The following brief comments on German anticoncrete artillery shells was published in Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 18, Feb. 11, 1943. [DISCLAIMER: The following text is taken from the U.S. War Department publication Tactical and Technical Trends. As with all wartime intelligence information, data may be incomplete or inaccurate. No attempt has been made to update or correct the text. Any views or opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of the website.]

GERMAN ANTICONCRETE SHELL While the fighting on the Russian Front has tended to consist chiefly of the fluid operations of open warfare, permanent and semipermanent fortifications have also played an important role. Faced with the necessity of reducing fixed defenses, the Germans are reported to have begun, comparatively recently, to produce a special design of shell to destroy concrete. So far as is known at present, reliance is placed on the unusual design of the nose of the shell and upon the build-up of the detonation. This shell, which carries the abbreviated nomenclature "Be," is reported to exist in 150-mm and 210-mm calibers. It is probable that there are other types for use with artillery weapons which would normally be expected to destroy fortifications.

Back to Articles by Subject | Intel Bulletin by Issue | T&TT by Issue | Home Page