After the defeat in the First World War, the Versailles Treaty of Germany prohibited the possession of anti-aircraft artillery in general, and the existing anti-aircraft guns were subject to destruction. Therefore, from the late 1920s to 1933, German designers worked secretly on anti-aircraft guns both in Germany and in Sweden, Holland and other countries. At the beginning of the 1930s, anti-aircraft units were also created in Germany, which, for conspiracy purposes, until 1935 were called "railway battalions". For the same reason, all new field and anti-aircraft guns, designed in Germany in 1928-1933, were called "arr. eighteen". Thus, in case of inquiries from the governments of England and France, the Germans could answer that these were not new weapons, but old ones, created back in 1918 during the First World War.
In the early 30s, in connection with the rapid development of aviation, an increase in flight speed and range, the creation of all-metal aircraft and the use of aviation armor, the question of covering troops from ground attack aircraft arose.
The available anti-aircraft guns created during the First World War did little to meet modern requirements for rate of fire and aiming speed, and anti-aircraft machine guns of rifle caliber did not satisfy in terms of range and power of action.
In these conditions, small-caliber anti-aircraft guns (MZA), caliber 20-50 mm, were in demand. They have good rates of fire, effective fire range and projectile damage.
Anti-aircraft machine gun 2.0 cm FlaK 30 (German 2, 0 cm Flugzeugabwehrkanone 30 - 20-mm anti-aircraft gun of the 1930 model). Developed by the Rheinmetall company in 1930. The Wehrmacht began to receive guns from 1934. In addition, the Rheinmetall company exported the 20-mm Flak 30 to Holland and China.
The advantages of the 2 cm Flak 30 were the simplicity of the device, the ability to quickly disassemble and assemble, and the relatively low weight.
On August 28, 1930, an agreement was signed with the German company BYUTAST (the front office of the Rheinmetall company) on the supply of a 20-mm automatic anti-aircraft cannon to the USSR, among other guns. guns and one spare swinging part.
After testing the 20-mm cannon of the "Rheinmetall" company was put into service under the name of the 20-mm automatic anti-aircraft and anti-tank cannon arr. 1930. Production of the 20-mm cannon arr. 1930. Was transferred to the plant No. 8 (Podlipki, Moscow region), where it was assigned the 2K index. The serial production of the guns was started by the factory # 8 in 1932. However, the quality of the assault rifles produced turned out to be extremely low. The military acceptance refused to accept the anti-aircraft guns. production of a cannon.
Based on the results of the combat use of the 20-mm Flak 30 in Spain, the Mauser company carried out its modernization. 2.0cm Flak 38 … The new installation had the same ballistics and ammunition.
All changes in the device were aimed at increasing the rate of fire, which increased from 245 rds / min to 420-480 rds / min. Had a reach in height: 2200-3700 m, firing range: up to 4800 m. Weight in combat position: 450 kg, weight in stowed position: 770 kg.
Light automatic cannons Flak-30 and Flak-38 had basically the same design. Both guns were mounted on a light wheeled carriage, providing circular fire in a combat position with a maximum elevation angle of 90 °.
The principle of operation of the mechanisms of the assault rifle model 38 remained the same - the use of the recoil force with a short stroke of the barrel. The increase in the rate of fire was achieved by reducing the weight of the moving parts and increasing their speeds, in connection with which special buffers-shock absorbers were introduced. In addition, the introduction of a copy space accelerator made it possible to combine the opening of the shutter with the transfer of kinetic energy to it.
The automatic building sights of these cannons developed vertical and lateral lead and made it possible to aim the guns directly at the target. The input data into the sights were entered manually and determined by eye, except for the range, which was measured by a stereo range finder.
Changes to the carriages were minimal, in particular, a second speed was introduced in manual guidance drives.
There was a special disassembled "pack" version for mountain army units. In this version, the Flak 38 gun remained the same, but a small and, accordingly, lighter carriage was used. The gun was called the Gebirgeflak 38 2-cm mountain anti-aircraft gun and was a weapon designed to destroy both air and ground targets.
The 20-mm Flak 38 began to enter the troops in the second half of 1940.
The Flak-30 and Flak-38 anti-aircraft guns were a very widely used air defense weapon of the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and SS troops. A company of such guns (12 pieces) was part of the anti-tank division of all infantry divisions, the same company was an integral part of each motorized anti-aircraft division of the RGK, attached to the tank and motorized divisions.
In addition to towed ones, a large number of self-propelled guns were created. Trucks, tanks, various tractors and armored personnel carriers were used as chassis.
In addition to their direct purpose, by the end of the war they were increasingly used to combat enemy manpower and light armored vehicles.
The scale of the use of Flak-30/38 cannons is evidenced by the fact that in May 1944 the ground forces had 6 355 cannons of this type, and the Luftwaffe units providing German air defense - more than 20,000 20-mm cannons.
To increase the density of fire on the basis of Flak-38, a quad mount was developed. 2-cm Flakvierling 38 … The effectiveness of the anti-aircraft gun was very high.
Although the Germans throughout the war constantly experienced a shortage of these anti-aircraft installations. Flaquirling 38 was used in the German army, in the anti-aircraft units of the Luftwaffe and in the German Navy.
To increase mobility, many different anti-aircraft self-propelled guns were created on their basis.
There was a version designed for installation on armored trains. An installation was being developed, the fire of which was supposed to be controlled using a radar.
In addition to Flak-30 and Flak-38 in the air defense of Germany, a 20-mm machine gun was used in smaller quantities. 2 cm Flak 28.
