75 mm Reșița Model 1943 The 75 mm Reșița Model 1943 was an anti - tank gun produced by Romania during World War II . It combined features from the Soviet " ZiS - 3 " field \ anti - tank gun , the German PaK 40 and the Romanian " 75 mm Vickers / Reșița Model 1936 " anti - aircraft gun . It saw service against both the Soviets during the Jassy - Kishniev Offensive and against the Germans during the Budapest Offensive and subsequent operations to clear Austria and Czechoslovakia . Development . Development began in 1942 of a dual - purpose field and anti - tank gun that could be built in Romania to replace the collection of obsolescent field guns currently used and upgrade their anti - tank defenses of the army . To speed development Colonel Valerian Nestorescu suggested that the best features from guns already in service in Romania , Germany or captured from the Soviets . Colonel Nestorescu was selected to produce a prototype to be built at the Uzinele şi Domeniile Reşiţa in Reşiţa . Three prototypes were built combining various features and trialled against the " ZiS - 3 " , a Reşiţa - built copy of the " ZiS - 3 " , the " Pak 40 " and the " Schneider - Putilov Model 1902 / 36 " field gun in September 1943 and the third prototype had the greatest armor penetration . It was adopted as the " Tunul antitanc DT - UDR 26 , cal . 75 mm , md . 1943 " , commonly shortened to " 75 mm Reşiţa Model 1943 " . Description . It combined the muzzle brake , recoil and firing mechanisms and split - trail carriage of the " ZiS - 3 " , the barrel , rifling and cartridge chamber of the " Vickers / Reşiţa Model 1936 " anti - aircraft gun and the projectile chamber of the " Pak 40 " . It had a gun shield that consisted of two plates separated by a gap . It had only 680 parts , almost as few as the 610 of the " ZiS - 3 " , but far fewer than the 1200 of the " Pak 40 " . It had a higher muzzle velocity and thus greater penetrative power than the " Pak 40 " . It therefore combined the virtues of both the " ZiS - 3 " and " Pak 40 " with none of their drawbacks . 1100 were ordered on 10 December 1943 from Uzinele și Domeniile Reșița , Astra in Braşov and Concordia in Ploieşti . The " 75 mm Reșița Model 1943 " fired a armor - piercing shell at . It was credited with penetration of a plate over thick angled at 30° from the vertical at . However , this high muzzle velocity came at the cost of a very short barrel life , only 500 rounds , compared to the 6000 of a " Pak 40 " . Its ammunition combined features of shells used by the " Pak 40 " and the " Vickers / Reșița Model 1936 " anti - aircraft gun , although this raises the issue of exactly how the " Reșița Model 1943 " achieved such velocities . The " Pak 40 " had a muzzle velocity of when firing the light - weight , tungsten - cored " Pzgr 40 " shell , but the only data for the Reșița give a shell weight of , which is roughly equivalent to the " Pak 40 " ' s full - sized " Pzgr 39 " shell that was fired at a mere . Unfortunately detailed specifications for the Reșița ' s ammunition haven ' t been discovered so that question will have to remain unanswered . Operational use . The first twenty - four were issued to the " 1st Armored Division " in the spring of 1944 and later two independent anti - tank regiments with thirty - six guns apiece formed from the artillery regiments of the disbanded " Frontier Division " . Most of the cavalry and infantry divisions began to receive some guns during the summer of 1944 . An estimated 342 were produced by the end of 1944 . Despite the losses suffered during the Soviet Jassy - Kishniev Offensive of August 1944 most divisions at the front in February 1945 had between six and twelve " 75 mm Reșița Model 1943 " on hand . After the war , the gun was relegated to secondary roles , such as training , because it had a western caliber . The " 75 mm Reșița Model 1943 " was used until 1998 , when it was phased out . One is on display today at the Romanian National Military Museum in Bucharest .