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Flak 18 gun. Terrible “eighty-eighth. The history of the creation of the German anti-aircraft gun FlaK18


Tactical and technical characteristics

Caliber, mm

37

Weight, kg

Overall length, m

Projectile weight, kg

0.64 (high explosive)

Angle of vertical guidance, hail.

-8°... +85°

Angle of horizontal guidance, hail.

Muzzle velocity, m/s

820

Maximum effective ceiling, m

4800

Rate of fire, rds / min

160 (in bursts)

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 bed was turned 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.

The 88 mm became the most famous German anti-aircraft gun in the history of World War II. Excellent in the fight against enemy aircraft, the 88-mm anti-aircraft gun could perfectly fight enemy armored vehicles, and until the very end of the war, its armor-piercing shells could penetrate the armor of almost all Allied and USSR tanks.

Work on the creation of the gun began in the mid-1920s and was completed in 1928. The new anti-aircraft gun was named "88-mm anti-aircraft gun model 18 - Flak-18". The new air defense system began to enter the motorized anti-aircraft batteries of the Wehrmacht in 1933, so the date 18 was mentioned in the official name to hide the fact that the development of anti-aircraft guns was prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles.

The 88-mm cannon, which has a semi-automatic type breech, which ensures 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. The design of the carriage made it possible to point the gun vertically in the range from 5 to 85 degrees. The recoil of the barrel was limited by the limiter. To return the gun to its original position, a knurler was used. Under the gun barrel, spring compensators are mounted in two cylinders to facilitate vertical aiming of the gun.

The values ​​of the elevation angle, rotation and installation of the fuse required for firing at air targets were determined by the fire control device and transmitted to the gun to the tube transmission device through a 108-core cable. The same information could be transferred to the gunner by phone.

For firing, cartridge-loading shots with projectiles for various purposes were used. Fragmentation shells with a remote fuse were used against aircraft. The initial speed of such a projectile was 820 m / s, with a projectile weight of 9 kg, the explosive charge was 0.87 kg. The vertical firing range of this projectile reached 10600 m.

The cannon was transported using a two-axle trailer, the rear axle of which had dual wheels, and the front axle had single wheels.

Summarizing the experience of using anti-aircraft guns in Spain, it was decided to develop armor-piercing and cumulative shells for the gun. 88-mm anti-aircraft guns showed themselves well in the fight against ground targets, so it was decided to equip the guns with shield cover.

Flak-36 and 37 became modifications of Flak-18. Flak-36 had a simplified carriage, an improved barrel, which led to a decrease in the cost of manufacturing the gun. This modification appeared in 1935. All brass parts have been replaced with steel. The transportation of the gun was carried out using two identical single-axle carts, since the front and rear beds became interchangeable. Flak-37 had an advanced fire control system. This modification appeared a year later. Flak-18 was produced in large batches. In the summer of 1944, the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and Navy were armed with about 10,000 of these guns.

In 1942, the Rheinmetall-Borsig company presented for testing a new modification of the 88-mm anti-aircraft gun - Flak-41. The new gun had a rate of fire of 22-25 rounds per minute, and the initial velocity of the fragmentation projectile was up to 1000 m/s. After a series of tests, the gun was put into service under the designation "88-mm anti-aircraft gun model 41".

The gun had an articulated carriage with four cross-shaped beds. The carriage design ensured firing at an elevation angle of up to +90 degrees. In the horizontal plane, circular shelling was possible. The Model 41 gun had an armored shield to protect it from shrapnel and bullets.

The barrel of the gun, 6.54 m long, consists of a casing, a pipe and a breech. The semi-automatic shutter is equipped with a hydropneumatic rammer, which made it possible to increase the rate of fire of the gun and facilitate the work of the calculation.

