KwK39 (50 mm)
Contents
Description
Built from experiences of the French front when used against tanks that pinged the KwK L/42 (50 mm) harmlessly off such as B1 bis made it clear to the German military that a newer and more powerful cannon was in order. Thus the long gun that had been thought of not fitting the turret well was fitted on the tank with good success and served the Germans well in the Eastern Front.
Vehicles equipped with this weapon
- KwK39
- KwK39/1
General info
The KwK39 is best described as in lineage with the earlier KwK36 (37 mm) with not much damage per hit often requiring multiple shots to take out a tank, but with relatively good penetration and fast reload allowing for it to keep enemy modules offline if the first shot it gets off flies true.
Available ammunition
Penetration statistics | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
PzGr 39 | APC | 106 | 101 | 83 | 65 | 50 | 39 |
PzGr 40/1 | APCR | 130 | 121 | 90 | 62 | 43 | 29 |
PzGr 40 | APCR | 137 | 126 | 88 | 56 | 36 | 23 |
Sprgr. 38 | HE | 12 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 5 |
Shell details | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | |||||
0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
PzGr 39 | APC | 835 | 2.05 | 1.2 | 9 | 28.9 | 48° | 63° | 71° | |||
PzGr 40/1 | APCR | 1,130 | 1.07 | - | - | - | 66° | 70° | 72° | |||
PzGr 40 | APCR | 1,180 | 0.9 | - | - | - | 66° | 70° | 72° | |||
Sprgr. 38 | HE | 870 | 1.82 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 217.6 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
Comparison with analogues
Give a comparative description of cannons/machine guns that have firepower equal to this weapon.
Usage in battles
Describe the cannon/machine gun in the game - its distinctive features, tactics of usage against notable opponents. Please don't write a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Fires at a high velocity, making sniping or shooting at moving targets easier
- Really quick reload rate, allows for quick follow-up shots
- APCR can penetrate heavy tanks
Cons:
- Small calibre - little post-penetration damage
- APC shell with explosive filler cannot reliably penetrate common tanks at this battle rating such as the T-34, M4 Sherman
- Need to aim for important modules to deal more damage
History
Examine the history of the creation and combat usage of the weapon in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the weapon and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Weapon-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main
template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>
, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />
.
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
- references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.
External links
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- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
Germany tank cannons | |
---|---|
20 mm | KwK30 · KwK38 · Rh202 |
28/20 mm | s.Pz.B.41 |
30 mm | MK 30-2/ABM |
37 mm | KwK34(t) · KwK36 · KwK38(t) · PaK L/45 |
47 mm | Pak.(t)(Sf.) |
50 mm | KwK39 · KwK L/42 · PaK38 |
57 mm | Bofors L/70 Mk.1 |
75 mm | K51 L/24 · KwK37 · KwK40 L43 · KwK40 L48 · KwK42 · KwK44 · KwK44 L/36.5 · PaK39 L48 · PaK40/3 L46 · PaK42 · StuK37 · StuK40 L43 · StuK40 L48 |
76 mm | PaK36 (r) |
88 mm | Flak.37 · Flak 41 · KwK36 · KwK43 · PaK43 |
90 mm | BK90 |
105 mm | CN105-57 · Cockerill HP · FMK.4 Modelo 1L · K.18 · KwK L/68 · L7A3 · PzK M57 · StuH42 |
120 mm | Rh120 L/44 · Rh120 L/55 · Rh120 L/55 A1 |
128 mm | K.40 · KwK44 · PaK44 |
150 mm | s.I.G.33 · Stu.H 43 L/12 |
380 mm | RW61 |
Foreign: | |
30 mm | Bushmaster 2 Mk.44 (USA) · HSS 831L (Britain) |
57 mm | 6pdr OQF Mk.V (Britain) |
73 mm | 2A28 (USSR) |
75 mm | M3 (USA) |
76 mm | F-32 (USSR) · F-34 (USSR) · M32 (USA) |
90 mm | M36 (USA) · M41 (USA) |
105 mm | GT-3 (South Africa) |
125 mm | 2A46 (USSR) |
152 mm | M-10T (USSR) · XM150E5 (USA) |
155 mm | M126 (USA) |