Kampfpistole
The Kampfpistole with its respective warheads is a rather queer weapon developed by german weapon technicians to fight armor. It had it's roots in a tool that was not really a weapon, but a signaling device: the signal pistol Leuchtpistole ("glow pistol"), gauge 4, weighing 1.3 kg, by the company Walther, introduced into service in 1928. It featured a break-action breechWhen the original design was superseded by a construction utilising lighter metal, it not only reduced weight to 0.78 kg, but also provoked the engineers to think about other uses for this pistol. The original Leuchtpistole had a smooth bore that was not very useful for the conceived purposes. An inset-barrel with a caliber of 23mm rifled with 5 grooves rs was developed to be inserted into the otherwise unchanged Leuchtpistole which by this insertion became a Kampfpistole ("combat pistol"), sometimes also called Kampfpistole Z because of the white "Z" that was painted on the side of the chamber to discern it from the normal Leuchtpistole without the inserted rifled barrel used for firing the combat munitions. Both the signal and the combat version used spirit level scales that showed the firing angle as an aiming device. The weapon was 24.5 cm long and the barrel had a length of 15.5 cm; originally it fired the Sprenggranate Leuchtpistole ("explosive-round signal pistol") or Spgr.LP that was 12.5 cm long. However, the small warhead with it's 30g of explosive proved to be too harmless.

Now, the so-called Wurfkörper were developed, which were a combination of the head of a handgrenade with a caliber-thick insertion shaft. The first model was the Wurfkörper 358 LP that joined the insertion shaft with the warhead of the regular Stielhandgranate ("stick hand grenade", the famous "potato-masher"). However the warhead proved too heavy which resulted in a too short range.
The second model, the Wurfkörper 361 LP, joined the shaft with a Eierhandgranate ("egg hand grenade") and proved more practical. Still some refinement was necessary in regard to stability during flight. In this final refinement the thick wooden shaft discarded after launch and left a thin steel tube that stabilized the projectile satisfactorily. Production ran from 1941 to 1942 and 261,788 WK 361 LP were built.
The munition now weighed 0.325 kg, had a length of 22.4 cm and an initial speed of 40m/s and a range of 85m. a later modifcation utilised a plastic shaft that shortened the projectile to 21.8 cm and increased range to almost 100m.
Several AT - munitions were developed for use with the Kampfpistole. The first AT warhead was developed from the Wurfgranatpatrone 326 LP or WK 326 LP, which was a complicated construction that was stabilized in flight by an assembly with 4 wings. It's V0 was 72m/s and ranges of up to 400m were reached but the warhead's explosive content of 12g was considered inadequate. However it was modified into said AT - projectile designated 326 HL/LP (HL = Hohlladung - "hollow charge"). Utilising the general layout of the 326 LP, the new projectile weighed 180g and had a V0 of 60m/s which trasformed into a range of 300m. The warhead carried 22g of hexogene as a shaped charge, enabling the 326 HL/LP to penetrate 50mm of armor. A total number of 402,395 WK 326 LP and WK 326 HL/LP were built between 1941 and 1942.
The WK 326 LP and the WK 361 were the only munitions produced for the Kampfpistole concept in considerable quantities. The Kampfpistole was a rather inaccurate weapon with a deviation of 3-4 meters both laterally and longitudinally. It was not too popular among the troops and in 1941, the year of it's introduction only 5,800 WK 361 LP and 19,750 WK 326 LP were fired; still, by the end of the war all combat munitions for the Kampfpistole had been used up.

Because accuracy at the range of 300m was a real problem that rendered the weapon practically useless at that range for fighting tanks, it was decided to trade the range of the WK 326 HL/LP for a better penetration performance.
The next model after this philosophy was the Wurfmine H 62 LP that resembled the Gewehrgranate 61 except the shaft with a ring stabilizier. It was considered too heavy and impractical due to its unwieldy stabilizing assembly.

Sturmpistole

Development therefore now focussed on the Panzerwurfkörper 42 LP that carried a shaped charge of 60g that was able to penetrate 80mm of steel. To achieve the requested range of 75m more propellant was required which in turn made for a heavier recoil that had to be absorbed. The solution was the adding of a folding stock with a shoulder piece that could be screwed to the Kampfpistole and thus the Sturmpistole ("assault pistol") was born. It later was modified to have a barrel of 18cm; with the longer barrel and the stock unfolded it had an overall length of 58.5 cm and a weight of 2.45kg.
One documented kill is reported from the eastern front in March 1944.
It is unclear how many of the 278,845 Leuchtpistole 42 pistols that were supplied to the army during the war were modified and used as Kampfpistole or Sturmpistole. Total Production of the Leuchtpistole 42 was 417,255; main producers were the companies Waffenfabrik Carl Walther in Zella-Mehlis and Waffenfabrik Erma in Erfurt.
The inaccuracy of the Kampfpistole also led to the development of the so called Sturmbüchse that resembled a triple barreled shotgun and fired a modified version of the WK 361 LP ammunition at ranges of up to 200m. The project was abandoned in spring 1944.
Another development undertaken by the SS was the Kampfpistole Gerloff that used the Gewehrpanzergranate 46 and 61 (discussed below under rifle grenades) that too had been developed by the SS. Internal struggles with the army's weapons bureau prevented a procurement of larger numbers of this weapon.