To combat air targets, each battery was given an anti-aircraft artillery fire control device, which instantly developed the necessary settings for firing. When firing at air targets, fragmentation shells were used, and armor-piercing and sub-caliber shells were used to fight tanks. An armor-piercing projectile weighing 10 kg with an initial speed of 980 m/s at a distance of 100 m pierced armor up to 194 mm thick, and at a distance of 1000 m - 159 mm armor, at a distance of 2000 m - about 127 mm. A sub-caliber projectile weighing 7.5 kg with an initial speed of 1125 m / s from a distance of 100 pierced armor 237 mm thick, from a distance of 1000 m pierced armor 192 mm thick, from 2000 m -152 mm.

Transportation of the gun on a mechanical traction using two single-axle carts did not provide sufficient maneuverability as it was with the Flak-36, so work was underway to install the gun on the chassis of the Panther tank, but such a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun was never created.

Flak-41s were produced in small batches - by 1945, only 279 Flak-41s were in service with the German army.

88-mm anti-aircraft guns proved to be good not only in the fight against air targets, but also against ground ones, so these guns were actively introduced into the production of tanks and tank destroyers: "Tiger", "Nashorn", "Hornisse", "Jagdpanther", " Elefant". Options for installing Flak-18 on a railway platform and on an extended chassis of the Bussing NAG 900 car were also developed.

Flak-16/36/37

Flak-41

In July 1944, a new heavy self-propelled gun based on the Pz.Kpfw.VI Ausf. B "Tiger II" ("Royal Tiger"). The first series of "jagdtigers" (as the new self-propelled guns were called) included self-propelled guns with a chassis designed by Dr. Erwin Aders (Chief Engineer of Henschel & Son), and with a chassis designed by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche

In 1941, the fighting on the Eastern Front revealed one fact that became very unpleasant for the Wehrmacht. It turned out that the level of development of Soviet technology was much higher than expected - this was especially evident in the collision of German troops with the latest KV and T-34 tanks, the armor of which most of the standard anti-tank weapons pierced with difficulty. The real salvation in the fight against these giants turned out to be 8.8-centimeter (in Germany, the caliber of artillery systems is traditionally measured in centimeters) FlaK 36 anti-aircraft guns and their other modifications - FlaK 37 and FlaK 18. Only the armor-piercing shells of these anti-aircraft guns, accelerated by powerful powder charges to initial speed of 820 m / s, could penetrate 75-mm armor of the KV or flash the 45-mm forehead of the "thirty-four". In the German units, these guns were called "eight-eight" and they tried to transfer them to the most tank-dangerous sectors of the front.

The designers of the Krupp corporation developed the FlaK 18 back in 1928, and the first prototypes were assembled outside of Germany - at the factory of the Swedish company Bofors. This was due to the arms production restrictions placed on Germany after the end of World War I. The Krupp factories in Essen began to independently assemble these artillery systems only in 1932.

Artillerymen of the Wehrmacht African Corps prepare an 88 mm FlaK 36 anti-aircraft gun for firing, 1940–41
Source - waralbum.ru

In 1940, the designers created the 88-mm FlaK 36 gun, which was equipped with wheeled carts for quick movement, as well as an electric trigger and an armored shield to protect the crew from bullets and shrapnel when firing at ground targets. In fact, this weapon was created as a universal means of combating enemy aircraft and tanks.

A serious drawback of the 88 mm anti-aircraft guns was their high striking silhouette and significant cost - the price for versatility. The Wehrmacht's weapons department (hereinafter - USV) demanded that the designers create a cheaper anti-tank gun based on the FlaK 36, which was carried out at the end of 1942 by the Krupp corporation.

The new 88mm Pak 43 gun turned out to be one of the best anti-tank artillery systems of the Second World War (hereinafter referred to as WWII). Its 71-caliber barrel made it possible to accelerate armor-piercing shells to a speed of 1000 m / s, and sub-caliber - up to 1130 m / s. Thanks to this, the Pak 43 could hit almost any Soviet tank from a distance of two kilometers.


German gunners deploy an 88mm Pak 43 anti-tank gun
Source - waralbum.ru

The main disadvantage of this anti-tank gun was its high weight - 4.4 tons. Therefore, if the calculation of the gun entered the battle, then a change of position or retreat became a serious problem. The low mobility of such a successful artillery system could not but lead the designers to the idea of ​​installing it on armored chassis.

