The Tank Abwehr Gewehr, 1918

Anti-Tank Rifle of the German Army in WWI

Sep 9, 2008 Nicholas Efstathiou

The Tank Abwehr Gewehr, or T-Gewehr, was the first anti-tank rifle and dangerous to both its crew and targets.

Following the Battle of Cambrai in 1917, where the British successfully employed tanks against the German lines, the German Army scrambled for a countermeasure. The Mauser Oberndorf rifle manufacturers proposed a heavy caliber rifle, one which would fire a massive, armor piercing round.

Basic Figures of the T-Gewehr, 1918 Model

The T-Gewehr was a rifle of tremendous size. The weapon weighed 41 lbs when equipped with its bi-pod. The overall length of the weapon was 66.6 inches with a barrel length of 38.75 inches according to information compiled by Peter Kuck. The T-Gewehr operated as a single shot bolt action rifle with a notched V sight with ranges between 100 and 500 meters. The caliber of the shell fired was 13mm (.525 inches), the round’s weight was 51.5g (795gn), and left the barrel at a velocity of 780m/sec (2,650ft/sec) according to the information gathered and compiled by Kuck.

The German Army Infantry Crew of the T-Gewehr

The T-Gewehr was operated by a two-man crew. The primary member was the lead gunner. As lead gunner he carried the weapon itself in addition to roughly a dozen of the 13mm rounds. The secondary member carried the lion’s share of the ammunition as well as the weapon’s bi-pod. Both the primary and secondary crew members were trained in the maintenance and proper operation of the weapon.

Use of the T-Gewehr in a Combat Scenario

Due to the caliber of the T-Gewehr’s round, the weapon’s crews were taught how to fire the rifle properly. Inexperience with such a significant recoil resulted in broken shoulders. The crew members fired two to three shots each before generally having to cease operations.

Continuous firing led not only to damaged shoulders, but it had severe repercussions due to the concussion of the round as it was fired. More than two to three rounds led to headaches, dizziness, and possible blood spillage from the eyes, ears, and nose.

The weapon itself did prove to be successful when employed properly, however. Since the initial British tanks carried no more than 12mm of armor plating, the 13mm round of the T-Gewehr was dangerous. At 300 meters the rifle could punch through 15mm armor plate. Penetration of the plate could kill individual tank crew members, destroy machinery, and ignite ammunition or oil and fuel.

According to German Army reports quoted in Dr. Stephen Bull’s Battle Tactics: Trench Warfare, the German Army understood the power of the T-Gewehr. For the Germans the weapon was most effective once tanks had breached defensive positions and were wreaking havoc behind the lines. The German Army also understood that while the rifle was a significant anti-tank weapon, a better countermeasure was needed in order to alleviate the dangers to the T-Gewehr’s crew during basic operations of the rifle.

Sources

Bull, Stephen, Dr. Battle Tactics: Trench Warfare. PA: Casemate.

Kuck, Peter. Card 44: The Mauser T-Gewehr Anti-tank Rifle of 1918.

The copyright of the article The Tank Abwehr Gewehr, 1918 in Military History is owned by Nicholas Efstathiou. Permission to republish The Tank Abwehr Gewehr, 1918 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

German Anti-tank T-Gewehr Crew