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Hello.

I wonder if any of you knows what is the diffrence between these weapons - i know PAW was kind of AT-Gun produced in small numbers in 1945, but what about the Puppchen (did it have any offical name ?)

Thanks,
Gud

I haven't got a clue Gud. But thought I'd bump you to the top again. Besides, I'm kinda curious to know too!!

Figmo

Wasn't the Puppchen the quasi-ATG that used a Panzershreck rocket (slightly modified) and fired it from a wheeled mount? It looked like a small ATG on it's carriage. Not sure on the PAW, never heard of it.

Well, I think you are mostly right about the Pueppchen, when I get home tonite, I'll dig into my reference, and answer this, if no-one else has in the meantime. I sort of remember the PAW being a proto, with few to any actually made, but not positive on that.

Overlord,

you're right on about a gun that fired the 8.8cm Panzershreck round. It was a wheeled device, on the light side, and was to act as a light AT gun. Ian Hogg did a small piece on it on his Weapons of WW2 book, along with great snipets on all major small arms, SMG's, MG's, mortars/guns, and infantry AT weapons.

He did a good job on it. Thank God for the Military Book Club....

My favorites were on the SG-44 and the section on the Panzerfaust series. Some stuff I never knew.... Glad that they never got too much of that stuff in production - The war could have gone on longer...

That's just my opinion, I could be wrong...
-Jeff

ADDENDUM...

PAW (known as the PAW600)was a hybrid cannon/recoiless weapon on a light AT carrage, designed with a system called High/Low pressure. The basic round was a modified 81mm mortar round as a HEAT round attached on a metal plate with 6-holes drilled and a shear-rod, mounted on a 105mm cut-down shell case. When the shell fired, it generated the High pressure in the 105-segment, then bleed off enough pressure to shear the rod, push the 81mm shell out the barrel at a much lower pressure. Saved on gunpowder propellant(getting harder to produce inside Germany at the time). Range was somewhere around 500-700m (enough for local AT use) and penatration was somewhere around 100-150mm. Germans only produced about 250 of them, and, from the book, it was rather effective.

PAW stood for Panzer Abwehr Werfer. It was also refered to PWK (Panzer Werfer Kanone).

Sorry, I'm a bit of a facts nut - a keeper of odd knowledge...
-Jeff

The "Pueppchen" was a recoilless AT gun, designed to fire a 8,8cm HEAT rocket, similar to the "Panzerschreck" rocket. The official name was 8,8-cm Raketenwerfer 43. It was designed before the Germans discovered the US 60mm-Bazookas. The "Panzerschreck" (Raketenpanzerbuechse(RPzB) 43 and RPzB54) the German copy of the Bazookas was much cheaper and easier to produce than the "Pueppchen", so the production ended soon.

Thanks all. Anybody has info how many Puppchen were produced, and how were they used ? (part of PzJg Bns ?)

Guderian,
From what Ian Hogg wrote in his book, the actual number is in doubt. It ranges from 'several' to 'proto-type status'. But, he adds that the number could go as high as 100 in the troops hands as the war ended...

Aberdeen Proving Ground does, to the best of my knowldge, not have one. Even though I live 3 miles from there, I have not been on post to see if one can be seen...

(I mustered out of the Army in '98...)

So, take a guess...

Best,
-Jeff

Originally posted by Christian:
The "Pueppchen" was a recoilless AT gun, designed to fire a 8,8cm HEAT rocket, similar to the "Panzerschreck" rocket. The official name was 8,8-cm Raketenwerfer 43. It was designed before the Germans discovered the US 60mm-Bazookas. The "Panzerschreck" (Raketenpanzerbuechse(RPzB) 43 and RPzB54) the German copy of the Bazookas was much cheaper and easier to produce than the "Pueppchen", so the production ended soon.

I thought the Germans developed the Panzerschreck based on captured Bazookas (from Russia?).

The Pueppchen fires a modified Panzerschreck rocket to a greater range and because it is fired from a breach there is no back blast.

The weapon is usually attached to the obsolete 28/20 cone bore carriage.

Bazookas from Tunisia IIRC.
AFAIK the Russians never recieved that many Bazooka's through lend-lease, sticking with 14.5mm ATR's and AT Grenades throughout the war, plus whatever they could capture off the Germans.