The installation of the Pak 43 gun on the first German serial heavy tank Pz.Kpfw.VI "Tiger" turned out to be impossible due to the considerable dimensions of the latter. Therefore, the armored "predator" in 1942 was armed with a KwK 36 tank gun of the same caliber (88 mm), but shorter - only 4.9 meters versus 6.2. Naturally, the ballistics of this gun was worse than those of the KwK 43 and StuK 43 (cannons based on the Pak 43 for installation on tanks and self-propelled guns, respectively), but it was quite enough to knock out the Soviet KV-1 and T-34.

StuK 43 was installed on heavy anti-tank self-propelled guns (or, as they were called in the Wehrmacht, "Jagdpanzers") "Ferdinand". They redesigned the chassis of the Tiger (P) tank designed by Ferdinand Porsche, which the industry hurried to manufacture on Hitler’s personal order even before the USV adopted the Tiger, designed by the engineers of the Henschel and Son company. At the Nibelungenwerke plant in the Austrian city of Sankt Valentin, armored cabins were built over the chassis with a frontal armor of 200 mm, which was monstrous for that time. StuK 43 was placed in the wheelhouse, having received a self-propelled gun, which became one of the most terrible opponents of the Soviet troops in the Battle of Kursk. Fortunately for the Soviet tankers, the German industry produced few "Ferdinands" - only about 90 pieces. In addition, the undercarriage of these self-propelled guns turned out to be rather unreliable, in addition, the vehicles were let down by the lack of machine-gun armament, as a result of which self-propelled guns became defenseless in the event of close combat against infantry. Therefore, despite powerful armor and armament, a significant number of these vehicles were lost in the battles of the summer of 1943.


Self-propelled guns "Ferdinand" with 88-mm gun StuK 43 in the armored museum in Kubinka
Source - tankmuseum.ru

German designers took into account the experience of using heavy Jagdpanzers, and in July 1944, at the same Nibelungenwerke enterprise, a new heavy self-propelled guns created on the basis of the Pz.Kpfw.VI Ausf. B "Tiger II" ("Royal Tiger"). It is curious that this time the story of the prematurely manufactured chassis for Porsche-designed tanks was repeated, only now they were assembled not 100 pieces, but only 7. The first series of “jagdtigers” (as the new self-propelled guns were called) included self-propelled guns with a chassis designed by Dr. Erwin Aders (chief engineer and head of new development at Henschel & Son), and with a chassis designed by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche. Subsequent cars were produced only on the chassis of the Aders design, but they, like the Ferdinands, were assembled very little. The total number of Jagdtigers produced is estimated at approximately 70-88 units, each of which weighed 75.2 tons - the Jagdtigers became the heaviest of all mass-produced German armored vehicles. For comparison, the mass of the "Royal Tiger" reached 68 tons, and the modern German tank "Leopard-II" A5 weighs 62 tons.


High-ranking representatives of the Wehrmacht and the company "Henschel and Son" (Erwin Aders - in a dark suit on the right), September 5, 1942
Source - pokazuha.ru

The Jagdtiger had a standard German layout - in front was the control compartment with a transmission installed in it, behind it was the fighting compartment, located in the wheelhouse and the middle part of the hull. The engine compartment was placed in the stern with a V-shaped 12-cylinder four-stroke liquid-cooled carburetor engine manufactured by Maybach, model HL 230 P30. The working volume of the power plant reached 23,095 cm³, and it developed a maximum power of 700 hp. with. at 3000 rpm. However, the mass of the self-propelled guns for such an engine was too large, so the self-propelled gun developed a speed of no more than 38 km / h on the highway, and 17 km / h on rough terrain.


The assembly shop of the Nibelungenwerke plant with the hulls of the Jagdtigers being assembled
Source - weaponscollection.com

The thickness of the upper frontal plate at the cabin of the Jagdtigr reached 250 mm, the hull - 150 mm, the lower armor plate - 120 mm. Both body armor parts were located at an angle of 50 °. The German designers protected the sides and stern of the self-propelled gun with an 80 mm layer of steel, the bottom and roof of the hull - 40 mm, and the roof of the wheelhouse - 45 mm. It is interesting that the front armor plates of the felling were made from pre-war armor, which was taken from the stocks of the Kriegsmarine.

