page_title: 2.8 cm sPzB 41
section_title: Service
hierarchical_section_title: 2.8 cm sPzB 41 / Service
caption_attribution_description: Title: Südfrankreich, schwere Panzerbüchse 41 Additional information: Юг Франции. Солдат у орудия 2,8 cm schwere Panzerbüchse 41 на позиции над гаванью. For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Factual corrections and alternative descriptions are encouraged separately from the original description. Additionally errors can be reported at this page to inform the Bundesarchiv. Alemannisch&#160;| Boarisch&#160;| беларуская&#160;| беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎‎&#160;| català&#160;| čeština&#160;| Deutsch&#160;| English&#160;| Esperanto&#160;| español&#160;| français&#160;| हिन्दी&#160;| hrvatski&#160;| italiano&#160;| 한국어&#160;| magyar&#160;| македонски&#160;| Plattdüütsch&#160;| polski&#160;| português&#160;| română&#160;| русский&#160;| slovenčina&#160;| slovenščina&#160;| suomi&#160;| svenska&#160;| українська&#160;| 中文（简体）‎&#160;| 中文（繁體）‎&#160;| +/− Original historic description:&#160; Frankreich-Süd.- Soldat an schwerer Panzerbüchse 41 in Stellung oberhalb eines Hafens; PK 696
context_page_description: 2.8 cm schwere Panzerbüchse 41 or "Panzerbüchse 41" was a German anti-tank weapon working on the squeeze bore principle. Officially classified as a heavy anti-tank rifle, it would be better described, and is widely referred to, as a light anti-tank gun.
context_section_description: Squeeze bore guns saw only limited use in World War II. Manufacturing such weapons was impossible without advanced technologies and high production standards. Besides Germany, the only country to bring such weapons to mass production was Britain, with the Littlejohn adaptor which, although not a gun in itself, used the same principle. An attempt by a Soviet design bureau headed by V. G. Grabin in 1940, failed because of technological problems. In the US, reports about the sPzB 41 inspired a series of experiments with 28/20 barrels and taper bore adaptors for the 37 mm Gun M3; the work started in September 1941 and continued throughout the war, with no practical success.
  The sPzB 41 combined good anti-armor performance at short range (for example, at least once a shot penetrated the lower front plate of the heavy IS-1) and a high rate of fire with small, lightweight (for anti-tank gun), dismantleable construction.
  However, it also had several shortcomings, such as:
  The barrel was hard to manufacture and had a short service life (about 500 rounds)
  It had a very weak fragmentation shell
  Its use of tungsten for armor-piercing shells
  Its short effective range
  Its relatively weak beyond-armour effect
  Some authors that criticize the sPzB 41 concentrate mainly on the short service life of its barrel. However, its chance of survival after 500 short-range shots was slim anyway. High-velocity guns with "normal" barrel construction also had a short service life, e.g. for the Soviet 57-mm ZiS-2 it was about 1,000 shots. In the end, the factor that brought production of the sPzB 41 to a halt was the shortage of tungsten.
caption: 2.8 cm sPzB 41 le Fl 41, France, 1942.
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