47 mm APX anti-tank gun

canon de 47 mm SA mle 1937

47 SA 37 preserved at Worthington Tank Museum at CFB Borden (Ontario, Canada)
Type Anti-tank gun
Place of origin  France
Service history
Used by  France
 Nazi Germany
Wars World War II
Specifications
Weight 1,070 kg (2,359 lbs)
Barrel length 50

Shell 47x380 mm. R APCBC
Caliber 47 millimetres (1.9 in)
Rate of fire 15 to 20 rounds/min
Muzzle velocity 855 m/s (2,805 ft/s)
Effective range 2,000 m (2,187 yds)

The 47 mm APX anti-tank gun was a French anti-tank gun that saw service in the first years of the Second World War.

Contents

Development

In the 1930s the French artillery sought a replacement for the derivatives of the 75 mm mle 1897 field gun it used in the anti-tank role. Despite having a decent anti-armour capability, the venerable soixante-quinze was heavy and was much harder to conceal than the smaller high-velocity, small calibre anti-tank weapons of modern design. The chosen weapon was a design of the state-owned arsenal Atelier de Puteaux ("Puteaux workshop", abbreviated to APX), and was designated as canon de 47 mm semi-automatique mle 1937. It was a very efficient weapon, especially given the (then) thin armour of German tanks of the time, unfortunately the 47 SA 37 still was relatively rare at the time of the Battle of France.

Foreign use

Examples captured by the German forces were operationally used under the designation 4.7cm Pak 181(f).

Variants

See also

References