In 1944, they planned to collect 150 Jagdtigers, but these plans were not destined to come true. On October 16, 1944, the allied aviation subjected the factory in St. Valentin to a massive bombardment, dropping about 143 tons of bombs on it. Production at the enterprise was partially restored, but it could no longer fulfill the state order in full. They tried to get out of the situation by transferring part of the order to the Am Jung Lokomotivfabrik company located in Yungenthal, but even there the actions of enemy aircraft frustrated all plans.


View of the workshop of the Nibelungenwerke tank building plant after the bombardment by Allied aircraft on October 16, 1944. In the foreground are the damaged hulls of the Jagdtigers.
Source - waralbum.ru

Initially, all Jagdtigers were armed with a powerful 128-mm Pak 80 gun. This gun was very heavy, so it was mounted not in the front deck of the cabin (it simply could not withstand excessive load), but on a specially designed pedestal installed on the floor of the fighting compartment. The gun had a lot of shortcomings - in particular, its recoil was so significant that the self-propelled guns could only fire from a place, otherwise its undercarriage risked failure. If, on the march, the gun was not fixed on a special rack, then from the swaying of the barrel, the guidance mechanism could at least deregulate, and at the maximum - fail. But the biggest drawback of the Pak 80 guns at the beginning of 1945 was their shortage - there was simply nothing to install on the new tank chassis.


The engine compartment of the Jagdtigra
Source - scalemodels.ru

On February 26, 1945, Hitler issued an order according to which the production of the Jagdtiger self-propelled guns received the highest priority. By the next order, he demanded that all stocks of 128-mm barrels be transferred to the Nibelungenwerke plant. It was also ordered to send 128-mm Pak 44 towed guns on carriages there. In the event of a shortage of 128-mm artillery systems, enterprises should have used 88-mm tank KwK 43/3 and StuK 43/3, installed on the "royal tigers" and self-propelled guns "Jagdpanther", or even anti-tank guns Pak 43/3 L / 71.

In March 1945, only three Jagdtigers were assembled in St. Valentine, which was primarily due to a lack of trunks. In April, out of seven self-propelled guns produced, four vehicles with chassis numbers 305078, 305079, 305080 and 305081 were armed with 88-mm guns. By May 4, the factory produced the last three vehicles with chassis numbers 305082, 305083 and 305084, for which 128-mm guns were found.


"Jagdtigr" with a 128-mm Pak 80 gun in the stowed position
Source - russkiytankist.3dn.ru

By this time, tankers from two divisions arrived at the plant to receive new vehicles - the 1st company of the 653rd battalion of heavy tank destroyers (commander - Lieutenant Hans Knippenberg) and the 501st SS heavy tank battalion, led by Untersturmführer Waldemar Warneke. Self-propelled gunners lost their vehicles in the spring battles in Germany and the Benelux countries (where the forces of the 653rd battalion were scattered into groups of several vehicles each to support infantry units), and the 501st battalion lost almost all of its materiel (only four vehicles) during the unsuccessful March offensive in the Lake Balaton area.

There is no reliable information about what kind of guns the Jagdtigers that fell into one or another unit were armed with. Researcher Andrew Devey in his book "Jagdtiger Der stärkste König" claims that the SS got the last four vehicles produced at the factory and equipped with 128-mm guns, and the rest of the vehicles, including the 88-mm KwK43 / 3 "Jagdtigr", received self-propelled gunners of the 653rd battalion. However, after the surrender of Berlin on May 1, the command of the army battalion disbanded it, so the crews, in accordance with the order, blew up their cars and went home.

