German PaK 38 / PaK 97/38 AT Gun with Crew

After the Spanish Civil War, the German authorities started to think that a new anti-tank gun would be needed, even though the 3.7cm PaK 36 had proven to be very successful. They asked Rheinmetall-Borsig to produce a new and more capable AT-gun. They first designed the PaK 37 in 1935, but the German authorities didn’t approve it because of its low capabilities. Rheinmetall-Borsig was forced to create a new gun under the designation PaK 38, which fitted a new and longer L/60 barrel and was approved for mass production in 1939.