Profile of Lümmel

3,7 cm Panzerabwehrkanone "PaK 35" axis

The 3,7 cm Pak was the standard antitank gun of the Wehrmacht until about 1941.

The gun had already been successfully employed during the Spanish Civil War. Its small size was a huge advantage: It was very light and could be easily brought into action by its crew. Also it was easy to conceal.



As early as 1940, however, it was realised that the gun would be next to useless when being confronted with the heavy Allied tanks. Its miserable performance against heavy tanks led to the gun being nicknamed "Heeresanklopfgerät" and "PanzerAnklopfKanone" (literally: "Army doorknocking device" and "Army door-knocking gun").



A temporary solution until the introduction of a new antitank gun was the development of the Stielgranate 41 HL stick grenade. Its shaped charge would penetrate 180 mm thick armour, which was more thans sufficent. The drawbacks were that the gun's effective range had now been limited to 200 m and that one soldier had to leave the cover provided by the gun shield to place another grenade on the front of the barrel.

Panzerkampfwagen 1 Ausführung A "Panzer 1" axis

Production: 1934-1941
Number Built: 1,493 (all variants)
Crew: 2
Weight: 5,4 t
Engine Output: 57 hp
Speed on Roads: 37 km/h
Armament: 2x7.92 mm machine guns

Panzer 1 was the first German tank that was produced in large numbers.

But, in contrast to popular opinion, it was not merely intended for training purposes.
Of course, Panzer 1 was used for crew training: and it is also true that there were plans for the development of heavier tanks. And yet Panzer 1 turned out to be a practical war machine: such light armoured machine gun carriers were quite common in many armies in the 1930s.


(You can click to see bigger images from now on!)

The 1935 Demonstration and Trial Exercise (Lehr- und Versuchübung 35) was used to develop and define the operational principles of the Panzer 1 as the Army's mainstay weapon and as an effective weapon in combined arms combat.

At the beginning of WW2, the Panzer 1 still was, in terms of numbers, the backbone of the German Panzer force. It was employed in large numbers in the invasion of Poland and the Battle of France and suffered heavy losses in both campaigns. Yet most successes during the first two years of the war must still be attributed to the small Panzer 1 and 2 tanks.

Leichter Kampfwagen 2 axis

Production: 1918
Number Built: 10
Crew: 3
Weight: 8,5 t
Engine Output: 55 hp
Speed on roads: 14 km/h
Armamanet: 37 mm or 57 mm gun

The "LK 2" presents an important step in the German tank development.

The LK 2 was a light tank. In contrast to the A7V, the LK2 was to rely on speed and mobility,
instead of armour and firepower, to succeed on the battlefield. The tank was to come in two variants: One armed with a main gun. The LK 2 was an important step towards the modern tanks design of the following decades.


(No, its not shooting laser beams.)

Because, only two weeks before the ending of the war the actual mass production began, only 10 of the planned 4,000 vehicles were built.

The LK2 design is quite similar to the British Whippet tank. But even if frequently heard: It is not a copy. Rather, the engineers of both countries independently arrived at the same soution for the same problem.



Following the end of the war, the completed tanks were sold to sweden.
This exhibition was later on given back to be shown in the Panzermuseum in Munster.

Hello Folks, yesterday i was visiting the "Panzermuseum" in Munster, Germany.
Since my visit was truely astonishing, i thought i'm going to share my experience with you.

I plan on giving some selfmade "high quality" pics (Canon EOS 1100 for those who care), and complete each post with some further information.

This will be an introduction post, and im going to complete in the progress, which exhibition piece can be found on what page. Mainly, since the museum is located in Germany, I'm going to review German tanks and gear.

If you like my work, this thread will contain several pages. Of course it is appreciated to post comments, thoughts and so on... :-)

All in all i can say that i would definitely recommend going to some kind of tank museum for everyone who is anyhow intrested in WW2. These tanks and all the gear look twice as cool in real life as they already do in the photos.

You can also comment which one of the "in the making..." posts you'd like to see next!


Exhibition pieces so far:

The beginnings of German tanks:

Sturmpanzerwagen A7V ---------------------------- - Page 1 #3 Click
Leichter Kampfwagen 2 "LK 2" -------------------- - Page 1 #4 Click

WW2 German tanks:

Panzerkampfwagen 38 (t) -------------------------- - Page 2 #21 Click
Panzerkampfwagen 1 Ausführung A "Panzer 1" - Page 1 #6 Click
Panzerkampfwagen 3 Ausführung M "Panzer 3" - Page 1 #8 Click
Panzerkampfwagen 4 Ausführung G "Panzer 4" - Page 2 #25 Click
Panzerkampfwagen 5 Ausführung A " Panther " - Page 3 #60 Click
Panzerkampfwagen 6 "Tiger 1" -------------------- - Page 3 #44 Click
Panzerkampfwagen 6 "Tiger 2" "Königstiger" -- - Page 4 #80 Click
Jagdpanzer 38(t) "Hetzer" -------------------------- - Page 2 #22 Click
Jagdpanzer 4 ------------------------------------------ - Page 3 #53 Click
Jagdpanzer 5 "Jagdpanther" ----------------------- - Page 4 #71 Click

Sturmgeschütz 3 Ausführung G "StuG 3" --------- - Page 2 #28 Click
Sturmpanzer 4 "Brummbär" ------------------------- - Page 3 #57 Click
38-cm-Sturmmörser Tiger "Sturmtiger" ----------- - Page 3 #64 Click
15-cm-sFH 18/1 auf GW 3/4 (Sf) "Hummel" ------ - Page 3 #56 Click


WW2 German gear, vehicles:

3,7 cm PaK 35 ------------------------------------------ - Page 1 #10 Click
7,5 cm PaK 40 ------------------------------------------ - Page 1 #11 Click
7,5 cm Infanteriegeschütz 37 ----------------------- - Page 2 #27 Click
8,8 cm Flak ---------------------------------------------- - Page 2 #34 Click
8,8 cm PaK 43/41--------------------------------------- - Page 4 #79 Click

Volkswagen Typ 166 "VW Schwimmwagen" ------- - Page 1 #12 Click
Zündapp KS 750 ---------------------------------------- - Page 1 #13 Click
Sd.Kfz. 234/4 "PaK Wagen" -------------------------- - Page 2 #37 Click
Sd.Kfz. 251/9 -------------------------------------------- - Page 3 #46 Click
PKW Volkswagen Typ 82 "VW Kübelwagen" ------ - Page 2 #26 Click
Kleines Kettenkraftrad "Kettenkrad" --------------- - Page 4 #61 Click
Leichter Sprengladungsträger "Goliath" ----------- - Page 3 #51 Click
Raupenschlepper OST "RSO PaK 40" --------------- - Page 4 #66 Click

WW2 Allied Tanks:

SU 100 --------------------------------------------------- - Page 1 #14 Click
T34/85 --------------------------------------------------- - Page 3 #59 Click
Medium Tank M4A1 Sherman ------------------------ - Page 4 #76 Click
Cruiser Tank A43 Comet ------------------------------ - Page 2 #37 Click

Molotovs 21% farther would be fun