In the first weeks of the invasion, the main German anti-tank and tank weapon was the 3.7 cm Pak 36, the 5 cm KwK 38 and 5 cm KwK 39, as well as the short-barreled, howitzer-like German 7.5 cm KwK 37 gun.
Attempts to destroy the T-34s and KVs concentrated on first immobilising them by firing at their tracks and then by tackling them with field artillery, anti-aircraft guns, or by blowing them up at close range by shaped charge grenades.