Let's take a look at Dutch light calibre guns in the 1919-42 period. What did they test, built and buy? 2cm-5cm calibre only.

In the 1920s the Dutch army tested an interesting line of light calibre infantry weapons. Sometimes these were local designs, sometimes these weapons were offered by foreign or local companies. Few were actually bought.

We have already heard about the HIH designs, Their 20mm automatic weapon was a carbon copy of the Ehrhardt 20mm.

The only thing HIH probably did to this design was the fitting of a range of mountings and carriages: wheeled, pintle, naval, AA, etc. Another thing we have noted is the addition of a "case-catcher" to the side of the weapon.
The HIH 20mm was tested by the Dutch Army, but none were purchased, though some may have been delivered to Turkey.

Other 20mm weapons tested were the Semag and the Solothurn. The latter was taken into service, but only in the late 1930s, when both KNIL and the Dutch Army placed large orders of the Solothurn antitank rifle and acquired a licence to built them as well. Production of the Solothurn 20mm antitank rifle had just started at Hembrug in 1940.


By that time there were three other 20mm weapons in service with the Dutch Army: the 20mm Oerlikon, Scotti and Hispano-Suiza AA guns.

KNIL had purchased the Rheinmetall FLAK30 and the Navy had the Hispano-Suiza installed in its floatplanes, as well as some on order for their mtbs.

In 1933, around the time they went bust, HIH Siderius had briefly fielded an early version of the 25mm Hotchkiss AA gun, that was tested in Holland.

We have no further information on the fate of this weapon, but none were ordered by the Dutch forces.

Several local designs were made from within the ranks of the Dutch Army and the State Arsenal Hembrug. There was 31mm Boxman L39 anti-tank gun, around 1927-28, described by Kosar. In 1927 a Mr Froelich designed a 32mm automatic weapon and later Hembrug fielded a 42,5mm gun. In the same period both the Colt 37mm automatic gun as well as the Beardmore 47mm gun

were offered to the Dutch. Solothurn presented a 37mm and a 47mm antitankgun. The Bofors 47mm L33 was also tested.

Rheinmetall sold a small batch of their 37mm antitankgun to the Dutch

and their 47mm version was also tested.


Then there was of course HIH with its double barrel weapons: 37/65mm or 47/75mm combinations. Not one was bought by the Dutch as far as we know. The 37mm was L35 but also came as L42 and there were actually two 47mm ones: the L35 and L30:

But HIH Siderius did sell their 5cm casemate and antitank gun to the Dutch Army.

8 hardhitting pieces equipped the two Afsluitdijk fortresses.

Hembrug had designed a 47mm L42 casemate gun themselves, but they ended up producing more than a hundred of simplified copies of the HIH Siderius 5cm

gun after that company's demise in 1934. Those Siderius (5cm No 1) and Hembrug (5cm No 2) casemate guns are not to be confused with turn of the century Krupp 5cm naval guns (no1 and No 2),

that were also used at the Dutch fortresses and with KNIL on Java.

Well before the war the Dutch started purchasing the Bofors 40mm AA gun. Due to the changing circumstances they ended up with various versions, all partly fullfilled orders: Swedish, Polish and Hungarian. There was no time left to start up their own production at Hembrug in 1940. Rheinmetall 37mm AA guns were also bought in Germany.
The Dutch Navy employed (two slightly differing versions of) the Vickers 40mm pompom since the late 1920s

and had become one of the first coustomers of the Bofors 40mm.
A twin mounting was developed with Dutch Hazemeyer fire control in the early 1930s. All 40mm weapons were called "mitrailleurs" with the Dutch Navy.


Also still in service with the Dutch Navy by 1942 (from 1885 onwards!) was the 3,7cm Gericke gun, used in many roles

(AA, landing, on ships, overvalwagens). Obsolete by 1942, but it could still hurt.

The excellent 47mm Boehler antitank guns were bought in Austria in large numbers both for KNIL and the Dutch Army.

Hembrug (not Siderius as is sometimes stated) organised their production in Holland and hundreds were in service by 1940. According to Kosar there were small differences between the Austrian and Dutch-produced weapons.

