Tankgewehr M1918 - The World's First Anti-Tank Rifle

nine months after British and French forces rolled their tanks onto the Western Front in World War one Germany ready the wholly new kind of counter weapon driven by the shocking and surprise appearance of a new mechanized foe German generals contracted muffin fabric Mauser AG to build the first anti-tank rifle of its kind in history it was the only such weapon used during World War one the Germans made sure to distribute as many as could be manufactured to its soldiers producing around fifteen thousand eight hundred of them to the point that they became the terror of tanks and the Allied side Battle of Cambrai demand for an anti-tank weapon came after the Battle of Cambrai during the conflict an intense British attack provoked the Germans to conduct them of significant counter-attacks since the war began in 1914 Cumbrae the French province of Nohr was a crucial supply point for the German zigfried Stello also known as the Hindenburg line if the British and the French took the town and the berlin ridge a couple of miles away it would weaken the German lines position thus the Allies sought to conquer it with their full force the Germans needed to meet and exceed that effort to defend it widespread trench warfare crippled battlefields of World War one the nations involved increasingly introduced armored plates for their defense and armor piercing ammo to gain an advantage over the enemy the European countries used stunty advanced rifles to break through the armor plating both British and German forces transported guns usually reserved for hunting big game in Africa into the European front when British tanks arrived at the Battle of fears Costa let in September of 1916 the war changed soon after the French also employed tanks once the British brought their mark forced the Battle of Mussina's Ridge the Germans realized that their 7.92 millimetre armor-piercing bullets were insufficient the Battle of Cambrai broke out with a British assault conducted by two full cores of troops in November 20th 1917 over a thousand guns were used in the preparatory barrage while the smoke still lay thick between the British and Germans 400 unexpected British tanks emerged they crushed the wire meant to stop invading troops and completely overwhelmed machine guns with cannon fire it was the first time an army of tanks had entered the war the Germans trembled they had no specialized weapons to counter this assault and few units had ever even experienced tank warfare soldiers had few strategic or mechanical tools to stand their ground in the face of impossibly armoured vehicles the day turned out a victory for the British albeit at the cost of 4,000 troops of their tanks 65 were destroyed 120 were left an atrocious conditions from mechanical breakdowns and getting stuck in shell holes although the tank struck fear in the hearts of their enemy the mark 4 was still as somewhat unreliable machine the British left a gap in the German line which was quickly filled by reinforcements although the British offensive was forced to draw back they knew their most significant potential to end the stalemate on the Western Front was with tanks as the Allies planned German military commanders also a symbol to defend their line the Germans became aware the newfound British potential to defeat them after the arrival of the 400 tanks since tank attacks were bound to increase the Germans set out to develop anti-tank weaponry the moment marked the beginning of a century long problem of how nations and frontline fighters should deal with tanks although the German military would enter World War two with its own tank command the Imperial German army of World War one hadn't prepared in fact they had only 20 of their a7v s a large slow-moving machine whose numbers didn't amount to much therefore the Germans focused their efforts on combating tanks through techniques and armament while the Germans needed tanks desperately time and resources stretched so thin this late in the war required a different solution development as a response to the increasingly severe threat of Allied tanks the German army tasked of often fabric Mauser AG to create a specialized rifle to overcome these vehicles they produced a thirteen point two millimeter rifle named tank a very guevara m1918 also known as tank cover it was the first anti-tank rifle in the entire world and surprisingly not a particularly complex weapon essential was the weapons upscaled bolt-action rifle heavily inspired by the mauser action rifle a single-shot 13.2 by 92 millimeter Tonquin figure or tank an aircraft ammunition weapon the chiovera was semi rimmed with a bottleneck cartridge its sights projected 500 metres away the weapons projectile was encased in a steel barrel also as part of the new modifications a piston grip and a bipod were introduced yet it was far from perfect for one it required manually reloading with each tip furthermore the recoil was intense this made it challenging to shoot off multiple rounds while the tank of air was created as a stopgap measure the initial plan was different initially the Germans wanted a dual purpose machine gun to go with the Tonquin Friedrich cartridge unfortunately the proposed weapon was far too complex to be developed in time so instead they went with a bolt-action gun once these were produced they were rust in the front lines massive for a rifle the gun measured in and an impressive length