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20 mm Polsten

Field	Value
name	Polsten
image	Canadian Tripe Polsten AA Carriage.jpg
image_size	300
caption	A Canadian towed anti-aircraft mounting featuring three Polsten cannons.
origin	Poland
United Kingdom
type	Autocannon
is_ranged	yes
is_UK	yes
service	1944−1950s
used_by	See
wars	{{plainlist
*Yom Kippur War{{sfn	Kreis	1988	page	333}}
design_date	1939−1941?
manufacturer	John Inglis
unit_cost	£60−£70
weight	57 kg
length	2.1 m
part_length	1.45 m (barrel)
caliber	20 mm (0.78 in)
action	API blowback
rate	450 rpm
velocity	830 m/s
range	1,000 m (3,281 ft)
max_range	2,000 m (6,562 ft)
feed	60 round drum magazine or 30 round box magazine

United Kingdom

World War II
Yom Kippur War

The Polsten was a Polish development of the 20 mm Oerlikon gun. The Polsten was designed to be simpler and much cheaper to build than the Oerlikon, without reducing effectiveness. It was widely produced and used by the British Army and many allied and commonwealth forces, including production in Canada and Australia.

Development

When Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939, the Polish design team evacuated to the UK and resumed work together with British designers. The need for the Polsten was apparently mooted in June 1941. It went into service in March 1944 alongside the Oerlikon. Both the Oerlikon and the Polsten used similar 60 round drum magazines, although the Polsten could also use a simpler box magazine with 30 rounds. It remained in service into the 1950s.

Use

Compared to the Oerlikon's 250 parts, the Polsten had only 119, but it matched the Oerlikon's effectiveness and reliability. The simpler design of the Polsten cannon made its production much cheaper. The cost of one Oerlikon cannon was about £350, while the cost of the Polsten was between £60 and £70. In January 1944, the 21st Army Group decided that only 20 mm Polsten guns would be used as a standard light anti-aircraft gun in place of the Oerlikon to simplify supply. It was used by the anti-aircraft platoons of some British infantry battalions during the Western European campaign of 1944-45. It equipped airborne units in the anti-aircraft role, and was employed in Operation Market Garden. The gun was placed on a wheeled mounting that could be towed behind a jeep.

The Polsten gun was used on armoured vehicles equipped with anti-aircraft guns that were based on the Cromwell/Centaur tank and for the Skink anti-aircraft tank.

The Polsten was also mounted on British LVTs and on early models of the Centurion tank, not coaxially with the main gun but in an independent mount on the left hand side of the turret. Various double, triple and quadruple mounts were developed. John Inglis Limited of Toronto, Ontario, in Canada produced many thousands of guns and some 500 quadruple mountings that saw limited service at the end of the war. These multiple mounts were both trailered and truck-mounted. Polsten Guns, magazines and ammunition boxes were also made in Australia by Holden's Woodville and Beverley plants during World War II. They were used by the Australian Army onshore and on small boats. Several prototype gun mountings were also developed but did not see service.

Users

− 180 in 1973

Notes

References

Bibliography

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

world-war-ii-anti-aircraft-guns world-war-ii-weapons-of-the-united-kingdom world-war-ii-weapons-of-poland 20-mm-artillery api-blowback-firearms autocannon poland–united-kingdom-military-relations

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