Gewehrgranatgerät / Schiessbecher

Rifle grenades enable the infantryman to attack targets outside the range of hand-thrown hangrenades with similar small explosive devices. To modify the rifle to fire rifle grenades, the soldier had to attach a device to his rifle that accomodated the over-caliber rifle grenades.


The Gewehrgranatgerät ("rifle grenade device"), also called Schiessbecher ("firing cup"), of the Wehrmacht could be attached to the Mauser 98K rifle, the Gewehr 43, the StGw 44 assault rifle and the FG 42 paratrooper rifle.

The Schiessbecher was basically a short rifled barrel with a caliber of 30mm and a length of 25cm. It weighed 0.75kg and was attached to the bore of the rifle. A rather complicated aiming device was mounted to the left of the original sights and allowed for aiming ranges of up to 300m. the Schiessbecher was produced until May 1944, the total production was 1,450,114.

Gewehrgranate

Of all the many different HE, illumination and other types of rifle grenades only the anti-tank rifle grenades will be discussed here.

The first model of an AT rifle grenade was the Gewehrpanzergranate 30 that was a unsuccessful due to its poor penetration performance. (see picture at left and right)

It was soon replaced by the larger grosse Gewehrpanzergranate. the new type weighed 390g, had a length of 18.5 cm and carried a shaped charge of 115g of explosives, which improved the armor penetration to now 70mm (regardless of range, of course, as it was a shaped charge). Of both types together 23,808,900 were produced, of which 18,273,600 were used up during the war.

A development by the SS weapon's academy was the Gewehrpanzergranate 46 that had an armor penetration of 90mm. Diameter of the warhead was 4.6cm, the length of the rifled shaft was 10.2 cm, the warhead had a length of 93mm and carried a shaped charge of 150g. The Gew.Pzgr. weighed 390g.

A further improvement was the Gewehrpanzergranate 61 which increased penetration performance to 125mm. Warhead length was 136mm and diameter was 61mm, it carried a shaped charge of 200g; the grenade now weighed 520g. Both types, Gew.Pz.Gr.46 and Gew.Pz.Gr.61, were produced in very small numbers towards the end of the war.

Another AT rifle grenade concept was the Gewehrgranate zur Panzerbekämpfung ("rifle grenade for fighting tanks") of the company WASAG that was usually referred to under it's abbreviation GGP or GG/P, it also carried the designation GGP 40 or GG/P 40. This larger weapon's shaft was not put into but onto the Schiessbecher as it was over-caliber even to the large caliber of the Schiessbecher. The GGP weighed 520g and had a length of 23.4 cm. The warhead had a diameter of 60mm and carried a shaped charge of 175g that enabled the GGP to penetrate 40mm of armor. As it could not achieve a spin from the Schiessbecher's rifling it had to depend on six stabilizing fins attached to the rear of it's shaft for flight stabilization.

Later a longer cap was put onto the warhead that allowed for an earlier detonation of the shaped charge which increased the penetration performance to 45mm. This final production version of the GGP (see picture at left) had a length of 29.5cm.

A final development were the so-called Doppelschussgranaten ("double shot grenades") which derived their name from their characteristic of having a second amount of propellant that was ignited in the Schiessbecher which increased the range of these grenades somewhat. The first weapon of this kind was developed by the company Bergmann. It was called kleine Ausführung ("small version"), weighed 520g and carried 120g of explosives in a shaped charge that enabled it to penetrate 85mm of armor; initial speed of this projectile was 160m/s.
The next model weighed 1.1kg and carried a shaped charge of 560g that increased armor penetration to 140mm. The next bigger type was appropriately called grosse Ausführung ("large version") and weighed 1.58kg; it's shaped charge was made of 730g of explosives that made for an armor penetration of 180mm. Even the grosse Ausführung with it's slow velocity of 70m/s had a range of 375m. However, at that range it deviated more than 40m longitudinally and 35m laterally which made a hit on a tank very unlikely at the maximum range.
A similar weapon series developed by the company Thomanek used an improved shaped charge of 600g that could penetrate 270mm of armor. The rumors regarding a supposed new heavily armored russian "Schtschuka" tank (that had already led to the development of the large Hecht 10,5cm Panzerfaust) inspired the construction of an even larger warhead with a diameter of 10cm that carried a shaoped charge of 1.35kg; it proved to penetrate 360mm of steel.. The extra propellant used for the additional second boost weighed 250g.

© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 created by M.Hofbauer August 29th 1998; document ver. 1.4 mod 150102
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