Such an outcome of the war did not suit the SS tankers, and Soviet troops were already approaching St. Valentine, from whom nothing good could be expected, since the Red Army tried not to take prisoners of the SS soldiers. Therefore, the crews of the remaining Jagdtigers refueled their vehicles on their own, loaded ammunition into them and moved west to break through to the Allied positions and surrender there. Tankers abandoned two cars on the road due to the failure of their running gear. With another “jagdtiger”, they blocked the bridge in order to make it difficult for the Soviet units walking on the heels, and the only car with all the armored SS crews drove out to the Americans. Thus, not a single 88-mm self-propelled gun "Jagdtigr" took part in the hostilities.


Jagdtiger pattern 8.8 cm Pak 43/3
Source - world-of-tanks.eu

In 1996, the archaeological society Simonides Military Archaelogy Group announced that its members had discovered the remains of the Jagdtiger with chassis number 305081 in Poland. The search engines did not find traces of the cannon, but they found a special a steel liner used to install a smaller diameter barrel. Amateur archaeologists have not yet provided any photographs to confirm their words.

, 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 the "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 to obtain maximum accuracy it was lowered onto a gun carriage, which required 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.

Anti-aircraft gun Flak 36

Semi-automatic anti-aircraft guns of large caliber (75-105 mm) were created in Germany during the First World War. However, the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles forbade the Germans to have anti-aircraft artillery and all Reichswehr guns were destroyed.

Work on their creation was resumed secretly in the second half of the 20s and was carried out by German designers both in Germany itself and in Sweden, Holland and other countries. At the same time, all new field and anti-aircraft guns designed in Germany during these years received the number 18 in the designation, that is, "model 1918". In the case of requests from the governments of England or France, the Germans could answer that these were not new guns, but old ones, created back in 1918, during the First World War. For the purposes of conspiracy, the anti-aircraft units until 1935 were called "mobile battalions" (Fahrabteilung).

The design of an 88-mm anti-aircraft gun by a group of designers from the Krupp company began in 1931 in Sweden. Then the technical documentation was delivered to Essen, where the first samples of guns were made. Since 1933, anti-aircraft guns, designated 8.8 cm Flak 18 (in Germany, as you know, gun calibers are measured in centimeters), began to enter the army.

Anti-aircraft gun Flak 36 from the private museum of Jacques Littlefid, USA

The barrel of the gun consisted of a casing, a free pipe and a breech. Shutter - semi-automatic horizontal wedge.

The recoil devices consisted of a spindle-type hydraulic recoil brake and a hydropneumatic knurler. Rollback length is variable. The recoil brake was supplied with a compensator.

The base of the carriage was a cross, in which the side beds, when transferred to the stowed position, rose up, and the main longitudinal beam served as a wagon. A pedestal was attached to the base of the carriage, on which a swivel (upper machine) was installed. The lower end of the swivel pin was embedded in the slide of the leveling mechanism. The lifting and turning devices had two pointing speeds. The balancing mechanism was spring, pull type.

The gun was transported with the help of two moves (rolling single-axle carts) Sd.Anh.201, which were disconnected when the gun was transferred from traveling to combat. The moves are not interchangeable: front - with single wheels, rear - with double wheels.

In 1936, the modernized 88 mm Flak 36 gun entered service. The changes mainly affected the design of the barrel, which received a detachable front part, which made it easier to manufacture. At the same time, the internal structure and ballistics of the barrel remained the same as those of the Flak 18. All brass parts of the gun were replaced with steel ones, which made it possible to significantly reduce its cost. The carriage has also undergone modernization - its front and rear beds have become interchangeable. To tow the gun, two identical Sd.Anh.202 moves with dual wheels were used. Other smaller changes were made as well. In general, both guns were structurally identical.

A year later, the next modification appeared - Flak 37. The gun had an improved firing direction indication system connected by cable to the fire control device.
An 8-ton Sd.Kfz.7 half-track tractor from the Kraus-Maffei company was used as an anti-aircraft towing vehicle.
Tractor Sd.Kfz.7 with anti-aircraft gun Flak 18

The baptism of fire 88-mm anti-aircraft guns received in 1936 during the civil war in Spain, where they were sent as part of the German legion "Condor". According to the experience of this war, guns began to be equipped with a shield.

