Mauser 1918 T-Gewehr

Mauser Mod. 1918 13.2 mm Tankgewehr
13.2 mm Rifle Anti-Tank at the Musée de l'Armée in Paris
Type	Anti-tank rifle, Anti-materiel rifle
Place of origin	German Empire
Service history
In service	1918-1933
Used by	German Empire Weimar Republic
Wars	World War I German Revolution of 1918–1919 (Anti-revolutionary forces)
Production history
Manufacturer	Mauser
Produced	Jan 1918
Number built	15,800
Variants	M1918 shortened
Specifications
Weight	15.9 kg (35 lbs), 18.5 kg (41 lbs) loaded with the bipod
Length	169.1 cm
Crew	two man crew
Cartridge	13.2 mm TuF (German: Tank und Flieger)
Caliber	13.2 mm (.525 inches)
Action	bolt-action
Rate of fire	single shot
Effective range	500 m
Feed system	manual
Sights	100 - 500 m (notched V)

The Mauser 13 mm anti-tank rifle (German: Tankgewehr M1918, usually abbreviated T-Gewehr) was the world's first anti-tank rifle, i.e. the first rifle designed for the sole purpose of destroying armored targets and the only anti-tank rifle to see service in World War 1. Approximately 15,800 were produced

History

It was a German weapon of World War I, appearing in February 1918. The Mauser Company began mass production at Oberndorf am Neckar in May 1918. The first of these off the production lines were issued to specially raised anti-tank detachments. The idea of using heavy calibre and high velocity rifles as anti-tank weapons originated in Germany. In June 1917, the German Army faced the menace of the Mark IV tank, and found that the armour-piercing 7.92 mm K bullet was no longer effective.

Operation

The rifle was a single shot bolt action rifle using the Mauser action, with rounds manually loaded into the chamber. The weapon had a pistol grip, bipod but no method of reducing the recoil such as a soft buttpad or muzzle brake. The iron sights were a front blade and tangent rear, graduated in 100 meter increments from 100 to 500 meters. The rifle was operated by a two-man crew of a gunner and ammunition bearer, who were both trained to fire the weapon. The high recoil of the rifle was very hard on the firer, sometimes breaking the collar bone or dislocating the shoulder.

Cartridge

The armour piercing hardened steel cored 13.2 x 92mm (.525-inch) semi-rimmed cartridge, often simply called "13 mm", was originally planned for a new, heavy Maxim MG.18 water-cooled machine gun, the Tank und Flieger (TuF) meaning for use against "tank and aircraft", which was under development and to be fielded in 1919. The round’s weighed 51.5g (795gn)with an initial velocity of 780m/sec (2,650ft/sec).

Survivors

The anti-tank rifle can be found in several museums: Patton Museum, Fort Knox, In Flanders Fields Museum, Ypres, The Imperial War Museum, King's Own Royal Border Regiment and 22nd Cheshire Regiment museums in the United Kingdom, the Army museum at the Invalides, Paris, the Bandiana Army museum Australia and others. And there is one that was a de-milled version and it was retooled to use the current .50 caliber round available to civilians by using a special replacement barrel.

See also

• MG 18 TuF

External links

• Anti-Tank Rifle History and Collecting