Terrible "eighty-eighth. Self-propelled guns for the doomed Total mass, kg

Flak 37 gun (88 mm) in Flak 37 Sfl.Auf 18ton Zgkw self-propelled guns

Description

8.8 cm FlaK 37 (German 8.8-cm - Flugabwehrkanone 37, literally 8.8 cm anti-aircraft gun model 37), also known as "eight-eight" (German Acht-acht) - German 88- millimeter anti-aircraft gun, which was in service from 1928 to 1945. One of the best anti-aircraft guns of World War II. It also served as a model for the creation of tank guns for the Tiger and Royal Tiger tanks. These guns were widely used as anti-tank and even field guns. Often these guns are called the most famous guns of the Second World War. Mounted on half-track armored personnel carriers s.Zgkw.18t.

The semi-automatic horizontal-wedge type shutter provided the extraction of the spent cartridge case and the erection of the mainspring due to the recoil energy, had a rate of fire of 15-20 rounds per minute. To return the gun to its original position, a pneumatic knurled over the barrel was used. A spring balancing mechanism is mounted under the gun barrel in two cylinders, which facilitates the vertical aiming of the gun.

The Flak-37 modification compared to its predecessors (Flak 18.36) had an improved fire control system. The performance characteristics roughly correspond to those of the Flak-18. An important improvement in the design of the gun was the manufacture of the barrel from several elements, which made it possible to replace its worn-out fragments directly in the field.

Vehicles equipped with these weapons

Main characteristics

Available projectiles

History reference

Armor-piercing and high-explosive shells (88 mm)

The main purpose of this weapon on the fields of Warthunder will be the destruction of tanks. The gun copes with this task perfectly well. She can easily pierce and destroy opponents not only of her own rank, but also of a much higher rank. The gun is anti-aircraft and has excellent upward aiming angles - that is, it is capable of shooting down aircraft, especially slow heavy bombers. The gun turns slowly. There are no high-explosive shells in the game yet that exploded in the air (with a remote fuse) - hitting the plane with fragments and a shock wave, so you will have to hit the planes with ordinary land mines and armor-piercing direct hits. There are no sub-caliber ones - but in principle they are not needed. High-explosive ones can also resist non-armored vehicles (such as ZSU), they are better at destroying them. Penetration of a 13 mm HE (which even penetrates some lightly armored vehicles). The fuse of a chamber projectile is designed to penetrate at least 28 mm armor - this is bad, because it means that the projectile will not explode if the armor is less than 28 mm upon penetration (as you know, not all vehicles have such armor). The fighting qualities of the gun as a whole are excellent - excellent "frantic" rate of fire, excellent penetration, powerful projectiles, excellent accuracy.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages:

• Powerful chamber projectile
• Excellent rate of fire.
• Excellent projectile flight ballistics and muzzle velocity.
• Excellent penetration.

Disadvantages:

• There is no high-explosive projectile with a remote fuse.
• The fuse is designed to penetrate at least 28 mm of armor.

Media

see also

Development of an anti-aircraft gun

After the First World War, as a result of the restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, many German armaments firms went bankrupt. However, some companies, including Krupp, decided to relocate their highly skilled designers and researchers to foreign armaments companies located throughout Europe. Thus, by forming alliances with foreign companies, the production teams of German gunsmiths avoided arms control, and at the same time gained valuable experience.

In the 1920s, a team of artillery designers led by Krupp took part in one such collaboration and went to work for Bofors (a Swedish armaments firm). Krupp owned approximately 6 million shares (out of a total of 19 million shares) of this leading Swedish arms manufacturing company. In 1931, the Krupp team decided to take a pre-emptive move and the temporarily emigrated technicians returned to the Essen factory, where they presented their design for a completely new 88 mm (sometimes called 8.8 cm) anti-aircraft gun developed in Sweden. The development of such weapons was contrary to the Treaty of Versailles and Germany violated the Military Code.

Krupp organized a series of intense covert reviews and field trials during which recommendations were made for minor changes. Outwardly, there was nothing unusual in the new gun, but a closer look revealed many innovations. In fact, the design was so successful that the gun could go into mass production on "conveyor lines", such as automobile or tractor factories, without the need for special equipment.

When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, he immediately ended the Treaty of Versailles, which had hindered Germany's arms development. The German army, through various tricks, still managed to maintain the skills and methods of developing artillery pieces. So by 1934, when Hitler openly announced that Germany had begun a rearmament program, the new 88-mm anti-aircraft gun was already ready for production in full.

Flak 18

Krupp secretly built a prototype of the new gun and demonstrated it to the German army in 1932. Krupp's investment and attention to detail made the 88 gun almost immediately recognized by the troops. After successful field trials, the gun went into series production and entered service in 1933 as the 8.8 cm Flak 18 (German: Flugabwehrkanone 18).

Photo 1. FlaK 18 on a trolley. Notice the single pneumatic tires mounted on the tow side of the cart. The large shield gives the crew some degree of protection against small arms fire and shell fragments.

The gun itself had a very traditional design, but its barrel consisted of two parts enclosed within a casing. If one part wore out during firing, it was replaced without the need to replace the entire barrel, which reduced the time and cost of metal for production. The barrel type L / 56 had 53 calibers in length, which was 4.664 meters. In addition, a real innovation was the horizontally retractable breech mechanism, which, under the action of a spring, operated in semi-automatic mode. The spring was compressed after the shot, when the gun rolled back.

For the possibility of transporting the gun carriage, it was equipped with two pairs of carts, with single-wheel pneumatic tires. In the transport position, the gun weighed 6681 kg. Before using the gun, the carts were removed. The carriage was a four-legged cruciform unit (known in Germany as Kreuzlafette), with a central support for mounting the gun. This design made it possible to achieve a full 360 degrees of horizontal guidance and an elevation angle of the gun in the range from -3 degrees, for combat with ground targets, to +85 degrees for anti-aircraft fire. Two sets of two-wheeled single-axle bogies were hitched to the folded ends of the carriage for transportation to FAMO or Hanomag Sd.Kfz.11 half-track tractors. These vehicles also transported gun crews, accompanied by other supply vehicles (carriage of ammunition).

Photo 2. FlaK 18 in the stowed position is towed by a Sd.Kfz.11 half-track tractor. The gun was always towed barrel forward in the direction of the vehicle. The calculation, traveling in a car, could quickly turn the gun into a combat position.

A well-prepared calculation fired 15 high-explosive shells per minute, weighing 10.4 kg each. Later they began to produce shells weighing 9.2 kg with an initial flight speed of 820 m / s. The cannon's high rate of fire was made possible in part by the use of a combined projectile and powder case that looked like a giant rifle bullet. In fact, this became a feature of the "88" throughout its life, even when other gun models with larger chambers were developed.

Photos 3 and 4. Men from Battery 172, 58th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery using a captured 88mm gun against the Germans, December 1944. The cartridge case is ejected, the man on the right holds the firing cord. Each wicker ammo basket (right) contains three rounds.

In combat position, the weight of the Flak 18 was 4985 kg, and was distributed exactly in the middle, both in the horizontal and vertical planes. A standard high-explosive charge reached a height of 9000 m, but its effective ceiling, the height at which the projectile still had sufficient power to hit the target, was 8000 m. The maximum horizontal firing range of the Flak 18 was more than 14800 m. infantry. In addition, the Flak 18 became an effective anti-tank weapon capable of hitting armored targets at ranges up to 3000 m. In fact, no matter what target the 88-mm gun crew saw, it had every chance of hitting it. In 1939, the German Army Ordnance Agency (Waffenamt), realizing the lethal potential of the Flak 18 as an anti-tank gun, ordered ten guns. Mounted on the chassis of a 12-ton Daimler-Benz DB10 tractor, they received the designation Sd.Kfz.8. They were used as heavy anti-tank guns and to destroy fortified enemy positions. In 1940, the Agency ordered 15 more units, which were installed on 18-ton Famo tractors. The installations were given the name Sd.Kfz.9, and their purpose was additional air cover. All 25 guns were the only production series of this type, and although the Ordnance Agency planned to produce 112 more of these units (using the late Flak 37) for the Luftwaffe and the army, the order was canceled in mid-1943.

