CHE - Solothurn S-18

The weapon was created in response to the Treaty of Versailles, which prohibited Germany from developing many types of weapons. Rheinmetall therefore bought a large stake in the Swiss arms factory Solothurn and moved the development there, where the S18-100 anti-tank rifle was developed in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Unlike most similar weapons, it was an automatic weapon, also the 20mm calibre used was not much used, because the weapon came out very heavy of course. The weapon used a barrel slide to operate, this unlocked the slide by turning the sleeve, which is drifted backwards by the residual energy of the shot, ejecting the fired cartridge, while moving backwards it depresses the spring which then returns it forward while inserting a new cartridge and locking the slide. This rifle originally used the 20x105B cartridge which was a very rare cartridge, it was used in the S18-100 and S18-154 models, due to the small spread of the cartridge the weapon was redesigned to the more common 20x138B cartridge which was used by anti-aircraft guns (e.g. FLAK 38), these guns were designated S18-1000. There was also a batch-firing weapon designated S18-1100. Five- and ten-shot magazines were used for the guns, inserted into the gun from the left. According to some sources, the S18-1000 and S18 1100 models could also use 20-round magazines from the FLAK 38 cannon. The operator was two men and the gun could either be carried or carried on a special chassis. The weapon had a recoil brake to reduce recoil.


The weapon was tested in many countries before the war, but it was introduced in only a few, apart from Switzerland it was mainly in Hungary where it was introduced as a "20mm 36M nehézpuska" i.e. 20m anti-tank rifle model 36. It is not without interest that the Hungarians also used this weapon to arm their Toldi light tank because they had no other suitable weapon. Hungary used the S18-154 variant. another user was Estonia, which, aware of the danger of attack from the USSR, tried to build up anti-tank defences based on mobile units and was looking for a suitable weapon for them. In addition to anti-tank guns (Austrian 47 m and German 37 mm), 4 S18-100 rifles were tested and it was decided that they would be introduced into the arsenal, but Estonia did not want to buy the weapons and decided to license production at home. The first one was produced before the license was purchased in 1938 at the arsenal in Tallinn, another twenty were ordered in 1940 and production started, but the army only managed to take one piece, the others were apparently already taken over by the Soviet army and the Estonians had only 5 pieces (4 from tests, one from production in 1938) at the time of the Soviet invasion, the last one (i.e. the first legally produced one) apparently never reached the troops.


The Estonians also started producing ammunition for these weapons in 1940. Other weapons were ordered by Italy and used, among others, in North Africa where several were captured by American troops, these weapons are sometimes mistakenly given as German. In this case it was probably a variant of the S18-1000. The rifle was also tested in Finland in August 1939 and was ordered in numbers of 12 in early 1940. However, part of the Soviet-German pact included an agreement not to support the arming of third countries that were at war with one of the treaty partners. Germany therefore did not allow the shipment through its territory and the weapons were eventually ordered in Solothurn as if for the Swiss army (Solothurn also prevented the sale through another country) and then shipped to Finland via Italy by ship. The weapons arrived after the end of the Winter War and were then used in the Continuation War until 1944, mainly for coastal defence (they had an atypical cartridge for the Finns) and were withdrawn and stored after the Armistice in 1944. In 1960 they were sold abroad. The Finns used a version of the S18-154 designated 20 mm pst kiv/18-S.


The introduction was also considered by the Americans in 1940/41 and the weapon was listed as the T3 20mm automatic gun, in the spring of 1941 it was compared to the T4 and found to be superior and more suitable. However, lengthy negotiations around the license did not lead to success and the plan was eventually abandoned. The S18-1000 type was tried. Ironically, the German army for which the weapon was originally intended never officially introduced it, only a few pieces were used (there are documented photos from Holland where paratroopers fight with it) but the weapon apparently did not even have an established designation.


TTD S18-100(154)
calibre : 20 mm x 105 B (Solothurn)
length : 176 cm
Barrel length : 93 cm
weight : 40 kg / 45 kg (unloaded/loaded)
rate of fire : 15 - 20 rounds per minute
muzzle velocity : 735 m/sec
magazine : 10 rounds, box magazine
bullet weight : 148 g (AP-T)
bullet weight : 290 g (AP-T)


Source: www.ww2incolor.com
forum.boinaslava.net
http://www.jaegerplatoon.net/AT_RIFLES2.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solothurn_S-18/1000
URL : https://www.valka.cz/CHE-Solothurn-S-18-t41583#227828 Version : 0
the speed of the missile was 860 to 910 m/s
paulina standard (AP-T) 875 m/s(stopwatch 1.2s)


for ammunition comparison
Madar 20x105B
CHE Solothurn S-18 20mm paulina 20x138B
SOV PTRD-41 14.5mm fire-retardant red-black
DEU Panzerbüchse 39 7.92mm armour piercing
render
marking
Madar 20x105B
source Waffen Lexikon 2528 000 1 photo own archive
URL : https://www.valka.cz/CHE-Solothurn-S-18-t41583#232342 Version : 0
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