Echoes of Anschluss in the Lowlands
The Federal State of Austria was swallowed up without a shot by the German Reich in March 1938, with the Wehrmacht’s 8th Army marching over the border in the so-called Blumenkrieg (“Flower War”). Of course, the way was paved via a multi-year subversion campaign and the efforts of the original Quisling, Austrian Chancellor Arthur Seyss-Inquart.
However, just a year prior, it would have been much less of a walkover, as the Austrian Army (Bundesheer) had a decent plan (Kriegsfall DR) in place to resist the Germans at every turn. This unraveled when its boss, Feldmarschalleutnant Alfred Johann Theophil Jansa von Tannenau, was ushered out in February 1938, and the Bundesheer was ordered to remain in their barracks.
The Austrians had a decent little force under Jansa, who painstakingly rearmed it from the ashes of the old Hapsburg military machine. In 1938, it included some 60,000 regulars, 67,000 Reservisten (reservists), and 100,000 men of the Frontmiliz (front militia).
The below shows it on maneuvers in 1937, including CV-33 and CV-35 tankettes running around and an assemblage of some of the Bundesheer’s 900 pieces of artillery, including the excellent 4,7 cm M.35 Infanteriekanone von Böhler, seen firing at the 36-second mark.
Fast forward to Holland, May 1940
Heer Böhler’s 47mm L/35.8 was one of the best anti-tank guns in the world when it was adopted in 1935, far outclassing the smaller caliber guns used around the globe at the time.
With its road wheels and carriage, it weighed just under 700 pounds, so it was fairly mobile and could be moved by just about any motor vehicle or even a mule or halflinger if needed.
A Böhler 4.7 cm anti-tank gun coupled to a wheeled/tracked tractor built by the Austrian Steyr factories. 1936 NIMH 2155_007335
Capable of penetrating 43mm of armor at 500 yards (the German Panzer I Ausf. A had 13mm of front plate, and the Panzers II and III had 30mm), it was deadly, especially to the tanks of its day.
The Germans liked it so much in 1938 that they adopted it themselves, as the 4.7 cm Pak 35 (ö), and later gave hundreds of them as military aid to Finland and Romania.
Camouflaged Romanian 47 mm Böhler anti-tank gun on the Eastern Front, circa 1941-43
Tested by several countries in the late 1930s, it was adopted by Italy (as the Cannone anticarro e d’accompagnamento 47/32), Latvia (M35B), Switzerland (PstK 35), and the Netherlands (as the pantser afweergeschut Böhler 4,7 cm), while evaluation guns had been sent to China and Estonia before 1938.
It is seen below in Dutch use, where the PAG Bohler’s lightweight and low silhouette, when emplaced, made it ideal for defending points against incoming panzers (or Japanese tanks, as they were also deployed to the Dutch East Indies).
Een Böhler 4,7 cm pantserafweerkanon, aangehaakt achter een personenauto. Over het sluitstuk is een beschermhoes geplaatst. NIMH 2155_007334
Een drietal militairen bedient een Böhler pantserafweerkanon 4,7 cm, een vierde militair neemt waar met een verrekijker. Het kanon is in opstelling, de wielen zijn van de affuit verwijderd. NIMH 2155_007329
Mobilisatie 1939-1940. De bediening van een Böhler 4,7 cm antitankkanon in een gecamoufleerde verdedigende opstelling tijdens een oefening, waarbij een aanval van pantserwagens tegen een munitieopslagpunt wordt uitgevoerd. NIMH 2155_007333
Oefeningen met pantser afweergeschut (PAG) Böhler 4,7 cm. 1939-1940 in the Dutch East Indies. NIMH 2155_022701
Engelse Vickers-Carden-Lloyd Utility Tractor, gepantserde rupstrekker (Trekker 71, D 9947), met een Oostenrijks 47 mm Böhler anti-tankkanon. NIMH 2155_022655
As such, the Bohler proved a nasty surprise to German armored columns of the 9. Panzerdivision in May 1940, some 85 years ago this week, which reportedly lost about 25 tanks (about a third of its tracks) to these guns in the Rotterdam and Dordrecht area during the sweep through the Low Countries in May 1940.
They proved particularly effective on the Barendrecht bridge near Dordrecht, where three PzKpfw IIIs were destroyed, all reportedly ventilated by the same PAG Bohler of the 3e Grensbataljon.
Further, the Soviets used captured Bohlers against the Germans on the Eastern Front while the Brits pressed Italian Bohlers they captured in North Africa against Rommel.
Jansa was no doubt tickled.