Gun "88" in the civil war of 1936-39 in Spain

At the start of the Spanish Civil War that broke out between the Communist Republican forces and the Nationalists in 1936, Italy and Germany sent volunteer forces and military aid to the Nationalists, led by Generalisimo Francisco Franco. The German contingent, known as the "Condor Legion", was mostly made up of Luftwaffe personnel and equipped with the new 88mm Flak 18 anti-aircraft guns. Some historians consider the Spanish Civil War to be a testing ground for weapons later used in World War II. Modern observers note that the German gun in particular was used particularly well as an anti-tank weapon.

A German officer, Ludwig Ritter von Eimannsberger, saw the future potential of the 88 in an anti-tank role as early as 1937. A series of his articles in propaganda newspapers such as the Eagle and the Wehrmacht described the special role of the artillery squad in the new Blitzkrieg tactics. The book German Fights in Spain explains how anti-aircraft guns can be used as an anti-tank weapon. From the beginning of 1937, Flak artillery was used more and more in battlefields, where accurate hits, rapid fire and the range of "88" were especially suitable. Finally, this led to the use of Flak, in the last major offensive of the Spanish War, held in Catalonia, in the following proportions, 7% for air and 93% for ground targets of the total number of shots fired from guns.

Despite these statistics, General Heinz Guderian, who held the opposite view, argued that due to difficult terrain and outdated tanks with inexperienced Republican crews, Spain was a far from perfect testing ground for weapons. Nevertheless, the experience of the war in Spain was taken into account in the future by developing appropriate optical sights for direct fire and special armor-piercing anti-tank ammunition. The new Pzgr 40 projectile, weighing 10.4 kg, consisted of a steel blank with a solid tungsten carbide core inside. The projectile had a metal cap to improve ballistic performance.

New generation of 88 mm anti-aircraft guns 1936-37

Based on the experience gained during the fighting in Spain, the German troops carefully considered the battle tactics and design of the "88". After noting several weaknesses in the design of the Flak 18, the military issued recommendations for changes. This resulted in two improved "88" models: Flak 36 and Flak 37. After the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, three versions of the 88 mm gun were in German service, all called Flak (short for either of the two German words Flugzeugabwehrkanone or Flugabwehrkanone). Officially, the German army was trained in a manual called "Procedure for Attacking Fortified Defensive Positions" published in the summer of 1939, just before the German invasion of Poland. It noted: "Assault detachments closely following anti-tank and 88-mm guns will punch any gap in the defensive front ...". At the time, this was the tactical doctrine, but in practice everything happened quite differently. The speed of the German offensive and the superiority of the Luftwaffe over the Polish Air Force were so high that 88-mm guns were almost never deployed on the front line, as textbooks said. The 37-mm PaK 36 anti-tank guns, which were in service with the Germans, did an excellent job of destroying lightly armored Polish tanks, such as the TK-3 and 7TP. At the time of the invasion, the German army had more than 9,000 anti-aircraft and artillery pieces, of which 2,600 had 88 mm and 105 mm caliber.

Photo 5. "88" towed by a half-track tractor on the Eastern Front. The lethal fire of the cannon was used against the massive tank attacks of the Soviet army.

Combat experience in Spain showed the need to make changes to the design of the Flak 18, to simplify production and improve the operation of the gun in the field. The supporting part of the cruciform carriage was changed, increasing the stability of the gun, and simplified its design to facilitate production. The front and rear single-axle wheeled bogies, with dual pneumatic tires, were made identical so that they could be attached to either end of the cruciform platform. Each bogie was fitted with a spigot mount, allowing the Flak 36 to be towed with the barrel facing both sides. Now the gun did not have to be specially deployed to the transport position, this significantly accelerated the time for inserting and withdrawing the gun from the combat position and back. The composite barrel was made of three parts, held together by an enclosing "outer casing". When wear occurred in one part of the barrel or another, only the worn section was replaced, and not the entire barrel, which led to significant savings in steel and manpower.

Photo 6. FlaK 36 88-mm cannon in marching mode is transported by a half-track tractor.

Many characteristics and structural elements of the Flak 36 remained the same as those of the Flak 18. For example, the barrel length (4.664 m.); horizontally retractable semi-automatic breech; gun shield; 360 degree rotation; vertical aiming from -3 to +85 degrees; effective firing distances in the horizontal and vertical planes.

Photo 7. FlaK 36 in operation against ground targets, possibly tanks in North Africa. Shooting is carried out from the wheel position, all members of the calculation in their positions.

During the war, the Germans developed and adopted another version of the Flak 36, known as the FlaK 36/43. In essence, this gun had a barrel of the late model FlaK 41 (entered service in 1942), with the help of adapters, mounted on a FlaK 36 carriage. problems, FlaK 41 barrels began to be mounted on FlaK 36 carriages, also known as the Special Trailer 202 (German: Sonder Anhanger).

Photo 8. FlaK 41 captured by the British 8th Army in March 1943 during the advance from El Hamma to Gebes. The gun was abandoned along with their tractor. Note the folding sides of the shield, which are characteristic of the FlaK 41.

Flak 37

Improvements in the new model of anti-aircraft guns, touched the aiming and fire control system. The aiming scale was replaced with a more convenient system for calculating - “follow the pointer”. The "follow the pointer" aiming system was developed to simplify aiming and improve shooting accuracy. Two double dials, with multi-colored hands, were mounted on a cannon. The dial received information through electrical signals transmitted from the main fire control battery post. After sending information to the gun, one of the colored hands on the dial moved to a certain position. Two calculation numbers simply turned the gun to the correct elevation and course angles, setting the second arrows of the dials in accordance with the arrows associated with the fire control post.

Photo 9. Details of the “follow the pointer” system installed on the FlaK 37. They were of great importance in determining the exact moment of the shot at the aircraft. Information was supplied to them from the central command post.

The data was transmitted to the gun from the Funkmessgerät (translated from German - radar) or as it was also called the "Predictor" (predictive device) - a mechanical analog computer that calculated the position of the aircraft and data for firing. The Funkmessgerät operator used the telescope to lock on the target for automatic tracking, after which the azimuth and elevation were calculated using the built-in synchronizer. Target information relayed to gun positions included aircraft speed and heading, gun location, ballistic performance, projectile type, and fuze setting time. After calculating the position of the aircraft, Funkmessgerät compared the data of the guns and calculated the optimal firing time so as to intercept the target at the correct height at the correct time. The calculation inserted the nose of the projectile into the fuse cocking mechanism, which automatically set the time for the explosion of a high-explosive charge so that the latter would detonate after firing at the desired height.

Photo 10. Crew FlaK 37 Luftwaffe places the warheads of shells in the mechanism for cocking fuses.

In view of the above changes, a series of such 88 mm anti-aircraft guns received the designation Flak 37. The barrel was again made consisting of two parts. Aside from a change in the barrel and an improved fire control system, all other characteristics of the gun remained the same as those of the Flak 36. However, due to the use of an improved data transmission system on the Flak 37, the gun was not used as an anti-tank gun, like its predecessors. .

Photo 11. FlaK 37 equipped with a data transmission system. This model became exclusively anti-aircraft, and unlike other versions of the "88" could not participate in ground battles.

Photo 12. The barrel of the FlaK 37 is raised to fight aircraft. The members of the crew on the left work on the "Follow the Pointer" dials, and on the right, part of the crew sets the projectiles into the mechanism for setting the detonators. The white rings on the barrel indicate the number of "kills".

