ft 2.7 in)
Crewtwo-man crew
Cartridge13.2 mm TuF (German: Tank und Flieger)
Caliber13.2 mm (.525 inches)
Actionbolt-action
Rate of firesingle-shot
Muzzle velocity780 m/s (2,600 ft/s)
Effective firing range500 m (550 yd)
Feed systemmanual
Sights1,000–5,000 m (1,100–5,500 yd) (notched V)

History

During the First World War the onset of static, trench warfare saw the rise in the use of armour plate for personal defense, and the development and use of armour-piercing ammunition to counter this. Both Britain and Germany used high-powered rifles, such as elephant guns from their African colonies, for this purpose. The first use of armoured fighting vehicles (tanks) was by the British at the Battle of Flers–Courcelette in September 1916 and were followed by the French. By June 1917, the German Army faced the Mark IV tank, and found that the standard armour-piercing 7.92 mm K bullet was no longer effective. This prompted the development by the Germans of a heavy-calibre and high-velocity rifle as an anti-tank weapon. The makers of the gun were inspired by weapons used to hunt African big game, like the elephant gun.[5] The Mauser Company responded with the 13mm T-gewehr and began mass production at Oberndorf am Neckar in May 1918. The first of these off the production lines were issued to specially raised anti-tank detachments.

14,700 T-Gewehrs were produced before the Armistice, and production ceased in April 1919. Approximately 1,490 were produced after the cessation of hostilities.[6]

Operation

The rifle was a single-shot bolt-action rifle using a modified Mauser action, with rounds manually loaded into the chamber. The weapon had a pistol grip and bipod, but no method of reducing recoil, such as a soft buttpad or muzzle brake. This could cause problems for the shooter with repeated firing. The iron sights were composed of a front blade and tangent rear, graduated in 100-meter increments from 100 to 500 meters. The rifle was operated by a two-man crew of a gunner and ammunition bearer, who were both trained to fire the weapon. Due to the tremendous blunt force of the recoil, it was designed to be shot in a static position, either prone or from inside a trench.

Imperial German Army soldiers firing a Mauser 1918 T-Gewehr
Imperial German Army soldiers firing a Mauser 1918 T-Gewehr

Post-war service

The United States Army tested the T-Gewehr after the war,[7] as did the other Allied Powers.[8] Poland obtained a few T-Gewehrs during border skirmishes at the German border in 1920.[9]

The Reichswehr kept some M1918s in service into the 1930s[10] (805 were in the secret arsenals of the Reichswehr in 1925[11]). Sweden bought a number from Germany, and used them under the designation Pansarvärnsgevär m/21.[12] During the Rif War, the Rifian rebels obtained some smuggled Mauser 1918s to counter the Spanish Renault and Schneider tanks.[13]

In 1939, a Soviet team led by V.N. Shokolov retro-engineered the T-Gewehr, modified to fire the Soviet 12.7×108mm B-32 bullets. Small numbers were hand-produced by the Bauman Institute in the emergency of July 1941.[14] After the Winter War, Finland bought 100 T-Gewehr from Great Britain but they were never used and Finland scrapped them in 1944.[15]

Cartridge
Comparison of a standard .303 British rifle cartridge and a 13.2 mm T-Gewehr cartridge

The armour-piercing hardened steel cored 13.2×92mm (.525-inch) semi-rimmed cartridge, often simply called "13 mm", was originally planned for a new, heavy Maxim MG.18 water-cooled machine gun, the Tank und Flieger (TuF) meaning for use against "tank and aircraft", which was under development and to be fielded in 1919. The rounds weighed 51.5 g (795 gn) with an initial velocity of 785 m/s (2,580 ft/s).[16]

Range Penetration @ 90°
100 m (110 yd) 26 mm (1 in)
200 m (220 yd) 23.5 mm (0.93 in)
400 m (440 yd) 21.5 mm (0.85 in)
500 m (550 yd) 18 mm (0.71 in)[17]

Surviving examples

Examples of the Mauser 1918 anti-tank rifle can be found in several museums:

See also

References
  1. Robert Ball (2011). Mauser Military Rifles of the World, 5th Edition. Gun Digest Books. p. 193. ISBN 978-1-4402-1544-5.
  2. Ball, Robert M. (2006). Mauser Military Rifles of the World (Mauser Military Rifles of the World). Gun Digest Books. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-89689-296-5.
  3. Stephen Bull (2004). Encyclopedia of military technology and innovation. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-57356-557-8.
  4. "WW1 Anti-Tank rifles" (Microsoft FrontPage 6.0). Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  5. Larson 2020.
  6. Zaloga 2018, p. 11.
  7. Zaloga 2018, p. 26.
  8. Zaloga 2018, p. 40.
  9. Zaloga 2018, p. 12.
  10. Grant, Neil (20 March 2015). Mauser Military Rifles. Weapon 39. Osprey Publishing. p. 41. ISBN 9781472805942.
  11. Zaloga 2018, p. 14.
  12. "Sverige Mall".
  13. Charpentier, Loïc (February 2015). "Des chars au Maroc : Renault FT et Schneider espagnols dans la campagne du Rif" [Tanks in Morocco : Spanish Renault FTs and Schneiders in the Rif Campaign]. Batailles et Blindés (in French). No. 65. Caraktère. pp. 72–81.
  14. Zaloga 2018, p. 34-35.
  15. Zaloga 2018, p. 55.
  16. Johnson, Melvin M., Jr. (1944). Rifles and Machine Guns. New York: William Morrow & Company. p. 384.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. Natzvaladze, Yury (1996). The Trophies Of The Red Army During The Great Patriotic War 1941–1945. Volume 1. Scottsdale, Arizona: Land O'Sun Printers. p. 9. ASIN B001J7LCD2.
  18. "Mauser T-Gewehr Anti Tank Rifle". Australian War Memorial. Archived from the original on 7 January 2018.
  19. "Rocky Hill war items 'nationally significant'". Goulburn Post. December 2015.
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