The 3.7cm PaK 36 was the main German anti-tank gun at the beginning of the war and was used on all fronts. By 1941, Germany had produced over 15,000 and many others were built under license in other countries including the Soviet Union. This gun was photographed in the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941. The muzzle velocity of its armor piercing round was 762 m/s and it could penetrate about 38mm of armor plate at ranges up to 400 yards. As such, it was unable to penetrate most French tanks.
The lack of power of the PaK 36 is evident in this photo taken in September 1941. The gun, together with a telegraph pole and a small tree, was crushed into the ground by a Soviet tank that carried on through the building wall in the background before being stopped. Modern Soviet tanks such as the T-34 and KV series had thicker armor which could not be penetrated by the PaK 36 rounds. However, in 1941, the tungsten cored AP40 round was introduced which was able to penetrate the armor of the T-34 up to ranges of 100 yards.
When the 5cm PaK 38 proved to be inadequate, a number of stop-gap solutions were developed by the Germans. Here a 7.5cm PaK 97/38(f) searches for targets in the late summer of 1943. This gun was manufactured using the barrels of captured French model 1897 field guns attached to the carriage of the 5cm PaK. A mere expedient, the gun was neither popular nor successful due to its low muzzle velocity of 570 m/s. This picture gives a good impression of the low silhouette of the PaK 38 carriage.
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