Flak 37/41

Later, during the war, based on the Flak 37, the Germans developed the Flak 37/41. The model was assembled from available parts and conceived as a highly effective gun for the period while the Flak 41 was in development. Like the Flak 36/41, it was simply a regular Flak 37 fitted with a new barrel, with the same external dimensions as the Flak 37, but with a larger chamber to allow more powerful ammunition to be fired. To reduce the amount of recoil, the barrel was equipped with a muzzle brake with a double baffle. A total of 12 test Flak 37/41s were built, but by the time they were made, the problems with the Flak 41 had been resolved, production was well underway, and the need for a construction from available elements was no longer necessary.

Due to its reliable design, throughout the war, the 88-mm gun remained the backbone of the German air defense forces and was used in all branches of the armed forces. Even at the beginning of the war, the Luftwaffe realized the need to improve such characteristics of the gun as the firing ceiling and projectile speed. The Rheinmetall-Borsig company took up the development of a new tool. The prototype, named Flak 41, was made in early 1941, but the first deliveries of 88-mm guns to the army did not begin until March 43rd.

Improvements made to this model have affected the recoil and knurler mechanisms, which are made adjustable to compensate for recoil when using the gun as an anti-aircraft gun. The design of the cradle was changed from vertical to horizontal, which reduced the height of the gun. The slewing ring was replaced with a turntable, which made the silhouette even lower and improved the stability of the gun. The barrel was made in two parts.

In the transport position FlaK 41 weighed 11240 kg, in combat - 7800 kg. The gun is now much heavier than any of the three earlier 88mm counterparts, but still much lighter than any brand of British 3.7 inch AA gun. The FlaK 41 barrel was 72 calibers long or 6336 mm. The initial speed of standard 9.2 kg high-explosive projectiles was 1000 m / s. The gun still featured a semi-automatic, horizontally sliding breech, which was now used as a ramming mechanism to assist in loading a larger projectile. The elevation angle was increased to 90 degrees, but the barrel still retained the ability to drop to -3 degrees to hit ground targets. The gun had a separate electrical circuit used when firing at ground targets such as tanks. In theory, a well-trained crew could fire 20 rounds per minute, but for all practical purposes (and, in fact, to save ammunition), such a rate of fire was never used in combat. The maximum vertical range increased to 15,000 m, but the effective ceiling, with a more powerful charge, was in the region of 10,000 m, which made the Flak 41 about 25% better than the standard Flak 36. Horizontal firing range, 10.4 kg fragmentation - high-explosive shells, reached more than 19700 m.

The upgraded version of the "88" has become a good weapon with improved ballistic performance and a more advanced mechanical design.

Photo 13. A fragment of the FlaK 41 loading mechanism. It played an important role when loading heavy projectiles into the chamber, in particular, when the barrel was at a high elevation angle.

Self-propelled 88 mm anti-aircraft guns

To protect the army on the march from air attacks, the Germans developed a series of self-propelled anti-aircraft guns. It is noteworthy that although earlier attempts were made to make a self-propelled Flak 18, until 1942 the option of installing an 88-mm gun on a self-propelled chassis was not seriously considered. Once again, the development of the prototype was commissioned to Krupp, which became known as the "FlaK auf Sonderfahrgestell" (German anti-aircraft gun on a special chassis) or "FlaKpanzer fur schwere" (German self-propelled anti-aircraft gun on a tracked chassis). The concept originated in 1941 when the Ordnance Agency ordered a heavy tank destroyer with a specially adapted version of the Flak 36 L/56 in an open turret. The chassis for the self-propelled anti-aircraft gun was based on the Pz.Kmpf.IV and was named Pz.Sfl.IVc. Later versions of this chassis were designed to carry Flak 41 L/71 guns. Rheinmetall offered its own version, armed with a new version of the 88 mm Flak 42 L / 71 gun, codenamed "Gerat 42". However, Rheinmetall faced a number of production problems related to weapons, and by November 42nd they had only made a wooden model for research. In February 43, the Rheinmetall program was finally closed.

Photo 14. Self-propelled anti-aircraft gun on the chassis Sfl.IVc (VFW 1) equipped with a FlaK 37 gun. The photo was taken during the test vehicle in the army. The project was not successful, but the development program continued until January 1945.

Photo 15. VFW 1 with FlaK 41 set to high elevation. Please note that the side panels are omitted so that the crew can safely operate the implement. A large fixed shield is standard on the FlaK 41.

By August 42nd, for testing, three prototypes of the Pz.Sfl. original design. But now that the war on the Eastern Front has dragged on, tank production has taken precedence. The future of the project, with the questionable cost of weapons, remained in doubt. It was argued that mobile or self-propelled anti-aircraft guns would provide protection to the column on the march, as well as when setting up a camp in the parking lot. The standard distribution of anti-aircraft weapons was supposed to be eight units to protect a regiment of 52 tanks.

In October 1943, at the anti-aircraft range in Ostseebad-Kühlungsborn, the prototypes underwent field tests, which showed that the weapon had great prospects. But the project was hampered by the size and weight of a fully equipped Pz.Sfl, which was 26 tons, which made the self-propelled anti-aircraft gun heavier than the standard Hummel self-propelled gun with a 150 mm caliber gun. The dimensions of the Pz.Sfl also turned out to be large: 7 m in length made the vehicle larger than many tanks and self-propelled guns in operation; a width of 3 m created problems when moving the gun by rail; the height of 2.8 m, surprisingly, passed the 3 m limit set on the armored vehicles of the German army.

The turret of the vehicle with the 88 mm cannon had collapsible side panels which, when lowered, allowed the cannon to rotate 360 ​​degrees and lower the barrel down to -3 degrees to engage ground targets. The maximum elevation angle of the trunk reached 85 degrees. All operations in relation to tracking and target acquisition were carried out manually, which was considered a disadvantage of anti-aircraft guns. Despite this, the vehicles could provide a column of armored vehicles with comprehensive protection against air and ground attacks. The gun was served by a crew of eight. Equipped with a Maybach HL90 engine, the car traveled 250 km along the highway at a speed of 35 km / h in the stowed position. The project dragged on until January 13, 1945, when Armaments Minister Albert Speer finally closed it. Nevertheless, mobile self-propelled anti-aircraft guns were developed, but with different weapons, and perhaps this is the only project during the war years when the 88-mm gun was not included in the design.

Photo 16. VFW 1 equipped with FlaK 41, developed by Krupp in Essen. Pay attention to the side panels, they are lowered, this allowed the gun to rotate 360 ​​degrees. The car was never put into service.

Cannon RAK

On May 10, 1940, after several months of a "strange war", the Germans began their much-lauded blitzkrieg in Western Europe. As they advanced through Holland and Belgium into France, they seemed invincible. Local pockets of resistance crumbled, and the allies retreated under the onslaught of fierce tank attacks. On May 21, near Arras, units of the French and British armies united. Parts of the 50th Division, supported by the tank brigade of the 1st Army, launched a counterattack on the German 7th Panzer Division under the command of General Erwin Rommel, who believed that he was attacked by five divisions. The light 37mm PaK 36 guns did little to no damage to the British Mk.II Matilda tanks and French SOMUA 35s, so Rommel ordered the 88mm FlaK 18 to be used against the Allies. In a fierce battle, the Allies were unable to withstand the ferocity and audacity of the Germans; this was the first meeting of the allies with "88", but they did not immediately appreciate this fact. Meanwhile, moving further south, the German army attacked parts of the Maginot Line, and in Markolsheim, direct fire was fired at the casemates from the "88s".

Photo 17. Two "88" abandoned by the Germans near Mersa Matruh in 1942. There are no gun shields, the guns are mounted on carriages with double tires.

