| Solothurn 36M Solothurn S-18/100 SelbstladePanzerbüchse 785(i) | |
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| General Historical Information | |
| Place of origin | Germany
Switzerland |
| Manufacturer | Rheinmetall |
| Produced In | Germany Switzerland |
| Type | AT rifle |
| Effective range | 500 m. |
| Magazine | 10 rounds box magazine |
| Ammunition | 20×105 mm B |
| General Ingame Information | |
| Used by | Germany Italy Hungary Finland The Netherlands |
| Used in vehicles | 38M Toldi I 39M Csaba |
| Scope | 
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The Solothurn S-18/100 20 mm Anti-Tank Cannon was a Swiss and German anti-tank rifle used during the Second World War. The main visual difference compared to the other Solothurn 20mm is its perforated cylindrical muzzlebrake.
In the FHT Battle of Mareth Line the germans use it under the designation SelbstladePanzerbüchse 785(i), as they were gotten from the italians.
It fires notably slower and has less maximum penetration (29mm AP and 17mm HE) than the Solothurn S-18/1000.
Specifications[]
It had a semi-automatic action in a bullpup configuration. As a result of its large, powerful ammunition, the gun had a tremendous recoil, and its size made portability difficult. The feed was either from a five or (more usually) ten-round magazine that was attached horizontally to the left side of the gun. The gun used 20×105mm belted-case ammunition which it shared with the S 18-350 aircraft cannon that was developed from the rifle. A Finnish source gives armour penetration of the gun (probably achieved with the Hungarian APHE-T round, since it was the only type used in Finland) as 20mm at a 60-degree angle at 100-metre distance, decreasing to 16mm at 500 metres.
History[]
In March 1940, with funds collected in Switzerland to help the Finnish war effort in the Winter War, Finland bought twelve S 18-154 anti-tank rifles from Solothurn, though the purchaser was nominally the Swiss army. The weapons arrived into Finland during the spring after the war had ended, but they were later used in the Continuation War. However, the guns were soon found to be obsolete in their intended role. Various models of the S-18 series, including the Solothurn S-18/1000 and the Solothurn S-18/1100 were also used by Switzerland, Hungary, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. The S-18/100 was bought for both the Dutch army in the Netherlands and the army in the Dutch East Indies but only one fifth of both orders arrived before Germany declared war against the Netherlands which ceased all deliveries. Hungary bought the license for the S-18/100 which was known as the 36M 20mm Nehézpuska and it was produced until 1943.
The Solothurn firearms company was owned by the German firm Rheinmetall, and used the Swiss company to manufacture arms which were prohibited for manufacture by any German firm, to get around arms limitations imposed upon them at the end of the First World War.
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