King & Country
Captain
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- May 23, 2005
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Some 200 were produced and many went to several Anti-tank Battalions for Barbarossa where they replaced 3.7mm towed anti-tank guns. The 4.7mm gun was superior to the towed 3.7mm gun and they saw combat but performed so poorly mechanically, the units went back to their towed 3.7mm guns. The 35Rs were withdrawn from Russia and were assigned to infantry divisions and anti-tank units in France were they fought extensively in Normandy. Some garrisoned the Channel Islands (Guernsey, Jersey). Despite being obsolete in 1944, the 4.7mm gun could take out most allied tanks except the Churchill. It would be a wonderful model for Normandy 1944 but I'm pretty certain none went to Afrika or even Italy.
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Converted 4.7mm 35R and unconverted 35R tank from the 100th Panzer Regiment near Cherbourg 1944. Note the consecutive numbers and the similar camo patterns - SPG and Tank in the same company?
Terry
Thanks Terry for the additional info...while you may indeed be correct...Who's to say that some of those converted vwhicles were not shipped out to North Africa...After all, thanks to the Royal Navy and the RAF most of Rommel's resupplies ended up on the seabed of the Mediterranean..!
I think that's a not unreasonable assumption...
Andy.