This WW2 German Panzerabwehrkanone 40, or Pak 40, anti-tank gun stands outside the town hall in Le Dezert, a small town between Carentan and Saint-Lo in Normandy.
With its 7.5cm calibre, it was an upgrade from the Pak38 5cm gun, and was one of the most frequently used, and largely produced artillery weapons of the German army with over 23,300 examples built between 1942 and 1945.
It became the standard gun of Wehrmacht troops by the end of the war, but it was also modified for use in self-propelled artillery gun vehicles, such as the Marder and Panzerjager.
The Pak40 was a towed gun manned by a group of six soldiers and a well-trained unit could deliver a rate of fire of around 14 rounds per minute.
Its effective range was around 1,800m and it was able to penetrate most Allied tanks and vehicles, with the exception of some of the late-war Shermans, the Pershing, and British Churchills.