Mauser M1918 Tankgewehr

Other Wars World War 1
#1

Introduction:

When the first tanks were actually used in the battle of somme in 1916 the result were not impressive. Although some managed to get trough the first trenches eventually we
re knocket out by artillery or grenades. Beside his relative little effect in strategical matters the fisrt Mark I did manage to bring down the german morale especially for the simple infantrymen for wich sometimes the sight of a squre and large tracked box of steel coming to get him was too much.

The german Army High comman began a serie of propaganda campaign in order to calm down the troops saying that the tank was a complete failure, that it was more dangerous for his crew thaan for the enemy, etc.
A interim measure was the distribution of a new armor piercing ammo for the M1898 rifle began in large scale, that was the S.m.K ( Spitzer mit stahlKern , pointed with steel core)

Squematic of the S.m.K bullet.

The S.m.K bullet had good chances to penetrate the side armor of the british Mark I & II up to 100 meters.

However in 1917 with the introduccion of new and improved allied desigs made this bullet obsolete, the army realized that something better was needed.

#2

Very interesting

I never knew that. Would the Germans try to swarm the English Mark I in order to hijack it? Where do you think the crew would get there training?

#3

The priority was destroy the tank, the capture would in second order, and yes some were used by german crews, in that case large “Iron crosses” wre painted in every visible side of the tank to avoid friendly fire.

#4

The Mauser M1918.

The worlds first anti-tank (or anti-material) rifle was based on an over-grown Mauser action. Chambered for a 13.2 x 92mm semi-rimmed bottlenecked cartridge.

The rear stock was equipped with a pistol grip to manage better the strong recoil. The gun was single shot, although some prototipes with 5 round magazine were converted in late 1918.

The Tank Abwehr Gewehr or T-Gewehr was capable of penetrating around 20mm of armour at 100 metres and 15mm at 300 metres, when striking at 90 degrees

Bolt in the back position:

Early tanks were protected by no more than 12mm of armour plate, as such this was a fairly effective weapon despite being cumbersome at 17.3kg and 1.68m long.

Shooter-spotter team in the Western Front, early 1918.

#5

A tankgewehr captured by the british troops, they called this “Elephant gun”

#6

And by the way this way the 13x92SR cartrigde.

#7

This is a old WW I Antitank Rifle displayed at the Panzermuseum Munster:

#8

A 13mm mauser A.T. rifle, very effective in those days, I have seen a number of WW1 tanks with holes in them made by this model rifle. When the “K” type AP machinegun ammo couldnt get through, these always managed to. Would be fun to shoot one.

#9

There was also a heavy machinegun based on the 13x92 mm, the Tank Und flieger abwehr waffe. Very few pics of that had survived.

When the “K” type AP machinegun ammo couldnt get through, these always managed to. Would be fun to shoot one

Some british test said that the 13mm AP could get trough to a 7/8" (22,2 mm) plate without much trouble.

You need to take in account that the steel plate of that times wasnt the same of ww2.

#10

lol! Not at all! This weapon was hellish to shoot! There were numerous cases of untrained British soldiers trying out the new weapon – and breaking their shoulder!!

The trained crews themselves could fire a maximum of 3 rounds total (usually just two) without having concussion headaches. Someone mentioned a 5-round clip…not sure about that. I do know that if you fired 5 rounds, your eyes would bleed. Seriously. Not a fun gun.