Landships II

guest · Lieutenant

a question about a halftrack

James H · Legend

https://landships.activeboard.com/t43161037/german-half-track-with-anti-tank-gun/

guest · Lieutenant

@James H
thanks for the reply

unfortunately that landships thread doesn't have the year of construction

James H · Legend

There are plenty that have. A search engine shows many references to the vehicle being of 1918 construction. The running gear looks like left-over A7V/Gelandewagen bits.

guest · Lieutenant

@James H

"There are plenty that have." meaning that the specific thread didn't had any reference

-- Edited by guest on Friday 14th of June 2019 01:51:40 PM

James H · Legend

Well, you'll just have to make a decision.

Peter Smith · Captain

James H wrote:
The running gear looks like left-over A7V/Gelandewagen bits.

The A7V track units were based on Holt caterpillar designs, one of its shortcomings (in common with St Chamond and Schneider CA). The Marienwagen looks to have essentially a copy of a standard 2-bogie Holt track set, or perhaps even genuine Holt parts. Several Holt tractors were imported to Germany while the USA was still trading with them.

guest · Lieutenant

(the post can't be edited now) hmm hmm

the caliber of the kanone seems to be 5.2cm and not 5.7cm

guest · Lieutenant

so the constructions go chronologically as this:

the Daimler Marienwagen I gepanzert, Bremer Wagen appeared in 1916

the Daimler Marienwagen II halbspur appeared in 1916

the Daimler Marienwagen II gepanzert halbspur appeared in 1917

the Daimler Marienwagen II 5.2cm flak appeared in 1918

right?

-- Edited by guest on Sunday 23rd of June 2019 02:46:45 PM

28juni14 · Hero

The last pic of the Marienwagen II is not mounting an anti-aircraft weapon. This is a "beute" Ruski 57mm L/40 fortress gun (Hotchkiss). You will note the gun mount allows only limited elevation, and the absence of an aiming circle; two provisions necessary for German Flak.

In the closing weeks of the war, the Germans expected to face an onslaught of British tanks in the new year. Every effort was made to provide mobile anti-tank defense by utilizing lorries to carry field guns. I believe this was an experimental specimen for that task.

guest · Lieutenant

@28juni14
thanks for the reply

so it's a Daimler Marienwagen II tankabwehrkanone (TAK)

to the photograph the caliber looks too small for a 5.7cm L-40 as if it is a Becker 2cm M2 tankabwehrgewehr

also to this landships thread landships.activeboard.com/t43161037/german-half-track-with-anti-tank-gun/ the user named mad zeppelin presumes that it is a 5.2cm SK L-55

elbavaro · Commander in Chief

Looks to small??

Never ever is this a 2 cm!

guest · Lieutenant

@elbavaro
"Looks to small??" of course!

"Never ever is this a 2 cm!" maybe it's a 3.7cm then as the user named K-Flak presumes to this landships thread landships.activeboard.com/t43161037/german-half-track-with-anti-tank-gun/

CharlieC · Legend

What about a Nordenfeld 6 Pounder gun? The proportions of the barrel look right for the Nordenfeld and there were

mountings which did not have the elaborate recoil absorption system of the Mark III mounting.

There were Nordenfeld guns of differing types in the Belgium fortresses that the Germans captured in 1914.

Regards,

Charlie