Found a Shipping Container for the 7,5cm KwK/StuK Gun Round!

Happened to pop onto the At The Front website to look at the sales right before Memorial Day weekend, and couldn't believe I saw this...Immediately bought it.

This is the steel shipping/storage container for two rounds of ammo for the short KwK/StuK gun used on the short barreled PzkW IV's and StuG's…

Also, very cool-ly, this was apparently sent back to Aberdeen Proving Grounds...

I was lucky enough to find the round a year or two ago, and posted it here...so when I saw this, I had to have it...now I need to buy another round so I can properly fill it....

It is maker marked O&B if I am reading it right, 1940, and has a WaA...looks like maybe E/655, but I'll have to break out a magnifier to verify...

The amount of work and manufacturing the Germans put into a simple transport container for two rounds always amazes me...

The original stenciling reads "Patr. 7.5cm K.w.K. u. Stu.G. 7.5cm" I am debating whether to restore the stenciling by hand painting or not...

Also, oddly I do not find the usual label describing the details of the rounds within, but it does have a label that states its for tropical use with a normal powder temp of +25 deg C...(the heat increases the burn rate of the powder, and subsequently the chamber pressure, so they downloaded tropical ammo a bit to compensate). Given the date of manufacture, there is a good possibility it was Afrika Korps used...plus at this relatively early part of the war for the US, lots of captured material was sent back to the states for testing...

The stenciling on the side, either put there before sending back, or at Aberdeen states that it contains 2 cartridges, quick firing (I assume to denote a fixed vehicle round as opposed to a separate loading 7,5cm like for the Infantry Gun, Mountain Gun, or the like), 7.5cm Smoke, German...I am not quite sure of the meaning of the first words of the second line, but it also states the fuzing, AZ 23 NA...Then Tank Use Only

The Index number might be related to it being kept as part of the collection at Aberdeen...

All in all, I was super happy to pick it up!

What fired it, and some pics of round...

Very nice!

That’s bad a$$!

Great find!!! I need to find this stuff for the Hetzer at the museum.

Very cool! The Germans really did put a lot of effort into shipping crates, the idea was for them to be re-used but I don't know how often it actually worked out, although we do see some that have been re-issued.

Regards,
Steve

Steve87 said:

Very cool! The Germans really did put a lot of effort into shipping crates, the idea was for them to be re-used but I don't know how often it actually worked out, although we do see some that have been re-issued.

Regards,
Steve

Click to expand...

Yeah, I am betting the re-use element fell off drastically at the front / in combat....especially the wooden crates on the eastern front in winter....

My PaK 40 shipping tube was stenciled for a SprGr round, but has a new label glued over the original for a PzGr round...which is neat...

I think the coolest part of this one is the sending of it to Aberdeen...

Would be interesting to see if there's a way to find that index y.a. 24 entry?
Cool find!

I have a 1935 crate that was reissued and reissued and reissued all the way too 1944 with 8mm Ammo several times. But based on shake it was not originally for 8mm. And it holds an an odd number. 1020 rounds. So reuse did occur.

That's very cool and in the original "panzer grey" early AFV / equipment color, as would be appropriate for early DAK stuff.

Nice to see such an early war piece.

8/Pz Rgt 100 was still equipped with PzkwIV type B which used this type of ammo on D-Day.

Peter U said:

Nice to see such an early war piece.

8/Pz Rgt 100 was still equipped with PzkwIV type B which used this type of ammo on D-Day.

Click to expand...

It certainly was a good support gun. Don't forget in the early days of the Panzers, the PzKfw III was developed as the main tank vs. tank vehicle, while the PzKfw IV was envisioned as a support vehicle. At the time the 5cm KwK 38 on the III was effective at the armor it might encounter...and the low velocity 75 on the IV was excellent at hurling a larger HE round at visual distances for infantry support. That is what the StuG III was envisioned as to when designed, a support vehicle.

Of course a few years and the outbreak of the war, and the 5cm was quickly outclassed by newer vehicles, and the low velocity L/24 wasn't all that useful in anti-armor roles, but still was a good support gun. A fair amount of these guns were used elsewhere and retrofitted to other vehicles, like adding it to the SdKfz 251 to make it useful as a support vehicle.

And of course there were units that soldiered on with the earlier L/24 equipped IV's...They did load PzGr AP rounds for it, and they were effective at closer ranges, especially MOUT type fighting....

I always like adding original packing containers/crates to the collection when I can, they make interesting pieces, and are handy for packing stuff up too...

A great piece Mike you really do have some cool items!