7.5cm PaK 40 Platoon (Winter)

includes four plastic 7.5cm PaK40 Anti-tank guns with crew, one Command Panzerfaust SMG team, eight Ammunition plugs, eight Spent shell casing plugs, four Large six-hole bases & one Small three-hole base.

Development of the 7.5cm PaK40 began in 1939, with both Krupp and Rheinmetall developing designs for testing and adoption. Initially the weapons development was slow, but priority was soon bumped up after Operation Barbarossa in 1941 with the appearance of heavy Soviet armour like the KV-1. The first Rheinmetall guns rushed off the production line in November 1941.

The gun retained many features of the lighter 5cm PaK 38 gun. It had a muzzle brake to reduce recoil, a double skin shield for added protection of the breech, and torsion-bar suspension for motor towing. The trail retained the tubular arms of the PaK 38 design, but were made of steel for added strength rather than the aluminium of the PaK 38.

The newly introduced Panzergranate 39 weighed 6.8 kg and achieved a penetrating power of 132mm of armour at 500-meters with a muzzle velocity of 792 meters per second.

The weapon was effective against almost every Allied tank until the end of the war, with the exception of the Soviet IS-2 and the American M26 Pershing. However it was much heavier than the 5cm PaK 38, decreasing its mobility to the point where it was difficult or impossible to move without an artillery tractor on boggy ground.

Figures designed by Evan Allen
Gun designed by Will Jayne
Painted by Mark Hazell