37mm Anti-Tank Gun

Above : Members of an anti-tank company on the drill field

Pak 37mm Anti-Tank Gun

Shell

Weight

Muzzle Velocity

Penetration

Anti-tank

0.69 kg

745 meters/sec

36mm at 500 meters

Anti-personnel

0.65 kg

745 meters/sec

Infantry targets only

Hard-core

0.35 kg

1030 meters/sec

50mm at 500 meters

In the last peacetime year the German Army had 51 anti-tank units which were except for the one anti-tank training unit stationed in Wünsdorf near Berlin , divided among the divisions.Their numbers of 37mm Pak guns were as follows :

Infantry Division75 Guns
Armored Division48 Guns
Mountain Division48 Guns
Infantry Division (mot.)72 Guns
Light Infantry Division54 Guns
Cavalry Brigade 121 Guns

An anti-tank unit normally consisted of a staff , three companies and a replacement company with 22 officers , three officials , 132 non-commissioned officers and551 enlisted men.Their motor vehicles were : 45 personnel vehicles , 91 trucks , 78 motorcycles , 46 with sidecars.When World War II began and new divisions were established the field army as of September 1st 1939 numbered 23,029 officers , non-commissioned officers and enlisted men in the anti-tank units , and the replacement army numbered 16,353 men.In the winter of 1939-40 personnel was increased.
The supply of 37mm Pak increased from 11,200 on September 1st 1939 to 12,830 on April 1st 1940 and 14,459 on June 1st 1941.Losses of guns to enemy action were enormous just in the period from May 10 to June 20 1940 (western campaign) 636 were lost : from December 1 1941 to February 28 1942 (Russian winter fighting) 1502 were lost , to cite only two statistics.The Army High Command issued an order on March 16 1940 that effective immediately the anti-tank units were to be renamed Panzerjäger units and the former Panzerabwehrkanone (anti-tank gun) became the Panzerjägerkanone , but the short form of Pak was retained.