Then the war made access to weaponry even more difficult for the Dutch. The Netherlands Purchasing Commission looked around in the US for production facilities for their unfullfilled orders of 47mm antitank guns and light AA guns. They ended up with unknown and inexperienced companies like National Forge and Ordnance and AAC. The former delivered the 37mm anti-tank guns

and the latter the 37mm naval guns

and the 37mm automatic tank-guns, installed in the Marmon-Herrington tanks.


Lastly, a 47mm grenadelauncher or infantrymortar was in service with KNIL in 1942. A Brandt weapon, most seem to have been built by AAC however.


Sources:
this forum
my research on HIH Siderius
Nationaal Archief
Wetenschappelijke Jaarberichten

Enjoy,
Nuyt

Thank you very much for compiling and posting such a companion. As is always the case, however, it brings additional questions to mind. Mine include:

Is it known how many 3.7cm Pak35/36 were purchased by the Dutch, and which units (if any) were issued them in 1940?

In the old Arco Fact File, Anti-Tank Weapons, by Peter Chamberlain and Terry Gander, it is stated that the Dutch actually purchased a small number of Rheinmetall 4.7cm PAK, and that the Germans reused captured examples as the 4.7cm Pak 188(h). Does anyone know the exact quantity of weapons involved? Did any see operational service with the Dutch Army?

Likewise, how many Rheinmetall 3.7cm AA guns were acquired, and were they used operationally?

Thanks again for posting and sharing your valuable information. The illustrations on even the old 3.7cm and 5cm naval weapons are much appreciated. Lastly, I was not aware of the AAC connection to the KNIL Brandt 47mm mortar. I suppose it reasonable to assume the AAC weapon of the same calibre offered to the Bolivians during the Chaco War was similar, if not identical.

David

Of the 37mm - with non-standard longer barrel - probably very few were purchased. The 47mm afaik was only bought for testing (the picture is from the Gander/Chamberlain factfile). The German designations for two 47mm Dutch anti-tank guns is intriguing and I have been wondering about it for some time. Maybe they meant to distinguish between the Boehler and its slightly differing Hembrug copy?
The Rheinmetall 37mm AA guns were probably not delivered (at least according to De Jong, but you never know). Some say 20 were ordered, I have also read 36. The Germans received 2 million guilders worth of butter. They were intended as subsititute for Bofors 4cm no longer on sale in Sweden by that time.
Holland became a Rheinmetall customer just before WW2: besides the handfull of anti-tankguns, the 37mm AA guns, the Solothurn at-rifles they also ordered 120 10,5cm lFh 18 light field howitzers. Rheinmetall I believe was also in the running to provide the future Dutch battlecruisers (after Scharnhorst/Gneisenau design) with their main guns. During the occupation in WW2 they had an eye on State Arsenal Hembrug (which was actually acquired by Rheinmetall in 2000 after the privatisation of Eurometaal, as Hembrug was known by then. See also here: http://www.nieuwsbank.nl/inp/2000/05/0511E064.htm. Eurometaal was closed down in 2002).

Thanks yet again. I suspect De Jong was probably correct about the 3.7cm AA guns not being delivered, although I can found no other information on the order at all. I will have to keep fishing for more information on the 3.7cm Pak delivered.

By the way, I am indeed familiar with the 1939 Program battlecruisers. I have several back issues of Warship International that trace the pre-WW1 and pre-WW2 efforts to acquire modern capital ships.

David

The contract between Rheinmetall-Borsig and the Artillerie Inrichtingen (dated 24th January 1936) called for delivery of four 37 mm pieces:
- 2x 3.7 cm Inf. Kan. L/50 on split carriage with balloon tires;
- 2x the same on wooden wheels.
[Nationaal Archief 2.13.86 - Inv.No.2525]

According to Mr. Allert Goossens' study on air defences at the Grebbeberg (http://www.grebbeberg.nl/bibliotheek/data/luchtmacht_en_luchtafweer_v28112004.pdf, page 11, note 5) twenty 37 mm Rheinmetall AA guns were ordered, of which only three had been delivered. These guns were stationed at Scheveningen for trials (the latter can also be found in Molenaar's work on Dutch air defence in May 1940).

Thanks Rogier! Did you ever find anything on the Rheinmetall 47mm?

