H28950 3.7CM HE PAK ROUND. (Granate) 

When tanks made their first appearance on the WWI battlefield in 1916 there were no specific anti-tank guns in the German arsenal. Originally the Germans attempt to utilize their field artillery pieces but generally these were situated too far back from the front to be effective in a direct fire role. When the enemy tanks did come within effective range they were usually interspersed amongst the forward German infantry resulting in the artillery fire causing friendly casualties. In order to remedy this situation the German’s developed the first specific 3.7cm caliber PAK, Panzerabwehrkanone, (Anti-Tank Cannon), in 1917. These newly developed low silhouette, wide traverse capable, PAK’s were effective against the thin armor plate of the WWI tanks and became the standard infantry anti-tank support weapon. At the beginning of WWII the 3.7cm PAK was still the primary infantry anti-tank support weapon. 

The high explosive round consists of a tooled natural aluminum percussion fuse tip, a steel head and a sheet metal casing. The round is roughly 13 7/8" tall inclusively, with a 2" diameter bottom tapering up to a pointed tip. The fuse is well marked with impressed designation, "AZ39", indicating, Aufschlagzünder, (Percussion fuse 39), waffen-amt stamp, manufacturers code, "bzp", indicating manufacture by Alfred Gauthier Calmbach, and date, "42". The steel head retains about 60% of its original silver paint with moderate surface spotting and pitting. The head has partially visible impressed numerical markings. The sheet metal casing also retains about 60% of its original protective black lacquered finish and shows moderate surface spotting and pitting. The bottom of the shell casing has the screwed in primer still intact. The bottom of the shell casing is well marked with partially legible impressed designation, "3.7cm Pak", waffen-amt, numerical marking, "6331St", date, "1943" and illegible manufacturers code. The inset primer cap also has an impressed date, "42". Of Note: With the increase in the protective armor plating of the newly developed tanks the 3.7cm PAK was found to have insufficient hitting power and was considered obsolete as early as 1940 although it remained in use right until the end of the war.