Although the "88" guns were previously used as anti-tank guns, it became truly massive in the German North African campaign of 1941-43, where the gun received its formidable reputation as a "tank killer". German participation in this theater of operations did not begin until February 1941, when the newly created Afrika Korps, led by General Rommel, arrived in Africa. Having united his troops, Rommel went on the offensive and regained most of the territories lost by the Italians in 1940. Under pressure from Winston Churchill, General Wavell launched the Operation Brevity offensive in May 1941, aimed at Rommel's positions at Gapuzzo and Halfaya Pass, which soon gained notoriety in the British forces as "Passage through Hellfire". She proved how strong the Germans are in defense. A month later, on June 15, "Operation Battle Ax" began, and the German anti-tank gunners again sharply shocked many of the Allied tank crews. During this offensive, the British are known to have lost almost 90 tanks from a battery of well-deployed 88s. To hide the gun on the defensive line, the crew needed to dig a hole with dimensions of 6x3 m, leaving only the barrel above the edge of the position open. With such a low profile, the guns became difficult to detect and fire on tanks took on a surprise effect.

At this stage of the campaign, there was no obvious need to use the 88 in the anti-tank role. The desert terrain was well-suited for mobile warfare, and made it possible to deter the attacks of large tank formations with standard field and specialized anti-tank artillery, known as PaK (short for German Panzerabwehrkanone - anti-tank gun).

Each German division had 24 anti-tank guns, ranging in caliber from 37 mm to 50 mm. Due to the vast area of ​​the battlefield, these guns often had to be turned in different directions. Some sources claim that an unknown German officer ordered 24 Flak guns of the Luftwaffe regiment to act as anti-tank guns, but according to other sources, Rommel himself gave such an order. In any case, whoever ordered the redesignation of the gun, the case was purely formal, because, "88" already had a proven reputation as an anti-tank weapon, starting in June 1940 in France. In 1941, the Luftwaffe had North African air superiority and could afford to reallocate anti-aircraft guns to support the weaker units of the anti-tank division along the entire front. The 88 mm cannon became known as the German "trump card" capable of penetrating 99 mm armor at distances of more than 2000 m. However, often hitting the target at such extreme distances was limited by poor visibility, due to sandstorms, dust and haze, interfering with aiming.

While Rommel was fighting in North Africa, the German army was preparing to launch its next major operation, Operation Barbarossa, the attack on Russia on June 22, 1941. For the attack, the Germans concentrated 3 million people, more than 3,500 armored vehicles and over 7,000 pieces of artillery, which, of course, included "88". However, it was rarely used until it ran into the Soviet T-34 tank, which duly hastened the 88's reputation as an anti-tank gun. To meet the armored attacks of the enemy, the Germans had to concentrate up to ten anti-tank guns of various calibers in one defensive position, which was called the "PaK Front". And only then did the joint fire from the anti-tank guns break the attackers. Initially, this tactic worked, but later massive Russian tank attacks overwhelmed these positions by sheer numbers.

Photo 18. Calculation of the 1st Hamburg-Osdorf battery in action. The gun is set to destroy tanks.

The German troops had a shortage of armor-piercing anti-tank ammunition, caused by an acute shortage of tungsten. Due to a significant decrease in the supply of this metal, existing stocks were reserved for the manufacture of tools, with the aim of producing more weapons. However, in order to defeat the T-34 and heavy Soviet tanks, the army desperately needed an anti-tank gun with a muzzle velocity higher than the standard 50 mm PaK 38. Deprived of such a weapon, the Wehrmacht demanded unlimited supplies of tungsten-core ammunition, which existing guns could be fired and they could penetrate the armor of new Russian tanks. Tungsten-core projectiles withstood high-velocity impact by penetrating tank armor, while conventional steel projectiles were often destroyed. When tungsten became unavailable, Krupp was asked to design a new version of the "88" specifically for anti-tank operations.

Photo 19. British troops inspecting Flak 37 abandoned on the way to advance to the Scheldt Canal near the Dutch border. It appears that the crew used the trees as natural camouflage to hide the gun from Allied aerial reconnaissance.

PaK 43

Krupp engineers, based on the Flak 37, developed a new 88 mm PaK 43 cannon, which was put into operation in 1943. She had a very low silhouette and was equipped with a wide sloping shield to protect the crew from shrapnel and bullets. The gun was still mounted on a cruciform frame with single pneumatic tires for transportation. Later, when the supply of rubber decreased, pneumatic tires were changed to wheels with molded rubber tires. Cancer 43 was brought into combat position as follows: the jacks were lowered, which took the weight of the gun carriage, two sets of transport wheels were removed, and “outriggers” were lowered into place to stabilize the gun. The cruciform carriage design represented a departure from the standard practice of equipping anti-tank guns with sliding counterweights.

Photo 20. PaK 43 on a wheeled cart with solid rubber tyres. Note the sloping gun shield, the low silhouette of the gun, and the double baffle muzzle brake.

One of the new design features was that the crew did not always have to remove the wheels from the carriage before firing. Krupp provided sufficient suspension strength to allow the PaK 43 to be fired from its wheels when targets suddenly appeared. When firing, thus, the angle of vertical aiming was limited to 30 degrees of travel in each direction from the longitudinal axis of the cart. The gun, deployed to combat position on the ground, could turn 360 degrees. The elevation angle of PaK 43 ranged from -8 to +40 degrees.

The layout of the new version of the 88-mm gun has a significantly lower silhouette, 2.02 m in height. With the wheels dismantled, the height from the top of the splinter shield to the ground was only 1.5 meters, which greatly facilitated the PaK 43's camouflage. In addition, due to the need to dismantle the running wheels, the weapon was brought into combat position a little slowly. The deployment time factor was considered a minor issue, as most anti-tank guns were operated in pre-arranged defensive positions. After removing the road wheels, the combat weight of the PaK 43 was reduced to 3700 kg. When the cannon was deployed in a defensive anti-tank formation called "PaK front", the cross-shaped carriages were additionally nailed to the ground with metal stakes to prevent movement during recoil.

An unusual feature for a field gun was an electric firing mechanism. Also new were emergency fuses built in to prevent firing at a certain elevation angle, at which the bolt could hit one of the legs of the platform during rollback. Mounted on the PaK 43, a semi-automatic vertical-retractable breech mechanism ejected a varnished steel cartridge case after firing. The barrel was 6.2 m long and could fire up to ten rounds per minute. The gun was equipped with a double baffle muzzle brake, which reduced the recoil force when fired.

Cancer 43/41

In battles with heavy Russian tanks, the Germans realized that the performance of the PaK 43 needed to be improved. The new enlarged chamber allowed the use of a more powerful powder charge and firing 88 mm projectiles at a higher muzzle velocity, but mobility and firing position had yet to be improved. And this was done in the latest version of the "88" developed by Krupp and entered service in 1943 under the name PaK 43/41. Initially, despite the difficulties, the cruciform carriage was planned to be retained, but production problems led to delays and compromised production levels. Krupp developed a two-wheeled carriage using an assortment of parts from other guns. The design was made like that of traditional carriages with sliding beds, counterweights, branches, which ended with recoil openers that broke into the ground when firing to increase the stability of the gun. PaK 43/41 was mounted on a two-wheeled carriage assembled from elements of a 10.5 cm FH 18/40 howitzer gun and wheels with solid tires from a 15 cm S18 gun. The breech mechanism reverted to a horizontally retractable type design with modified semi-automatics. The elevation angle of the barrel ranged from -5 to +38 degrees, the horizontal stroke was limited to 28 degrees on both sides of the center line of fire. The recoil and knurler were located in a cylindrical housing above the barrel, the balancing cylinders stood vertically on both sides of the gun carriage.

Photo 21. Rear view of the PaK 43/41 breech. Also clearly visible are the towing legs made of box-section beams and the large openers of the gun, which, as a rule, unfolded when located on soft ground.

