page_title: 3.7 cm Pak 36
section_title: Operational history
hierarchical_section_title: 3.7 cm Pak 36 / History / Operational history
caption_attribution_description: Chinese soldiers manning a 3,7-cm PaK 36.
context_page_description: The Pak 36 is a 3.7 cm caliber German anti-tank gun used during the Second World War. It was the main anti-tank weapon of Wehrmacht Panzerjäger units until 1942. Developed by Rheinmetall in 1933, it was first issued to the German Army in 1936, with 9,120 being available by the beginning of the war in September 1939 and a further 5,339 produced during the war. As the predominant anti-tank gun design in the world during the late 1930s, demand was high for the Pak 36, with another 6,000 examples produced for export and the design being copied by the Soviet Union as the 45 mm anti-tank gun M1932 and by other nations such as Japan.
  It first saw service during the Spanish Civil War in 1936, where it performed well against the light tanks of the conflict. It was first used during the Second World War against Poland in 1939 and had little difficulty with any of the Polish tanks.
context_section_description: During the May 1940 Western Campaign, the Pak 36, being a relatively small-calibre weapon, was found to be inadequate against heavy Allied tanks like the British Mk II Matilda and the French Char B1 and Somua S35, although it was effective against the most common light tanks of the era, such as the French R35 which represented the majority of the  armoured vehicles during the Battle of France.
  In June 1941, Soviet tank forces consisted of 10,661 T-26, 2,987 T-37/T-38/T-40/T-50s, 59 T-35, 442 T-28, 7,659 BT, 957 T-34, and 530 KVs for a combined total of approximately 23,295 tanks. Thus, during the initial phases of Operation Barbarossa, the Pak 36 could still penetrate the armour of the majority of Soviet AFVs at ranges up to 1000 m from the front, with the notable exception of the T-28s and T-35s, which it could penetrate only at under 100 m; the Pak 36 could not penetrate the relatively thick armour of the T-34s and KV-1s. By late 1941, the widespread introduction of the T-34 on the Eastern Front made the Pak 36 obsolete, considering its poor performance against it. This led to the Pak 36 being nicknamed "Heeresanklopfgerät" (lit.  'army door-knocking device') by German anti-tank crews for its inability to affect the T-34 aside from notifying its presence by futilely bouncing rounds off its armour, regardless of the angle or distance.
  The addition of tungsten-core shells (Pzgr. 40) slightly improved the armour penetration of the Pak 36, finally enabling it to damage the T-34, but only by a direct shot to the rear or side armour from point-blank range - an unlikely and dangerous scenario. However, despite its continued impotence against the T-34, it remained the standard anti-tank weapon for many units until 1942. The advantages of the Pak 36 were its relative ease of handling and mobility (it could be brought into action very rapidly by as few as two men since it weighed only 432 kg); good quality optics/aiming devices; ease of concealment due to its small size; and high rate of fire.
  The Pak 36 began to be replaced by the new 5 cm Pak 38 in mid-1941. As it was gradually replaced, many were removed from their carriages and added to Sd.Kfz. 251 halftracks for use as light anti-armour support. The guns were also passed off to the forces of Germany's allies fighting on the Eastern Front, such as the 3rd and 4th Romanian Army. This proved particularly disastrous during the Soviet encirclement (Operation Uranus) at the Battle of Stalingrad when the Romanian forces, already demoralized and understrength, bore the brunt of the main Soviet armored thrust and were unable to stop the Soviet advances due to their grossly inadequate anti-tank weaponry. The Pak 36 also served with the armies of Italy, Finland, Hungary, and Slovakia.
  Although the Pak 36 quickly became ineffectual in the European and Russian theatres, in China the gun was still viable as an effective anti-tank gun. It could destroy the Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go and Type 97 Chi-Ha tanks, since their armour protection was quite weak. For example, during the Battle of Taierzhuang, Chinese Pak 36s destroyed a good number of Japanese tanks.
caption: Stahlhelm-wearing Chinese soldiers deploying a Pak 36.
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