World War II Database

Country of Origin	Poland
Type	Anti-Tank Rifle
Caliber	7.920 mm
Capacity	4 rounds
Length	1.760 m
Barrel Length	1.200 m
Weight	10.000 kg
Rate of Fire	8 rounds/min
Muzzle Velocity	1,275 m/s

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe karabin przeciwpancerny wzór 35, kb ppanc wz. 35 ("anti-tank rifle, model 35") for short, anti-tank rifles were designed in secret by Józef Maroszek. Between the time when the first production order was placed in late 1935 and the opening of the European War in 1939, about 6,500 examples of them were delivered to the Polish Army. They were built by the arms manufacturer Panstwowa Fabryka Karabinów. Due to their top secret status, they were packed in crates marked as surveillance equipment, at times alluded to as products destined for export to Uruguay. These bolt-action weapons had long barrels (for high muzzle velocity) supported by bipods below the wooden stocks. Instead of using tungsten cored armor piercing ammunition common to contemporary anti-tank rifles, kb ppanc wz. 35 weapons used ammunition featuring softer lead cores and steel jackets; while tungsten cored ammunition aimed to punch through armor, the ammunition used by kb ppanc wz. 35 weapons cracked armor with the high velocity, ejected the lead core into the interior of the target, and relied on the ricocheting effect to maim or kill the crew. Mating the rifles and the ammunition, they were effective against all German tanks of the late 1930s at the range of 100 meters, even at a slight angle. The rapid fall of Poland in Sep 1939 meant that a large number of kb ppanc wz. 35 weapons became captured by the Germans, who would press them into service under the designation of Panzerbüchse 35 (polnisch), or PzB 35 (p) for short. In 1940, the Germans sold 800 examples to the Italians, who operated them under the designation Fucile Controcarro 35 (P). A number of them were also sent to Finland. While the Axis forces used them until the end of the European War, ironically the Allied would not do the same; even as some were brought out of Poland with fleeing Polish troops in late Sep 1939, the Western Allies chose not to spend the effort to reverse engineer a blueprint in order to develop repair, maintenance, and operation procedures for these weapons.

Source: Wikipedia ww2dbase

Last Major Revision: Nov 2015

Photographs

Karabin przeciwpancerny wzór 35 Timeline

1 Aug 1935	The Polish Committee of Equipment and Armament issued an order for karabin przeciwpancerny wzór 35 anti-tank rifles.
25 Nov 1935	The Polish Committee of Equipment and Armament accepted a new barrel for the karabin przeciwpancerny wzór 35 anti-tank rifle design which increased barrel life from 30 shots to 300 shots.

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