By September 1, 1939, the Luftwaffe anti-aircraft units had 2459 Flak 18 and Flak 36 guns, which were in service with both the Reich air defense forces and the army air defense. Moreover, it was in the latter that they distinguished themselves to the greatest extent, and not only in shooting at aircraft. During the French campaign, it turned out that the 37-mm German anti-tank guns were absolutely powerless against the armor of most French tanks. On the other hand, the remaining "unemployed" (German aviation reigned supreme) 88-mm anti-aircraft guns brilliantly coped with this task. The importance of these guns as an anti-tank weapon increased even more during the fighting in North Africa and on the Eastern Front.

Strange thing, but these guns did not have outstanding combat characteristics. For example, the Soviet 85-mm anti-aircraft gun 52K was in no way inferior to the "German", including in terms of armor penetration, but did not become so famous. What's the matter? Why did the "aht-aht" ("eight-eight"), as the German soldiers called this gun, deserve such fame both in the Wehrmacht and in the armies of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition? The reason for its popularity lies in the extraordinary tactics of application.

While the British, for example, in North Africa limited the role of their very powerful 3.7-inch anti-aircraft guns to combat aircraft, the Germans used 88-mm guns to fire at both aircraft and tanks. In November 1941, the entire African Corps had only 35 88 mm guns, but, moving along with the tanks, these guns inflicted huge losses on the British Matildas and Valentines. On the Eastern Front, 88-mm guns were also in the combat formations of tank units. When the latter ran into the new Soviet T-34 and KB tanks, anti-aircraft guns stepped in. This tactic was used by the German troops until the end of the war. Naturally, as the troops were saturated with new anti-tank guns, the value of 88-mm anti-aircraft guns as an anti-tank weapon gradually decreased. However, by 1944, 13 anti-tank artillery units were equipped with these anti-aircraft guns. As of August 1944, the troops had 10,930 Flak 18, 36 and 37 guns, which were used on all fronts and in the air defense of the Reich.

These guns were also widely used in coastal artillery.

As an actual anti-aircraft gun, this gun had exhausted itself by the beginning of World War II. Therefore, in 1939, Rheinmetall began designing a new anti-aircraft gun with improved ballistic characteristics - Gerat 37. When the first prototype was manufactured in 1941, the name was changed to 8.8 cm Flak 41. In 1942, 44 guns were sent for testing to North Africa. However, half of them ended up at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, along with the transports that delivered them. The rest nevertheless arrived in Tunisia.

During front-line tests, it turned out that the Flak 41 had many minor flaws, which could not be eliminated in a short time. Nevertheless, this cannon with a barrel length of 74 calibers, a muzzle velocity of a high-explosive fragmentation grenade of 1000 m / s and a ballistic ceiling of 14,700 m became the best medium-caliber anti-aircraft gun of the Second World War period. The release of Flak 41 anti-aircraft guns grew very slowly, and their use was complicated by the inability to use ammunition from Flak 18/36. In February 1944, there were only 279 Flak 41 units in the Reich air defense.

88 mm Flak 18 anti-aircraft gun:
1 - knurler; 2 - upper machine; 3 - rammer tray; 4 - vertical guidance mechanism; 5 - fuse installation mechanism; 6 - flywheel of the leveling mechanism; 7 - cabinet; 8 - left cylinder of the balancing mechanism; 9-bracket for mounting the barrel in the stowed position; 10 - gunner's seat; 11 - fuse installer's seat; 12 - fuse setting indicator; 13 - indicator of vertical guidance; 14 - horizontal guidance indicator; 15 - cradle; 16 - rollback brake; 17 - right cylinder of the balancing mechanism; 18 - horizontal guidance mechanism; 19 - vertical guidance mechanism; 20 - longitudinal beam of the gun carriage; 21 - anti-aircraft sight; 22 - left folding bed; 23 - right folding bed.

Information sources

M. KNYAZEV "EIGHT-EIGHT". "Model designer" № 4, 2001