Photo 22. Pak 43/41 towed anti-tank gun with a distinctive double baffle muzzle brake. Note the wide sloping gun shield and the transition where the barrel pieces form a junction.

As a result, the gun turned out to be bulky, and because of the huge anti-fragmentation shield in the troops, it was quickly nicknamed the “shed” (German: Scheunentor). PaK 43/41 was 2.53 m wide and 1.98 m high. With a total length in the stowed position of 9.15 m and a combat weight of 4380 kg, the gun was never popular among artillerymen, who recognized it as clumsy when maneuvering , especially in deep snow and mud on the Russian front. Despite this, the performance of the new design was considered good. The only real downside to the gun was the weight, which hindered mobility.

Photo 23. View of the right side of the PaK 43/41. The wheels are fitted with solid rubber tyres. A characteristic feature of the gun is a long barrel, ending in a muzzle brake with a double baffle.

PaK 43/41 bore little resemblance to the original "88". The barrel, 71 caliber long, was equipped with a double baffle muzzle brake. A larger charge, weighing 23 kg, emitted dense clouds of smoke when fired, which in cold or calm conditions could accumulate around the location of the gun. This not only betrayed the location of the gun, but also made it difficult for the gunner to aim at the next target. At first, due to the accumulation of vibrations in the barrel, the rate of fire was limited to 15 rounds per minute. However, the gun crew never achieved such a rate of fire, especially given the fact that the new shells weighed almost twice as much as the original 88mm rounds. Therefore, soon the rate of fire was set at 10 rounds per minute. Even at ranges over 3,000 m, the new charges had greater penetration than the original 88 mm projectile at 1,000 m. At close range, the new projectiles had truly destructive power. The above documentary record shows how well the 88-mm gun operated on the Russian front: “the penetration ability, with the PzGr 39 projectile, is satisfactory at all distances, so that all enemy tanks in this region are T-34, KV-1, IS-2 - can be destroyed in combat. When hit, the tanks threw out flames three meters high and burned. The towers were mostly knocked down or torn off. The T-34 was hit from the rear, at a distance of 400 meters, and the engine block was thrown to a distance of about five meters, the tower by 15 meters. Although PaK 43/41s were most widely used on the Russian front, some units were deployed against the Western Allies.

Photo 24. Rear view of Cancer 43/41. The box legs are deployed with openers lowered. Note the very narrow width of the gun, which reduced visibility on the battlefield.

Photo 25. Optical aiming unit mounted on PaK 43/41. With this device, an experienced crew could destroy tanks at ranges exceeding 2000 m.

Photo 26. PaK 43/41 breech mechanism, semi-automatic, horizontal action. It ejected the case when opened, allowing the loader to quickly load the next round.

Photo 27. The design of the 88 mm Pak 43/41 barrel is shown in detail. Here you can see how the sections are arranged, allowing you to replace any worn or damaged part.

German 88 mm tank gun KwK 36 L/56

The Tiger I tank (German: Panzerkampfwagen VI, SdKfz 181 Ausf E), commissioned in mid-1942, was developed in response to the appearance of Russian KV-1 and T-34 tanks on the Eastern Front. A heavy 55-ton tank, with armor up to 110 mm thick in places, was decided to be equipped with an 88-mm cannon as the main armament. The choice of engineers fell on a special 88 mm version of the Flak 36 with a barrel length of 56 calibers, which was given the designation KwK 36 L / 56 (German Kampfwagenkanone 36). The Tiger I Ausf E was the only vehicle with an 88 mm cannon of this version. To install the gun in the turret, the barrel was equipped with a muzzle brake that reduces the recoil force, as well as a recoil mechanism consisting of a hydraulic recoil and hydropneumatic knurler. The barrel with a massive muzzle brake was balanced by a heavy spring located in the pipe, on the right side of the turret. The design of the bolt mechanism was made similar to the tank bolts from the 75-mm guns L43 and L48. The gun was equipped with an electric trigger, like all German tank guns. The Pzgr Z9 and Pzgr 40 ammunition used on the KwK 36 L / 56 could penetrate armor plates up to 100 mm and 138 mm, respectively, at a distance of 1000 m. Typically, the Tiger I was equipped with 92 shots, but 84 tanks were equipped with additional radio equipment, which reduced the number of shots placed on board to 66 shells.

Having an 88mm cannon on a heavy tank had a tremendous propaganda effect, it seemed that this combination of cannon and armor was much more intimidating than the actual number of vehicles brought to the battlefield.

The Tiger II tank (German: PzKpfw VI Tiger II Ausf. B. or Sd.Kfz. 182) first entered training units between February and May 1944. These tanks were armed with a more powerful version of the 88mm gun, based on the very successful PaK 43 design. The shells were changed, but the shells themselves remained the same as those of the FlaK 41. The Tiger II was loaded with 78 Pzgr. Pzgr 40/43 shells pierced up to 193 mm of armor at a range of 1000 m. Like all tank guns, the Kwk 43/L71 was equipped with a vertically sliding bolt actuated by a spring. The gun of the Tiger II tank was equipped with a double baffle muzzle brake and was the largest type of main armament installed on the tanks of the German army. The high muzzle velocity of the shells led to rapid muzzle wear, so later models were equipped with barrels assembled from two parts. The design, similar to the barrel of a standard 88 mm, made it easy to replace worn parts, rather than the entire barrel.

In total, 485 Tiger II units were built, they were operated from 1944 until the end of the war.

The Kwk 43/L71 was also used on three other armored vehicles: the Hornet (Hornisse Sd.Kfz. 164), the Elephant (Elefant Sd.Kfz. 181), and the Jagdpanther (Jagdpanther Sd.Kfz. 173). All of them were specialized anti-tank vehicles and had specific conditions for their guns.

Photo 28. "Hornet" (German: Hornisse Sd.Kfz. 164) is a self-propelled heavy anti-tank gun equipped with PaK 43/1 L/71. 494 machines of this design were built between 1943 and 1945. They were used in Italy and Russia.

Self-propelled installations

Known by various names such as "Rhinoceros" (German Nashorn) or "Hornet" (German Hornisse), Sd.Kfz. 164 became the first specialized self-propelled tracked anti-tank gun commissioned by the German army. In 1942, the Germans developed a special mobile platform Auf PzJg III / IV, designed to install the PaK 43/1 L / 71 anti-tank gun on it. It was planned to release more than 100 pieces of equipment for May 1943. The Rhinoceros was developed in response to the problems faced by the troops on the Eastern Front - the Germans simply ran out of strength moving a towed version of the PaK 43 in deep mud.

The chassis, hull and suspension were taken from the PzKpfw IV. It was equipped with a water-cooled Maybach HL 120 TRM V-12 gasoline engine that developed 300 hp. at 3000 rpm, and gave a speed of 40 km / h on the roads and 24 km / h over rough terrain, in a combat range of up to 200 km. The chassis of the car was changed by increasing the fighting compartment. The 88mm gun mount was attached to the floor, resulting in the muzzle rising to a height of 2.24m, about 600mm higher than on a towed cruciform platform deployed on the ground. Elevation lay between -5 and +20 degrees, horizontal rotation up to 30 degrees. The crew of the car consisted of four people. All gun control operations were carried out manually. There were also those who argued that the vehicle was too vulnerable in direct fire combat, due to the lack of armor protection. Despite this, the Rhino served quite well as an 88mm gun. It could overcome vertical obstacles up to 600 mm high, transverse trenches up to 2.3 m wide and slopes of 30 degrees. In fact, these capabilities allowed the vehicle to be placed in ideal positions for tank ambushes. With a total height of 2.95 m, the Rhino complied with the height regulations - no more than 3 m. The self-propelled gun served from 1943-45, during which time, out of 500 vehicles of the initial order, 494 units were built.

