- Yes
- No
Allready from the beginning of WW1, the German army recognised the disadvantages of Wheeled artillery tractors, which especially on the muddy soft, shelled no mans land had great problems with pulling the heavy artillery. While the War wasnt yet such a stale mate at the beginning, it rather quickly transformed into a position war with trenches. As such allready early on trails with fully tracked (and half tracked) vehicles started. Among these were the Überlandwagen A7V, the Lenz Raupenwagen LW and more.
The German company Lanz, one of the largest manufacturers of tractors and various agricultural machinery in Europe in the interwar years, was founded in 1859 by Heinrich Lanz as a forwarding company J.P. Lanz & Co.
The company quickly established a repair shop, which in 1870 turned into a full-fledged production in Mannheim, specializing in the production of agricultural machinery such as tractors, locomotives, multi-functional stationary engines. The versatile farm tractor was not known in the early 20th century, but numerous self-propelled machines such as motorized plows were produced.
Having produced more than 300 wheeled tractors, the Lantz company gladly participated in the order from the military for a crawler truck, although it had no experience in the creation of such machines.
The Lenz Raupenwagen LW was one of the most promissing and best designes, beeing fully tracked with a powerfull 80-100 Ps engine, it could easily traverse the muddy and soft ground. Of which a rather small amount was only produced, otherwise the german army still had to rely heavily on horses and steam tractors, as in general the ever more suffering german industry could never produce enove vehicles of each type.
As the war progressed, multiple different vehicle, mostly Trucks were also equipped with AA guns, to quickly react to attacks, from the air as well as enemy tanks.
But beyond the vast amounts of Trucks, the German army also equipped 3-4 Überlandwagen A7V aka. Flakpanzer A7V with 7,7 and 7,62 cm Flaks, but also at least one of these Lenz Raupenwagen LW.
While the German army didnt produce a dedicated AP round for the 7,62 cm Guns, which were captured Russian 1902 L/30 guns, Krupp and Rheinmetall however produced own AA mounts as well as germany produced 3 own rounds, beeing 2x He rounds and 1x Incendary Shrapnell-TF shell.
With the first HE round beeing rather thick walled and also intended in a SAPHE roll against Tanks.
The 2nd a Flak HE round and as well the Incendary Shrapnell round also against planes. As such the vehicle would have moderate AT performance, but comparably good AA performance.
The Gun:
7,62 cm Flak L/30 (7,62 cm 1902 L/30 gun (Russian origin)
76,2x385mmR ammo
50-100 rounds or more.
-5° to +70° Elevation, 360° Traverse at 20-25°/sec
20-25 Rpm
The converted Rusiian 7.62-cm M1902 guns are quite interesting. They basically just took the gun out of its old carriage and put it in a new one for AA use. The mounts used on motor vehicles are usually the Rheinmetall or the Henschel mounts. The easiest way to differentiate them is that the Rheinmetall has a piston to help lift the barrel on the front of the mount, while the Henschel does not.
Ammo of 7,62 cm Flak L/30 (Click to show)
Stahlgr. (Saphe/He) 6,0 kg 0,39 kg Amatol (491,4g TnTa) 598m/s ~20-30mm/10m
Flakgr. (He) 6,8 kg 340g Fp.70/30 (428,4 g TnTa) 590m/s
Br.Shrap.Gr. (Incendary Shrapnell-TF) 6,8 kg 0,167 kg Blackpowder 590m/s
6 Rows of 5 Segments of Incendary Pellets, Made of Bariumnitrate-Magnesium-Resin of 13g each.
Works like a Crude WW1 AHEAD round, with a timed fuze mid flight ejecting the Incendary Pellets onto the Airtarget.
I think the Drawing is the wrong one, it should look more like the 7,7 cm version.
The Vehicle:
Lenz Raupenwagen LW
Year of manufacture: 1917-1918
Manufacturer: Heinrich Lanz AG
Vehicle: See ‘Number Produced’ below.
Number produced: 1 with armament. Unarmed: 149 (LW - 3, LW II - 3, LW III - 39, LW IV - 104)
Crew: 2
Gross weight: 15 tons?
Load: 5 tons?
Armament: 7.62cm RheinMetall FlaK L/30 (russ.02) (on one vehicle)
Engine: 80 or 100 hp
Source:
Notes on German Shells
Deutsche Artillerie- und Minenwerfermunition 1914-1918
Die 7,62 cm Flak L/30
German Panzers 1914-18 (Steven J Zaloga)
Tankograd World War one Special A7V First of the Panzers
Militärfahrzeuge des deutschen Heeres: 1905-1918 (Typenkompass) (Wolfgang Fleischer)
Die Rad und Vollketten - Zugmaschinen des Deutschen Heeres 1870-1945 (Walther J. Spielberger)