[Image] Explosive End Vol. 3

Egypt, 1942.

A M3 Grant Tank falls victim to the "dreaded 88".

An unidentified Sgt. of the 2/3rd Anti-Tank Regiment of the 9th Division photographed the explosive aftermath of the American built M3 Grant when hit at close range by the German 88mm flak 36 Anti-Aircraft Gun. With absolute certainty the entire crew of this tank would have been killed instantly.

These 88mm Guns struck fear into the allies with their devastating effect and terrorising sound when fired. They were capable of penetrating 100mm of armour at 400 yards. By the looks of the outcome on the more heavily armoured M3 this one was fired upon by an extremely close 88. In the western desert these guns were sometimes dug into the ground to create a fixed position. An example of one of these guns is shown below.

November, 1942, Libya.

A dug in German 88mm Flak 36 Anti-Tank Gun.

Australian troops inspect the much feared German 88mm flak gun. This particular gun was dug in to the sand of the Western Desert to protect the crew from shell fire from allied tanks by creating a much lower profile.

Digging the gun in allowed the crew to fire on a distant allied tank much easier as to raise the arm of the gun up high to fire on a distant target in the flat terrain of the desert meant that you were likely to be more easily targeted with return fire. A smaller profile meant you were a smaller target and therefore, in theory, much harder to hit.

For the crew of this 88, the theory was disproven as when Australian troops arrived to inspect the gun they found the entire crew buried nearby.

images p01393.010 and 040977 Australian War Memorial.

[Image] A "Boys" own adventure

Tobruk, Libya, 11th September, 1941

Meet the .55in Boys Anti-Tank Rifle.

VX18855 Gunner Jeff Coombe of the 9th Division's 2/3rd Anti-Tank Regiment demonstrates how to deploy the .55in (13.9mm) Boys Anti-Tank Rifle in the Libyan desert.

Often in short supply in the early stages of the siege, the Boys (often incorrectly spelt "Boyes") Anti-Tank rifle is a bolt actioned weapon with a 5 shot magazine. It was sometimes known as "Charlie the bastard" amongst the 9th Division troops as a reference to the heavy recoil experienced when firing the gun when compared to other smaller calibre weapons available to them at the time.

Capable of firing two different types of cartridges, the W1 and W2, with the W2 being able to penetrate 20mm of armour at 100 yards. The weapon was effective against "hard" targets (armour) out to 300 yards and against "soft" targets (infantry") to a much longer range with devastating effect.

Having initial success against the lighter armoured Italian tanks and some of the earlier model German tanks, the Boys rapidly became obsolete in the Western Desert due to the increasing thickness of the armour of subsequent models of German tank. It was still capable however, of causing casualties to machine gun nests and smaller infantry fortifications and in the absence of anything better the 9th Division simply made the most of what they had, an all to common occurrence in Tobruk.

image 020723 Australian War Memorial.