The blitzkrieg adopted by Germany in World War II gave people a unique armor technology, but Germany was not only a tank power but also an anti-tank power, from the early Pak 36-37 mm anti-tank gun to the Pak 38-50 mm anti-tank gun, or the German anti-tank backbone Pak 40-75 mm anti-tank gun, Pak 43-88 mm anti-tank gun and Pak44-128 mm anti-tank gun, these anti-tank guns were more or less put on the tank by Germany to become tank destroyers. As an infantry, Germany's early anti-tank is mainly a type 1 anti-tank grenade (up to 30 meters), and the later "tank killer" modified according to the American Bazooka bazooka and the German self-developed super-caliber anti-tank artifact "Iron Fist" constitute the weapons of German front-line soldiers against tanks, but there is also a little guy who is not conspicuous but also a generalist, which is the German German WKp Walter combat pistol, the world's only anti-tank pistol.
After World War I, the German Walter company produced a signal gun in 1928, the gun used the cutting process in the early days to use steel weight 1.3 kg, in order to reduce weight in aluminum to reduce weight to 0.78 kg, but Germany began to reorganize the armament war Lighter aluminum was used to manufacture aircraft, Walter company used the stamping process to reduce weight, but the later material problem increased to 0.8 kg, the signal gun produced about 410,000 pieces from 1928 to 1945, of which about 270,000 army equipment.
The WKp Walter Combat Pistol was originally just a flare gun
In 1941 , the Germans believed that the gun could be modified to fire grenades , and the original smoothbore was stuffed with an inner tube with 5 rifling lines to fire grenades , and was renamed a combat rifle , with the letter "Z" on the side to distinguish it from the flares.
WKp Walter Combat Pistol
Germany's early grenades are mainly wooden handle M24, the M24 grenade (known as potato masher) warhead removed from the tube can be directly stuffed into the combat pistol to fire, fixed as wk358lp type, but in use found that the M24 grenade warhead is too heavy to cause the firing distance is not far, and then changed to the German oval grenade, fixed as wk361lp type, because the shooting distance increased but the accuracy is not good, the later catheter from wood to plastic increase distance, from 85 meters to 100 meters.
wk361lp, with an oval grenade
In 1941, the German army suffered from the T34 crisis, and it was not only the anti-tank guns that were urgently launched, but also the lack of an anti-tank weapon in the hands of soldiers, and the Walter Wkp combat pistol was also entrusted with the heavy responsibility and began his career as an anti-tank gun.
The Germans designed an anti-tank warhead for the Wkp combat pistol, also known as the Wk326lp type, which used a super caliber, a total weight of 115 grams, explosives 12 grams, a flight distance of 400 meters, and the accuracy was all by luck.
After the German army was equipped with the wk326lp type, its 12 grams of explosives could not shake the armor of the T34 tank at all, so the Germans first modified the hollow charge (similar to the iron fist), the explosive was increased to 22 grams of Hessol gold, the weight was also increased to 180 grams, the range was reduced to 300 meters, and the penetration depth reached 50 mm could effectively threaten the side armor of the T34 tank, but the accuracy was still all by luck.
The Germans later adopted the pwk42lp anti-armor projectile (which feels like the British "taut bow" anti-tank weapon gave German inspiration), adding 18 mm to the barrel of the WKp Walter combat pistol, and a foldable stock for stabilization at the rear, and the anti-tank shell of the projectile had a hollow charge warhead of 60 grams with a range of 75 meters and could penetrate 80 mm thick armor, and in 1943 it was reported that the weapon destroyed a T34 tank on the Eastern Front.
PWK42lp type anti-armor projectile
By the way, the German Navy also had a close relative of the gun, the double-barreled flare gun.
A double-barreled flare gun used by the German Navy
The german WKp Walter Combat Pistol's only record on the Eastern Front was the destruction of a T34 tank, which was subsequently replaced by the German "Tank Killer" and the Iron Fist due to its accuracy; however, the gun's super-caliber design made it an all-rounder.
The advantage of the super caliber is that its role will change depending on the warhead, which is very flexible