German Forces

8,8cm panzerschreck

http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=323520

"The Panzerschreck also constituted the main armament of what was probably the first armored vehicle in history equipped with AT rockets, the Panzerjäger Bren 731(e) ("tank hunter" Bren, consecutive foreign vehicle type number 731, "e" for english origin). The original german tank hunter bren in actionconcept of a small tank saw the development of a vehicle in the 6 – 10 ton range under the designation E-5 Wanze ("bedbug"). (see below). In the meantime the germans had captured a number of the english Bren carrier armoured tracked vehicles during the course of the war. They were found most useful and therefore used in german service under the foreign-vehicle designation Bren 731(e). Among other uses – most served as machine-gun carriers, others were equipped with 3,7cm PaK AT guns as tank hunters – they were converted to improvised tank destroyers with a mount of three Panzerschreck tubes and utilised by the Panzer-Zerstörergruppen ("tank-destroyer groups") who also took with them other AT weapons such as the Panzerfaust. The conversions were done by the field maintenance shops. The Bren vehicle had a length of 3.65m (12 ft.), a width of 2.05m (6 ft. 9 in.) and a height of 1.60m (5 ft. 2 in.). It weighed 4 tons, was armoured up to 12mm (0.47 in.) and used an 85hp Ford V-8 engine that made the little tank destroyer comparably agile and enabled it of speeds of up to 35mph. The Panzerjäger Bren was used mainly on the Eastern Front. The triple RPzB 54 mounts which can be seen in the picture was also fitted to some SdKfz 251 halftracks and even Kübelwagen jeeps; in the army administrative papers of Jan. 15th 1945 a detailed instruction for the mounting of triple Panzerschreck launchers onto SdKfz 251 armored halftrack personnel carriers was publicized which was intended for the tank-hunters of the mechanized infantry Panzergrenadier-battallions." taken from:http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=323520