Well, tests with the “Krummlauf” showed that a field of 35cm x 35cm was easily hit from a distance of 100 meters.
Sorry but that sounds too good to be real, is that the 30 degrees bent barrel or the 90 degrees one?
That would definitely be the 30 degree J-version. Doing rapid fire however it had been impossible for the shooter to keep the weapon on target.
Jawohl, thas sounds logic.
I heard somewhere that they used it in Elephants and Ferdinands because they wern’t installed with hull machineguns so that they could “hose” each other down when the Russians tried to get on top to throw grenades in.
Thats awsome… for me but not hte German.
oh yes the vampir
Does anyone know how much the Germans used infrared sights on weapons? (post #45). I also saw pics of infrared sights on a half-track and tank in the picture section. Were these experimental or actually in use?
Infrared sights at that time were called “ultrared” sights in Germany. The development began long before the war but was advanced in such a slow pace that it was used in a minor scale with tanks, aircraft weapons, artillery and even with the Navy. Some examples:
Panzer V Panther G with night vision device Sperber (sparrow hawk) respectively FG 1250:
Look here for the “Spanner II” (looper or inchworm) and the “Katze” (cat) with night-fighters:
http://www.luftarchiv.de/index.htm?/bordgerate/optisch.htm
I honestly never knew that infrared technology was that old until i saw the pictures. Was it effective? Like in Gulf War 1&2 you could fight day and night which seemed pretty devastating to the Iraqis. (I think only their elite troops had nightvision).
It’s really hard to find something about this issue. Fact is that at least the “Vampirs” were used during the Battle of Berlin in the last days of the war.
Here’s another strange thing:
The 3kg-Rollbombe (no need to translate I assume), there was also a smaller version with 0,7kg and even a 30kg-version with a diameter of 300mm.
If you roll it, how do you keep it from exploding before you are safe? Timed fuse maybe?
You got me!
This is effectively the sort of thing both sides deployed en masse in the 1960s - infra red searchlight and viewer. What you’re thinking of is passive infra-red, which has a massively greater range and field of view, and doesn’t require a searchlight. That is massively more effective.
So with the old infrared you’d only see what was in the field of the searchlight or scope? And the passive infrared is where it looks like the whole night is lit up with special concentrations on the heat of vehicles and people?
More or less, yes.
Captured German Cane Gun
Panzerfaust 150M in field
Panzerwurfmine
