Madsen 20 mm cannon


The 20 mm AA Machine Cannon M/38 was a 20 mm rapid fire autocannon produced by the Danish company Dansk Industri Syndikat (DISA). The gun, which could be adapted to several tactical uses, was a primary weapon of the armed forces of Denmark. It was also exported to numerous countries around the world because of its versatility. The cannon was built at the DISA works in Herlev near Copenhagen. The company supplied several different types of mountings with the weapon for a variety of roles, such as air defense, anti-tank warfare, and on naval ships.

Design

The 20 mm Madsen Cannon was originally designed by Colonel V. H. O. Madsen of the Royal Danish Army. A version with a necked-out 23 mm round was also produced as the 23 mm Madsen.

Combat

Several 20 mm machine cannons of the Danish Army were responsible for knocking out eleven armored cars and two Panzer Is during the German invasion on April 9, 1940.
A special variant, the Madsen F5, was designed as an anti-tank gun. It proved very effective against Japanese tanks until the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War. It was a fully automatic weapon, with two small wheels and a 15-round magazine. At 100 m, it pierced 42 mm of armor, and 32 mm at 500 m. This model was reverse engineered by the Chinese 21st arsenal of Nanjing, but only five were produced in 1944.

Mounts

Types

The four standard mountings produced by DISA, although they also used a number of locally designed mounts, were:

Self-propelled

Users

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