of 66 and a half inches weighing 41 pounds the pistol grip was operationally essential but the lack of a muzzle brake and any mechanism to reduce recoil made it a challenge for troops to use in fact soldiers reportedly felt uncomfortable shooting it was no doubt risky to use as it Prytania paraders head in combat there's been some academic and historical debate about the effect and success of the weapon in combat claims from wartime reports state that the ammunition tatanka VII was capable of piercing 22 millimeters of armor plating albeit at close range furthermore the armored plate required a 90 degree angle for optimal results however this was rarely the warfighting reality the presence of spaced armor plating in the slant of most battlefields reduced the weapons penetrative ability significantly the gun proved useful in specific ways spalling or scabbing the inside of the tank produced casualties sending shrapnel at the crew furthermore the weapon was capable of carrying ammunition into the tanks internal components shooting the engine or electronic systems was particularly useful the Germans received two or three of these guns for regiment the anti-tank rifles were on the frontline starting in May 1918 however they weren't being produced or distributed and an amount that would turn the war in Germany's favour nevertheless by September the Western Front had around 4,600 tankers the German infantry troops an anti-tank unit received specialized training and equipment that summer each rifle was operated by two soldiers a primary gunner carrying the gun and the other burdening the two shoulder bags holding 20 at the TU F rounds as well as an ammunition box that had an additional 72 cartridges as the weapon was integrated into the frontlines German soldiers progressed with anti-tank tactics exploiting the powerful rifle to full effect since most Allied tanks were slow they were vulnerable to the combination of rifle shots bundled grenades and other charges when support was scarce anti-tank teams assembled to hit as many of these weaknesses as possible the Germans also created the s MK Spitz Kadesh macare an armor-piercing bullet which performed phenomenally at close range round of the ammunition were distributed to the rifleman at the anti-tank units some German machine gun units received a bullet belt or two as well light artillery and mortars were placed in areas likely to endure massive tank attacks by the end of the war Mauser produced over 15,000 Tonka ver m1918 machine gun version next the Germans introduced an upgraded weapon to fulfill the anti-tank and anti-aircraft roles as a follow-up to the Tonka bear they developed the Machine and guevara 18 Tonquin fleiger better known in its short form mg 18 - UF it was a dual-purpose heavy machine gun designed as the war drew to a close in October 1917 Germany dangled a weapon development contract to any company that could develop this weapon six companies submitted proposals for an automatic gun that could fire the brand-new 13.2 by 92 millimeter SR ammunition even more effective at destroying armoured vehicles they were designed and produced by the poulter cartridge factory two companies emerged as finalists by Mattel and machine public Alex berenberg also known as ma n ran Mattel proposed using a top mounted pan magazine such as a Lewis gun and a n offered a firearm with an ammunition adult design after both were tested a Mahon's design was chosen by the German army in August of 1918 the resulting mg 18 - UF was basically a modernized version of the mg o8 heavy machine gun which in turn was based on the maxim gun the new gun was belt-fed operated with a toggle lock and featured a short recall it also required water to cool down after heavy fire most importantly it fired the same armor-piercing MO as the tiga bare the belt had 75 rounds for anti-tank operations while another 30 round magazine was used against aircraft the machine gun was set up on a wheeled carriage requiring a six-man crew although 4,000 machine guns were ordered for production only about 50 were actually built before the war ended none were ever used in combat the design never progressed into mass production after the Treaty of Versailles decimated Germany's economy and prohibited arms production the Hindenburg line while the tank Guevara was the only anti-tank rifle to see action during World War one other nations still attempted to recreate an even more effective anti-tank rifle the British worked on the boys anti-tank rifle introduced in World War two still no copycat rifles saw the same level of efficacy as the Germans as winter rolled in in 1918 the Allies broke through the Hindenburg line using an array of Tanks artillery weapons and intense infantry assaults in these decisive battles supported by the entry of the United States of America Germany's supply of Tonka vera and 1918 guns was not enough [Music]

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Keywords: ww1, wwi, world war i, world war 1, tank, tanks, ww1 documentary, history, documentary, short documentary, history channel, history documentary, military technology, documentaries, wwi documentary, documentary history channel, ww1 tank, germany, Tankgewehr, educational, education, Anti-Tank, Tankgewehr M1918, Mauser 1918 T-Gewehr, TANK, ANTI TANK, tech, technology, german, armor, powerful, engineering

Id: 4dcNaF44kBY

Length: 10min 4sec (604 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 29 2020