The second specialized tank destroyer, with an 88-mm cannon, was the Sturmgeschütz (German Sturmgeschütz mit 8.8 cm StuK 43, Sd.Kfz. 184), also known as the Elephant or Ferdinand (the name comes from the name automotive engineer and tank designer, Dr. Ferdinand Porsche). When Hitler ordered the development of the vehicle, the Ferdinand chassis, with a body large enough to mount the 88mm KwK L71 gun, became relevant for the production of self-propelled guns. The project for a heavy tank destroyer with an 88 mm gun used a variant of the Tiger tank developed by Porsche, which did not enter service due to technical problems with a gasoline electric drive. The result of this, in September 1942, was a 64-ton machine with a fixed turret, with 200 mm thick frontal armor and a forward-facing PaK 43/2 L71 cannon.

By the time Porsche lost the Tiger I contract, there were already over 90 chassis units at various stages of production in its factory. Instead of disposing of them, wasting valuable production time, the design team, working on a new anti-tank self-propelled guns, decided to use the finished chassis in the project.

The finished vehicles were delivered on time for the Kursk offensive, in the summer of 1943, where they entered the battle as part of the 654th and 653rd divisions of the tank hunter division (German: Panzerjagerabteilungen). The self-propelled guns performed well and were subsequently used in small numbers on the Italian front.

A large fixed turret, with the maximum possible slope of the armor, was located above the rear half of the hull. Even though the gun was mounted so far back, the barrel of the 88 mm gun still hung over the front by about 1.2 meters. The gun was aimed using manual controls and could traverse horizontally by 28 degrees and elevated by -8 to 14 degrees. Access to the fighting compartment was through a round hatch in the rear panel, where there were six crew members, along with 50 88-mm ammunition. The Ferdinand could destroy most Allied tanks at ranges much greater than effective enemy return fire. The large thickness of the frontal armor made the Ferdinand virtually invulnerable from the front, but, like all vehicles without a turret, its main weakness was its vulnerability to attack from the flanks and rear.

Ferdinand could overcome vertical obstacles up to 780 mm high, cross trenches 3.2 m wide and wade water barriers up to 1.22 m deep. But for self-propelled guns with a combat weight of more than 65 tons, there was a constant danger of getting bogged down in soft ground, therefore careful reconnaissance of the area was extremely important. The large size and low highway speed (20 km/h), combined with a combat radius of only 150 km, made preliminary reconnaissance doubly important.

High hopes were placed on these highly specialized tank destroyers, and they performed well in the Battle of Kursk, but the large size and weight of the vehicles made them vulnerable. Initially, the self-propelled guns attacked and broke through the defenses of the Soviet troops, but when the Russians counterattacked, the Ferdinands were surrounded and almost all of them were destroyed from the rear. In the later stages of the war on the Eastern Front, the remaining Ferdinands were used as mobile pillboxes - a much more effective role for a heavy vehicle. A total of 90 units were made% D68D% (% B
D1nicks, they all completed military service in the period from the 43rd to the 44th year.

The last specialized tank destroyer with an 88-mm gun put into operation was the 45.5 ton Jagdpanther (German Jagdpanther, Sd.Kfz.173). This vehicle was equipped with a PaK 43/3 L/71 gun. There is some debate whether the Jagdpanther moved 57 or 60 shells, but the number probably varied from one crew to another and depended on the stocks available at the time of replenishment. The gun was aimed in a horizontal plane up to 13 degrees on both sides of the central axis, and could rise from -8 to 15 degrees. Commissioned in June 1944, the Jagdpanthers were transferred to the 559th and 654th specialized anti-tank units of the tank hunter division. According to the documents, the strength of a typical Jagdpanther battalion was 30 combat units, but in fact, due to the difficulties of delivery, this rarely happened. Perhaps the only time when the number of vehicles exceeded the approved combat strength occurred when 42 units were delivered to the 654th unit. The machine was in operation from 1944 until the last days of the war. The Jagdpanther gave the Allies a nasty surprise during the Ardennes campaign in December 1944. Although the car was popular with the crews, during the production period from January 44th to March 45th, only 382 units were produced.

German anti-aircraft 88 mm gun 8.8 cm FlaK 18/36/37

The famous German anti-aircraft gun FlaK 18 (Flugabwehrkanone, from German “anti-aircraft gun”) was rightfully one of the most famous artillery systems of Nazi Germany in World War II. At the beginning of the war, the Germans appreciated all the advantages of this universal gun, using it to combat air targets, enemy armored vehicles and to destroy enemy fortifications. In addition to the Germans, the FlaK 18 gun and all its modifications (36/37/41) were appreciated by the British, Americans and Russians, since at the initial stage of the war, this gun was an effective means of destroying the Matilda and T-34 tanks. .

The history of the creation of the German anti-aircraft gun FlaK18

The first representatives of German anti-aircraft semi-automatic guns were created in Germany back in the First World War. These medium-caliber guns were built by the two largest firms, Rheinmetall (then called Erchardt) and Krupp in 1917. With the defeat of Germany in the First World War, all of its artillery systems were withdrawn from the army and, basically, all were destroyed. Recall that the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles forbade defeated Germany to have anti-aircraft artillery, as well as to create devices for controlling fire from these guns. However, German artillery designers secretly continued to create their artillery systems in the 1920s in Sweden, Germany, Holland and other countries. In those years, the created guns were almost all designated by the number "18", which meant "model 1918". This was partly done in order to cover up (or hide, so that there would be no doubt among the allies) and show that Germany still complied with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, and did not violate it. However, the new FlaK18 gun was very different from the previous gun of the 17th year.

The need for such a gun appeared among the Germans in connection with the appearance of the Haley Page heavy bombers in the Royal Air Force of England, which could rise to a height of more than 10 thousand meters. In 1928, in secret in Sweden, the German designers of the Krupp company began redesigning a new anti-aircraft gun. All work was carried out at the Swedish company Swedish Bofors, controlled by Krupa. The first samples of guns were made in the city of Essen. Secret field tests of new anti-aircraft guns soon followed, as a result of which the designers made a number of changes to the design of the units. A huge role in the creation of new weapons was played by Krup himself, who selflessly participated in the creation of guns.

Sketch drawing of the 88 mm FlaK18 gun. Right view.

Sketch drawing of the 88 mm FlaK18 gun. Left side view

Sketch drawing of the 88 mm FlaK18 gun. View from above.

Exiz of the balancing spring of the recoil device

Sketch of the FlaK 18 cannon breech

Sketch of the FlaK 18 gun barrel

Sketch of the FlaK 36 gun barrel

This is how the 88 mm FlaK18 cannon looks from above

Sketch drawing of the gun carriage FlaK18 (16-hooks on the langerons for lifting on a winch, 17- stake for driving into the ground 18-shovel, 22-eye, 37- device for positioning relative to the horizontal plane

Sketch drawing of the gun carriage FlaK18, top view

Sketch drawing of the gun carriage FlaK36, top view

During the design process, German designers made a lot of innovations, one of which was the ease of manufacture of the 88 mm FlaK18 gun. In addition, the gun could be mass-produced at tractor and automobile factories without the use of specialized assembly lines. The first demonstration to the military Wehrmacht took place in 1932, where Krupp personally demonstrated the capabilities of the new weapon. The military was delighted with the new anti-aircraft gun. A contract was immediately signed for the supply of FlaK18 guns to the Reichswehr. Soon the German army formed 7 motorized anti-aircraft batteries, which were armed with 8.8 FlaK18 guns. In 1933, batteries with new guns took up combat duty.

The design of the FlaK18 anti-aircraft gun

The barrel of the FlaK18 gun consisted of a breech, a free tube and a casing. The rate of fire of the gun up to 15-20 rounds per minute was allowed by the original breech, which was a horizontal, semi-automatic wedge gate, providing the withdrawal of the spent cartridge case, and the construction of the mainspring due to the recoil energy. It is worth noting that the rammer together with the charging tray worked poorly in some cases, therefore, the future calculation of the gun removed it already in the field with the help of field workshops.

