Re: sniper weapons for SGII
From: Mikko Kurki-Suonio <maxxon@s...>
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 1998 09:53:51 +0300 (EET DST)
Subject: Re: sniper weapons for SGII
On Fri, 26 Jun 1998, John Atkinson wrote:
> The last ATR in regular military service was, IIRC, the Lahti 20mm
used
> by the Finnish Army during WWII up until the end of the war.
I have seen a Lahti 20mm fired from 5 yards away. It's very impressive,
very big (taller than a man), very heavy and still it wouldn't seriously
dent MBT armor in 1941.
Good for taking out APCs, soft-skinned vehicles and even light bunkers,
if you *really* want to lug all that weight around.
The germans had the 28mm "cone rifle" later in the war, which was team
served (2 or 3 men IIRC), but even that wasn't of much use against
real tanks.
> But
> anyway, this Lahti was a semi-automatic conversion with bipod of an
> aircraft cannon. Indeed, some were left full-auto. :)
Not quite true. It was an original design, with the FA version coming
later for AA duty (that one survived in the arsenal into the 60's --
anti-helicopter for airfield defense). I think we sold a bunch of those
to
US after the war.
Trivia: The designer's brother shoulder-fired standing a prototype to
prove
the concept was viable.
In Finnish tradition, the bipod has little skis on it :-)
> Anyway, this
> thing could gut a BT-series tank, and even kill a T-34 from the rear
at
> close range, but was decidedly obsolete by 1944.
We couldn't get enough for the Winter War of 1939 when it would have
been
useful -- even though the designer supplied test models to the front out
of his own pocket -- and by 1941 it was only used because better things
were not always available. Then again, we did take out T-34's with soda
bottles filled with tar and gasoline...
--
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