13.2 mm Rifle Anti-Tank (Mauser)

The 13.2 mm Rifle Anti-Tank was a German weapon of World War I, first appearing in February 1918. The Mauser Company started to mass produce it at Oberdorf in May 1918. The first of these off the production lines were issued to specially raised anti-tank detachments. The idea of using heavy calibre and high velocity rifles as anti-tank weapons originated in Germany. In 1917 the German Army, faced with the menace of a mobile fortress, found they had no weapon with which to counter the threat.