(04-22-2015, 08:17 AM)Coniglius Wrote: (04-22-2015, 07:07 AM)zaarin7 Wrote:
The problem with the gun was that it was not universally distributed in time for the battle. Very few actually made it into French OOB's.
The 47mm SA mle 1937 was designed by the French firm Atelier de Puteaux hence the 'APX' designation. It fired an Armor Piercing Capped Ballistic Cap (APCBC) round. Originally this was just an APC round (Armor-Piercing Capped) which was not terribly accurate, and did not penetrate as well (there's your 3-5 rating).
The addition of the Ballistic Cap (APCBC) increased accuracy, and minimized the loss of in flight velocity, thereby increasing its penetration likelihood (5-5 rating); much to the chagrin of German tanks who actually met them.
I imagine the colonial troops would have the older ammunition while the metropolitan troops would have had better access to the improved rounds.
More common was the 47mm mle 31 which was designed for the Belgians. These saw widespread service against the Germans in 1940. It fired a standard APC round, although a bit heavier than normal, which allowed it to penetrate even a PZ-IV. Hundreds of these found their way to Hungary after the Belgian collapse.
There was actually a fair number of these guns in 1940 ; however it belonged to the artillery and was thus usually positioned at the rear...
Regarding the type of ammo used for the 47mm mle 37, I can't find any serious indication of the difference you have mentioned. Right from the start, the mle 1936 shell (tungsten steel) appeared to be the best choice and there was no accuracy problem (the cap actually contained magnesium to be used as a tracer). The other ammunition types are : high explosive mle 32 (not available to the troops) and a kind of canister (idem).
The performances were : piercing 57 mm at 1500m range (0° incidence), 72mm at 1 km (idem), 89mm at 500m (idem) and 106mm at 100m (idem).
Belgian 47mm FRC had lower performances and they were not used by the French.
In Africa, the Free French used 47mm APX AT guns borrowed from the Syrian arsenal and captured Italian 47mm guns. The Italian ones are probably the ones portrayed by this counter.