The recoil devices included a hydropneumatic knurler and a hydraulic recoil brake (spindle type). With the help of the knurler, after the shot, the barrel returned to its original position. The recoil of the barrel after the shot was limited by the limiter. To facilitate the vertical aiming of the gun, two spring compensators were mounted in two cylinders under the FlaK18 gun barrel. The gun recoil brakes were equipped with a compensator. FlaK18 rollback length was variable. As already mentioned, the rate of fire of the gun reached 20 rounds per minute, this was the undoubted advantage of this gun, it was also provided by the presence of a mechanism for automatically ejecting spent cartridges. The prepared crew of the FlaK18 gun can easily fire at such intensity. However, this required some physical preparation, since the cartridge assembly weighed 15 kilograms, the anti-aircraft fragmentation projectile weighed 10.5 kilograms.

The gun had a carriage, which was connected to the 8-sided base with a hinge. The base itself was supported by a cross. The crosspiece had side frames, which, in the transition from a combat position to a marching one, rose up. A longitudinal beam ran along the cannon, which served as a wagon in the stowed position. At the base of the carriage there was a pedestal on which the upper machine (aka swivel) was mounted. The lower end of the swivel pin was inserted into the slide of the leveling mechanism. The rotary and lifting devices had 2 pointing speeds. There was also a balancing mechanism of a spring-pull type. In the horizontal plane of the FlaK18 cannon, circular fire was provided, in the vertical plane, shelling was provided in the range from +5 degrees. up to +85 degrees.

The composition of the units of anti-aircraft guns FlaK18.

Each FlaK18 cannon was part of the light anti-aircraft unit. At the discretion of the leadership, absolutely any number of FlaK18 guns could be combined into a battery, which was attached to the command post. Each unit was armed with a trailer with guidance devices and a searchlight, which were powered by an autonomous diesel generator.

How did the searchlight and the FlaK18 anti-aircraft gun unit interact.

Attached to the object being protected from night enemy air raids by a searchlight, a search and “capture” (illumination in the night sky) of the target was carried out. After that, the aiming installation operator had to provide visual tracking of the target. At the same time, the devices that were built into the target tracking (tracking) installation automatically sent data on the angle above the horizon and the height of the target to the target guidance devices of each FlaK18 anti-aircraft gun. The angle of rotation, elevation and setting of the fuse needed to fire at enemy aircraft were determined by a special device that transmitted them to the FlaK18 cannon unit via a 108-wire cable through an Ubertransunger 37 transmission lamp device. In the event of a device failure, this information was transmitted by the operator by phone. Prior to the modernization of the gun, the fuse was installed next to the gun at a distance of 10 meters, then devices appeared for installing the fuse, which was mounted on the gun carriage. All fire control devices on the 8.8 mm FlaK 36/37/41 gun were duplicated. From the command center, data was displayed on the small dials of the gun. The gunner set exactly these values ​​on his large dials and fired. Thanks to this solution, the entire firepower of the battery of 8.8mm FlaK 36/37/41 guns was tightly concentrated on one target, which had little effect on getting out alive.

The 8.8 FlaK 36/37/41 cannon was transported with the help of 2 trailers (the Russians called rolling single-axle carts - “moves”) Sonderanhaenger 201. In a combat position, they detached, joined in a campaign.

For all crews of 8.8 mm FlaK 36/37/41 guns, there was a standard according to which the crew should “uncover” (remove the gun from the carts and assume a combat position) in just 20 seconds, and the gun should be installed in no more than 1 minute. This was especially true when changing positions after firing shots, since in response the calculation was covered by enemy artillery.

The 8.8 mm FlaK 36/37/41 gun was armed with cartridge-loading shots with shells that differ in their purpose (anti-aircraft, anti-tank (several armor-piercing options), anti-personnel). For flying targets, a fragmentation projectile was used, which had a remote fuse. With a projectile weight of 9 kg (explosive weight 0.87 kg), the initial velocity of the projectile was 820 m / s. The vertical range of the fragmentation projectile was 10.6 km.

German anti-aircraft 88 mm Flak37 gun installed in Rendsburg

The progenitor of the 8,8 cm FlaK 18/36/37 cannon - Krupp's Flak L/45

Anti-aircraft gun 8,8 cm FlaK 18

Anti-aircraft gun 8,8 cm FlaK 36 in the stowed position

8.8 cm FlaK 18 anti-aircraft gun in position for firing at high-flying targets (max. 85 degrees)

88 mm FlaK cannon with crew

Camouflaged 88 mm FlaK gun on the Eastern Front

88 mm FlaK gun on the Eastern Front. Conducting fire.

Left: on alarm, the crew runs to their gun. Right: Luftwaffe soldier eavesdropping with acoustic early warning devices (sound pickups).

, just as every German tank was a "Tiger" for most of the Allied soldiers, so every anti-tank gun was an "eighty-eighth". One of the famous gun mounts of all time, the 88mm anti-aircraft gun, has definitely become a tank destroyer. But in the arsenals of the Wehrmacht, this is not the only weapon, it was not even the most numerous.

Family of 88 mm FlaK guns . Deciphering FlaK, an abbreviation of the German Flugzeugabwehr-Kanone or Flugabwehr-Kanone (where K) is the designation of an anti-aircraft gun. The number behind the abbreviation indicates the year of the model gun, originally referred to as the FlaK 18, which was done to circumvent the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles.

88 mm German anti-aircraft gun terrible eighty-eighth, four white victory rings on the barrel

88 mm German anti-aircraft gun terrible eighty-eighth photo , FlaK 18/36/37 followed by the new and more powerful FlaK 41 models. Known to opponents as the "eighty-eighth" and as "aht-aht", the gun deserves a place of honor in any study of German anti-tank weapons. (Acht-Acht is a play on the words "eight-eight" or "attention-attention".

In 1931 88 mm FlaK 18 anti-aircraft gun developed in Sweden by a team of Krupp engineers with Bofors in secret to cover up violations of the Versailles Treaty. Since 1932, mass production of the 88 mm FlaK 18 cannon begins.

Anti-aircraft gun 88 mm FlaK 18 /36 photo

The FlaK 18 was mounted on a cruciform carriage, allowing it to fire in all directions. The automatic ejection of the cartridge case made it possible to produce about 20 rounds per minute. Two side stops for transport could be quickly folded. For transportation, two wheeled chassis model Sonderanhänger 201 were used.

Preparation of anti-aircraft gun 88 mm for transportation photo

The FlaK /36/37 anti-aircraft guns used the Sonderanhänger 202 trolley, which had a higher carrying capacity, higher transport speed and, most importantly, it allowed firing directly from the trolley.

trailer Sonderanhänger 202 from 88 mm German anti-aircraft gun, allowed to fire directly from the cart

Due to the large weight of the gun, the half-track sd kfz 7 became the standard tractor. But the problem of the high silhouette of the 88 mm gun, comparable to a tank, was not solved in the following modifications either.

88 mm Flak 36 entered service in 1936, upgraded in 1939, named Flak 37 photo

And anti-aircraft guns have many properties in common - both types are designed to fire projectiles at high velocities in a straight line. Give an AA gun the right type of AP round and it becomes a highly effective tank destroyer. However, by the beginning of the war, the only anti-aircraft gun equipped for firing at tanks was the German FlaK 18 - the classic eighty-eighth.

photo German gun 88 mm in tow tractor sd kfz 7

In Spain, an early modification of the "eighty-eighth" was mobilized for service in the infantry. The FlaK 18 proved to be remarkably effective against the lightly armored vehicles of the period. As a result, armor-piercing shells became standard ammunition for all German anti-aircraft batteries.

