'Franz' (iii) was a German programme to create an extemporised but effective anti-tank gun by combining the ordnance of the French 75-mm (2.95-in) field gun on the mounting of the German 50-mm PaK 38 anti-tank gun (1941/42).

In 1941 the German forces invading the USSR in 'Barbarossa' soon came up against the Soviet KV-1 heavy tank and T-34 medium tank, against whose armour the German 37-mm PaK 35/36 anti-tank guns could make no impression. The 50-mm Pak 38 could tackle these vehicles, but only when firing the tungsten-cored AP40 shot, which was expensive and in short supply; moreover, there were never enough of these guns.

As a typical German stopgap measure 700 barrels from captured French 75-mm (2.95-in) Modèle 1897 field guns were hurriedly converted and sent to the Eastern Front. The conversion involved sweating four strengthening hoops around the barrel and adding a perforated Solothurn muzzle brake, this reinforced barrel then being mounted on the readily available PaK 38 carriage to create the 7.5-cm PaK 97/38, though some barrels were mounted on early PaK 40 carriages to create the 7.5-cm PaK 97/40.

In action the converted weapons were somewhat unstable when fired and proved unpopular with their crews, but the heavy 6.7-kg (14.8-lb) shot was just able to defeat the heavy Soviet armour as it could penetrate 60 mm (2.36 in) at a range of 850 m (930 yards). The piece could also fire captured French and Polish ammunition as well as German rounds, and a special hollow-charge round was also developed.

For a short time, therefore, these French/German hybrid weapons proved useful, but were withdrawn from first-line service and reissued to second-line units as soon as the purpose-designed 75-mm (2.95-in) 7.5-cm PaK 40 weapon entered service.