When they invaded the USSR in 1941, the Germans made rapid gains against Soviet Forces that were badly trained and poorly led and often equipped with obsolete weapons. One exception though was Soviet medium artillery which, as the Germans quickly found, was technically excellent in many respects. In an effort to provide the German army with improved weapons in the 128mm calibre, Krupp created the 12.8cm Kanone 43 as a structurally light gun with a screw breach rather than the usual sliding block, but this found no favour, for better 12.8cm K 44 (sometimes 12.8cn PaK 44) weapons were being offered by Rheinmetall-Borsig as well as Krupp as field guns with a potent anti-tank capablity on a carriage with a 360 degree traverse.
