Pendraken Miniatures Forum

Wider Wargaming => Genre/Period Discussion => 20th Century => Topic started by: petercooman on 02 January 2013, 09:44:11 PM

Title: horch 4x4 towing a pak 40
Post by: petercooman on 02 January 2013, 09:44:11 PM
Was it possible?

Not the standard towing vehicle for a pak40, but was it possible to tow it in times of need? Like when the invasion of normandy begun, and the jerries had to use whatever was at hand.
Title: Re: horch 4x4 towing a pak 40
Post by: fred. on 02 January 2013, 10:11:22 PM
I'm sure for short distances it would work - there may not have been a lot of space for ammo or all the crew though.

The Pak40 wasn't that big a gun (unlike 17pdr or 88s) so I'm sure a horch would have been sufficient. Allied airborne troops used jeeps to tow all sorts of guns (though sometimes with 2 jeeps to a gun!)
Title: Re: horch 4x4 towing a pak 40
Post by: petercooman on 02 January 2013, 10:17:18 PM
Well it would be for the battles around and in Caen.

I seem to have misordered my trucks, i was going to order blitz trucks, but wanted the one without the tilt. So i saw the one that statedopel blitz box body, and without thinking it through i ordered that one, wich is the command vehicle with the office box.  =)

But not all is lost, i will mount them on my hq and FAO stands, wich were originally going to have horch 4x4's. And i jost started thinking if i could use those to tow. Then can always stand in for transoprt trucks for the troops too, as they were used in this manner in the early war IIRC. Besides i like the look of the horch better than the blitz ;)
Title: Re: horch 4x4 towing a pak 40
Post by: Albie Bach on 03 January 2013, 02:34:27 PM
I don't think there would be many Horch 4x4 around by the time the Pak 40 was being used, certainly not by 1944. They would also struggle unless on a road I would have thought.
I usually use SdKfz 10. Two in a Pendraken pack if I recall correctly.
Title: Re: horch 4x4 towing a pak 40
Post by: petercooman on 03 January 2013, 08:24:30 PM
Well it is possible, the fortress troops didn't have the newest equipment overall. But as i actually said, i bought them initially to put on hq stands, but i just like them so much i was thinking of getting more and using them as trucks.

I'll think about it  :P
Title: Re: horch 4x4 towing a pak 40
Post by: Hertsblue on 04 January 2013, 09:14:06 AM
This is a picture from the Deutches Bundesarchiv. The car appears to be towing a PaK 36. Don't think the PaK 40 was that much bigger and heavier.  :-\

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-158-0094-35%2C_Balkan%2C_PKW_der_Leibstandarte_Adolf_Hitler.jpg)
Title: Re: horch 4x4 towing a pak 40
Post by: Albie Bach on 04 January 2013, 05:17:41 PM
Quote from: Hertsblue on 04 January 2013, 09:14:06 AM
This is a picture from the Deutches Bundesarchiv. The car appears to be towing a PaK 36. Don't think the PaK 40 was that much bigger and heavier.  :-\

Yes, I was quite surprised to find the PaK 40 was over 4 times the weight of the PaK36, and 50% heavier than the PaK38.
Title: Re: horch 4x4 towing a pak 40
Post by: Lord Kermit of Birkenhead on 05 January 2013, 08:52:55 AM
By 44/5 the German transport park was internatioinal. So anything that could tow a gun was used. Having said that the Horch probably wasnt man enough for the job.

PaK 38 used quite a lot of the lighter alloys which weren't avalaible by 41/2 when the PaK 40 went into service.

IanS
Title: Re: horch 4x4 towing a pak 40
Post by: petercooman on 05 January 2013, 01:26:12 PM
Well, i could always use them to tow my 7.5 field guns, i was planning on ordering them anyway :)

They would way considerably less so that shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks all of you!