MENACE TO TANKS

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11827, 7 January 1933, Page 9

MENACE TO TANKS

QUICK-IT RING GUN. POWER.PIT. >HERRS. • An entirely new weapon oi unique potency, capable of being used with equal effect in natal, land, and ah fighting, has just been developed in .Switzerland, writes Hector liywalor the Rondon ‘‘Dailv Telegraph’’. It is a srnaii-ealihre quick-firer which can. if necessary, he carried and worked by two men, though for naval and aircraft purposes it litis a special mounting. The chief features of this formidable we.tpon me*: l;d amazing lightness. complete freedom from recoil, 'high rate of fire, an’d penetrative and explosive power. I am able to give the first authentic details of this gun. which is already in production, and lias been adopted by a number of foreign Government-. Hi ins], naval and military experts have. ! under-vand. inspected the new weapon and watched it being demonstinted. The naval panei'n has a calibre of 2IT cm. CTsiii). and weighs 12>*ilb.. unmounted. It lev- a range of 3 1 miles, and a vertical range of 10.000 feet.. Including the time taken to change .magazine-, the theoretical rate of fire per minute is 120 rounds. The entire force of the recoil is utilised by reloading, and even if it is fired .from the shoulder as a rifle the marksman feels no -hoc];. Several types of ammunition, are provided their use varying according to tin* nature of the target. For attacking submarines, torpedo era*!, or the light I v armoured - pan* of big -Slips there i- a -odd projectile re specially hardened -ice!. which will penetrate one inch Krnpp armour at fi.jO yards, aid llin plating ai 3f>o yards. Another i.'-'j <• of .-hell, contains a charge of secret » xpR-ivo which, judging from tiie visual- effect- or- the. hurst—complete- and minute fragmentation < i the hardened steel shell--must he far mo tv powerful than T.N'.T. A third pattern of shell tired' from tile gun is leaded with a mixture of high-exp'o-ive ami iiieeniiinry corn- ! pound-. \\ heir this detonates. the | target is not only blasted hv splinters : hut anything inflammable in the.vicinj itv I- instant!-,- Kt’on lire. A xor- | rent ui -tic!i -hell at the rate of 12’? j rounds a minute would lie deadly to i any small ami lightly protected -ship. ' A number o? these guns have been, j supplied to Italy. uho s- mounting | them in her big seaplanes, which are 1 specially designed for the pursuit of [ submarines and light surface emit. When, jo January last, the Military * correspondent or the •'Daily telegraph" discussed the pei'iormancv of Herr Gerlich'- "Halgar-lTtra" highvelocity bullet, which wa- claimed to he fatal to tanks, lie pertinently observed that ' the real dange■ to tan :- of Gerlie’n's invention was that ir might place in the hands of the ordinary infantryman a weapon capable of piercing the tank's armour". Tiii- danger now appears to have become an actuality, for a lighter model of the new gun. described above has been evolved especially for an-ti-tank work. Of similar calibre, vi/.. .7>in.. it weighs only fiolh.. and can therefore he carried by one man. Rd;o the heavier naval model, it has no recoil. It is capable of firing AVI rounds a minute and the armour-piercing tracer shell produces both explosive and incendiary effect's. The gun can be operated hv one man, though tin* usual crew consists of two. one of whom supports the gun on bis shoulder when the marksman is firing from a kneeling or standing position.