88 mm German anti-aircraft gun terrible eighty-eighth photo , first used against tanks during the Spanish Civil War. The 88-mm anti-aircraft gun was one of the most formidable guns for the British and American troops in North Africa and Italy, as well as ours and KV. The key to understanding the success of the eighty-eight was in the very high speed of her projectiles. She could hit most of the allied tanks, even firing high-explosive shells, and with armor-piercing she became deadly.

The calculation of the German cannon is firing at the Soviet troops in the Kharkov region, on the right, a cart from the Sonderanhänger is visible 202 photo

Interestingly, the Germans and, the only ones who used heavy universal guns . Most of the armies of the participants in the Second World War had such anti-aircraft guns, but they were never used for firing at ground targets.
It was easy to prove its usefulness in the early years of World War II, when the 88mm anti-aircraft gun was the only weapon capable of stopping heavily armored tanks such as the British Matilda, the French Char B and our Soviet KV-1 with ease. The FlaK 18 entered service as improved FlaK 36s, 37s and 41s, the latter being a newly developed gun.

July 1942 88 mm Flak 18 anti-aircraft gun firing direct fire near Voronezh photo

The gun, although it was anti-aircraft, proved to be useful, but far from perfect in its role, since it was very bulky, it was very difficult to camouflage; a lot of time was spent on its preparation for firing. "Eighty-eighth" could, in case of emergency, shoot directly from its wheeled cart, but for maximum accuracy it was lowered onto a gun carriage, which took a lot of time.
88 mm German anti-aircraft gun terrible eighty-eighth photo , despite the existence of dedicated anti-tank guns, FlaK was used against tanks until the end of the war. Early versions provided an muzzle velocity of an armor-piercing projectile of 795 m/s, a maximum horizontal range of 14,813 m. In the FlaK 41, the muzzle velocity of the projectile was raised to 1,000 m/s, and the maximum firing range was up to 19,730 m. Although we are now mainly talking about the use 88 mm guns as an anti-tank weapon, do not forget that the main purpose of the guns of the FlaK 18 family is primarily the fight against air targets. in which she also excelled. Although the inability of German industry to large-scale production of guns, did not cover the demands of the troops for these guns. On average, from 5,000 to 8,000 shots (!) were spent on destroying one aerial target.

Anti-aircraft artillery acoustic guidance system photo

Acoustic and then radar guidance systems made it possible to increase the effectiveness of the use of anti-aircraft artillery.

With the advent of radar stations, the effectiveness of shooting, especially at night, has increased significantly.

« 88 mm German anti-aircraft gun terrible eighty-eighth " served as the basis for a whole family of anti-tank guns as well as it showed itself in its original role as an anti-aircraft weapon.

88 mm anti-aircraft guns were also installed on landing craft

However, as the war progresses, even such a super-perfect weapon comes face to face with the challenge of new targets. Heavy Soviet tanks, such as the IS-1 and IS-2 (IS - "Joseph Stalin"), had powerful, more armor-piercing guns and even thicker armor than the T-34. A large gun was needed to counter them, and in 1943 the Krupp and Reinnmetall firms began work on a dual-purpose gun - a 128 mm anti-tank and field gun.

To facilitate manufacturing, the barrel of the PaK 43 gun was equipped with a gun carriage from a 105 mm FlaK 18 light field howitzer and wheels from a 150 mm SFH-18 howitzer. The first truly anti-tank modification entered service at the end of 1943. The PaK 43/41 gun used the barrel and breech of the FlaK 41, was more adapted to firing at tanks and fired newly developed types of projectiles.

German anti-tank guns pak 43 88 mm photo

These 88 mm anti-tank guns were mounted on the carriage of a 105 mm light field howitzer with wheels from a 150 mm howitzer. Weighing about 5 tons, it was difficult to aim, so the calculations called it the "barn door" (Scheunentor), but it had a lower frontal projection than the FlaK. She retained all the best from the early guns. It was successfully used on both the Eastern and Western fronts. The 88-mm PaK 43 gun, which entered service at about the same time, was inferior in mobility to the PaK 43/41 and was mounted on a modified wagon from the FlaK gun, and, as before, the wagon wheels were removed to obtain maximum shooting accuracy. However, it should be noted that the gun had a very low frontal projection - it needed a trench 1.5 m deep to dig in. In battles, it proved to be one of the best, capable of destroying any Allied tank from a distance of more than 2 km.
88 mm German anti-aircraft gun terrible eighty-eighth photo . When firing with an armor-piercing projectile with a tungsten core from the Pzgr 40/43, the RaK 43 had an initial projectile velocity increased to 1130 m / s, the permissible firing range of a high-explosive projectile was -17.5 km. An armor-piercing projectile pierced 182-mm armor at an angle of 30 "from a distance of 500 m and 135 mm armor - from 2 km. RaK 44 was used to a limited extent until the end of the war. 51 guns were made and mounted on an impromptu carriage taken from a French 155-mm gun. Shooting projectile from the Pzgr 43 cannon, the Pzgr 44 cannon had an initial projectile velocity of 1000 m/s and pierced 230 mm armor at an angle of 30° from a distance of 1 km.

Self-propelled artillery mount based on flak-37, which is interesting, originally installed flak-41, only three copies were made

By the end of the war, German engineers broke through the boundaries of traditional ideas about artillery designs.

flak-18 on the Sd.Kfz.9 tractor was never put into production

They created automatic loaders for 75 and 88 mm guns, experimented with infrared sights that could be used at night.

Experimental model with 88 mm anti-aircraft gun

Projectile upgrades included proposals to use steel and plastic in shell casings to conserve copper. Of course, not all samples reached mass production.

When the 37 mm Flak 18 was adopted in 1935, the anti-aircraft gun was considered as a medium-caliber air defense weapon. It was developed by the Rheinmetall concern in Switzerland in order to circumvent the restrictions imposed on Germany by the Versailles Treaty of 1919. For a time it was known as ST 10, or "Solotern" S10-100. Before entering the troops, the Flak 18 had many serious problems, but even after they were eliminated, it was not considered a very successful weapon.

In the original version, the cannon with the frame was moved on a heavy two-axle chassis, which greatly delayed the time of placement in position and its change. Moreover, the turn of the frame was made slowly, and the mechanism of the gun itself was so prone to jamming that only a well-trained, experienced crew could cope with this.
Despite these shortcomings, Flak 18 continued to serve during the war years. Until 1939, several guns were delivered to China.

In 1936, the Flak 18 went out of production and was replaced by the new Flak 36 37 mm anti-aircraft gun, which used new ammunition with one, rather than two, leading belts.
3significantly reconstructed frame could move on a single-axle chassis. "Flak 36" had the same combat characteristics as its predecessor, but was more versatile. After that, only one modification was released, model 37, which had a complex system with a clockwork.
Flak 36 and 37 were produced in large batches: by August 1944, only the Luftwaffe had 4211 units of these anti-aircraft guns. The Navy used various models of basic weapons on special ship support structures, including those for submarines. There were several types of improvised self-propelled anti-aircraft installations on trucks, on tank and half-tracked chassis. The regular combat schedule of the calculation included seven people, one of whom worked with a portable rangefinder, but after 1944 this position was abolished. Ammunition was fed into the breech in the form of six-shot magazine cassettes tied into a pack.

After 1940, Flak anti-aircraft guns of models 18, 36 and 37 became the standard weapon of the German Armed Forces against low-flying aircraft; usually they were completed in batteries of 9 or 12 guns. Many were placed on air defense towers, providing effective all-round protection. Special air defense trains plying through Germany to repel massive Allied raids were also equipped with Flak 36 or Flak 37 anti-aircraft guns. The production of Flak 36 and Flak 37 anti-aircraft guns did not stop until the end of the war in the three main industrial centers, but it was quite complex and expensive. The result was Flac 43.