The use of 37 (and possibly 47 mm) Rheinmetall pak was the subject of some previous discussions (both in Dutch):
http://www.grebbeberg.nl/forum/forum.php?item=5012&group=1&view=all (where I erroneously mentioned two guns being bought instead of 2*2 = 4)
http://www.twenot-forums.nl/viewtopic.php?t=1647

I have never seen any documents related to 47 mm Rheinmetall guns being bought by the Dutch.

Thanks Rogier! That was most helpful.

David

An unknown gun, anti-tank? I suspect the calibre to be in the 30-37mm range, which would make the following candidates for ID ing:
- Boxman 31mm
- Solothurn 37mm
- HIH 37mm
Pics from Dutch Army Museum.

The last picture also appears in an article by de Vries and Martens on the Artillerie Inrichtingen (SAM-Wapenmagazine number 66). The picture comes from the Eurometaal-archives, and shows a 31 mm canon designed by Boxman (an AI-employee). It was tested around 1930 as an anti-tank and anti-aircraft gun, but never proceeded past the testing phase. There are no specifications.

and welcome.
So a Boxman it is!
Kind regards,
Nuyt

Thanks for posting that, it's good to see some rare specimens.

Do you have more data on the 37mm AAC naval gun? Not just its performance, but how many were bought and what they were fitted to?

I'm working on a book on naval guns at the moment, and I'd like it to be comprehensive!

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition [url=http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk]website[/url] and discussion [url=http://forums.delphiforums.com/autogun/messages/]forum[/url]

Hi, glad to help Tony!

Hans Heesakkers posted the contents of the Dutch contract with AAC on these guns on the thread about the mystery guns: http://www.network54.com/Forum/330333/thread/1123951804/

"25 september 1940 the Royal Dutch Navy ordered 40 37 mm guns and 80.000 rouns ammo. Costprice $848.000,=.
The guns were called "3,7 cm Semi Automatic Anti-Aircraft Gun on Naval Pedestal Mounts". All guns reached Java in time (the last approx June 1941). The guns were produced in the Rahway factory and the ammo in the Derry factory. Most if not all the guns survived the war and were re used during 1945-1950 as the main armament of the "R.P." (Regionale Patrouille)-boats."

I have also seen a picture of an AAC 37mm gun on an Dutch LST during landing operations on Java in the 1945-50 period.
They were L50 btw.
I took a series of picture of the real thing at Den Helder Navy Museum Depot, so if you'll need one of theose, let me know.
Good that you want to be conprehensive! Finally we have a chance of seeing the Dutch naval guns in good order.
Do you need info on the HIH Siderius naval guns and there data? I can compile a list for you, if you want.

Cheers,
Nuyt

...and yes please - I would much appreciate information and photographs concerning the Dutch guns. The British/US/German etc naval guns get written up so often, I would like to introduce some new material!

Tony Williams
Military gun and ammunition website: http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk

At Overloon, adapted for the Atlantik Wall?

See also this thread on AHF:
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=137263
Note the wider track of the DAF carriage. I have never seen a shiled on one of the Dutch Boehlers. Could this be a gun built under German authority?

The Dutch Lichte Divisie in february 1940 operated Boehlers with shield:


Captured:


Rogier, how many pags in the Lichte Division?

The light division had 28 pags in May 1940:
- six cyclist battalions (in two regiments, 1 RW and 2 RW), with four pieces each: 6 x 4 = 24
- one motorcycle regiment (2 RHM) with four pieces.

no text

At Dordrecht, pics borrowed from the Dordt open stad site:





http://www.grebbeberg.nl/dordt/

Thats an Italian one, check here:
http://www.italie1935-45.com/RE/photoscopes/photoscopecannone47-32.html

En plus de la production des firmes nationales, le Regio Esercito reçu 276 pièces Bölher autrichiennes et K.n.36 hollandaises fournies par les Allemands. Les canons de 47/32 hollandais se distinguaient des autres par la présence d'un frein de bouche, des munitions plus puissantes et un affût modifié par la firme Daf, doté de pneumatiques et d'un système de suspension par barres de torsion idoine à leur traction mécanisée.

En 1941, l'Esercito commença à constituer des bataillons antichars autonomes, assignés aux corps d'armée ou aux divisions. Quatre de ces bataillons (du 101° au 104°) furent équipés de pièces d'origine hollandaise.

From
http://www.italie1935-45.com/RE/photoscopes/photoscopecannone47-32.html

So how many guns in those 4 anti tank battalions and where did they fight?