This anti-aircraft gun traces its ancestry to the German "Becker cannon", which was developed back in the First World War. The firm "Oerlikon", named for its location - a suburb of Zurich, acquired all the rights to develop the gun.
By 1927, the Oerlikon company had developed and put on the conveyor a model called the Oerlikon S (three years later it became simply 1S). Compared to the original model, it was created for a more powerful cartridge of 20 × 110 mm and was characterized by a higher muzzle velocity of 830 m / s.
In Germany, the gun was widely used as a means of air defense for ships, but there were also field versions of the gun, which were widely used in the Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe anti-aircraft forces, under the designation - 2 cm Flak 28 and 2 cm VKPL vz. 36.
In the period from 1940 to 1944, the volume of transactions of the parent company Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik Oerlikon (WO) only with the Axis powers - Germany, Italy and Romania - amounted to 543.4 million Swiss francs. francs, and included deliveries of 7013 20-mm cannons, 14, 76 million pieces of cartridges for them, 12 520 spare barrels and 40 thousand ammunition boxes (this is such a Swiss "neutrality"!).
Several hundred of these anti-aircraft guns were captured in Czechoslovakia, Belgium and Norway.
In the USSR, the word "Oerlikon" became a household name for all small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery during the Second World War.
For all its merits, 20-mm anti-aircraft guns were unable to guarantee 100% penetration of the armor of Il-2 attack aircraft.
To correct this situation, in 1943, the Mauser company, by imposing a 3-cm MK-103 aircraft cannon on the carriage of a 2-cm automatic Flak 38 anti-aircraft gun, created the Flak 103/38 anti-aircraft gun. The gun had a double-sided belt feed. The action of the mechanisms of the machine was based on a mixed principle: the opening of the barrel bore and the cocking of the bolt were carried out by the energy of the powder gases discharged through the side channel in the barrel, and the work of the feed mechanisms was carried out by the energy of the rolling barrel.
To serial production Flak 103/38 launched in 1944. A total of 371 guns were produced.
In addition to single-barreled units, a small number of twin and quad 30-mm units were produced.
In 1942-1943. the enterprise "Waffen-Werke" in Brune on the basis of the 3-cm aircraft cannon MK 103 has created an anti-aircraft automatic cannon MK 303 Br … It was distinguished from the Flak 103/38 gun by the best ballistics. For a projectile weighing 320 g, its muzzle velocity for the MK 303 Br was 1080 m / s versus 900 m / s for the Flak 103/38. For a projectile weighing 440 g, these values were 1000 m / s and 800 m / s, respectively.
Automation worked both due to the energy of the gases discharged from the barrel, and due to the recoil of the barrel during its short stroke. The shutter is wedge-shaped. The delivery of cartridges was carried out by a rammer along the entire path of movement of the cartridge into the chamber. The muzzle brake had an efficiency of 30%.
Production of MK 303 Br guns began in October 1944. In total, 32 guns were delivered by the end of the year, and in 1945 - another 190.
The 30-mm installations were much more effective than the 20-mm ones, but the Germans did not have time to expand the large-scale production of these anti-aircraft guns.
In violation of the Versailles agreements, the Rheinmetall company in the late 1920s began work on the creation of a 3, 7-cm automatic anti-aircraft gun.
The cannon automatics worked due to the recoil energy with a short barrel stroke. The shooting was carried out from a pedestal gun carriage, supported by a cruciform base on the ground. In the stowed position, the gun was mounted on a four-wheeled vehicle.
The 37-mm anti-aircraft gun was intended to combat aircraft flying at low altitudes (1500-3000 meters) and to combat armored ground targets.
The 3, 7-cm cannon of the Rheinmetall company, together with the 2-cm automatic cannon, were sold by the BYUTAST office to the Soviet Union in 1930. In fact, only complete technological documentation and a set of semi-finished products were delivered, the guns themselves were not supplied.
In the USSR, the gun received the name “37-mm automatic anti-aircraft gun mod. 1930 ". Sometimes it was called the 37-mm gun "N" (German). The production of the gun was started in 1931 at the factory number 8, where the gun was indexed 4K. In 1931, 3 guns were presented. For 1932, the plan was 25 guns, the plant presented 3, but the military acceptance did not accept a single one. At the end of 1932, the system had to be discontinued. Not a single 37-mm gun mod. 1930 g.
The 3, 7-cm automatic cannon from Rheinmetall entered service in 1935 under the name 3.7 cm Flak 18 … One of the major drawbacks was the four-wheeled vehicle. It turned out to be heavy and clumsy, so a new four-bed carriage with a detachable two-wheel drive was developed to replace it.
3, 7-cm anti-aircraft automatic cannon with a new two-wheeled carriage and a number of changes in the machine gun was named 3.7 cm Flak 36.
There was another option, 3.7-cm Flak 37, differing only in a complex, controlled sight with a calculating device and a pre-emptive system.
In addition to the standard carriages arr. 1936, 3, 7 cm Flak 18 and Flak 36 submachine guns were installed on railway platforms and various trucks and armored personnel carriers, as well as on tank chassis.
Flak 36 and 37 were produced until the very end of the war at three factories (one of them was located in Czechoslovakia). By the end of the war, the Luftwaffe and the Wehrmacht had about 4000 37-mm anti-aircraft guns.
Already during the war, on the basis of 3, 7 cm Flak 36, Rheinmetall developed a new 3, 7-cm machine gun Flak 43.
Automatic arr. 43 had a fundamentally new scheme of automation, when part of the operations were carried out at the expense of the energy of the discharged gases, and part - at the expense of the rolling parts. The Flak 43 magazine held 8 rounds, while the Flak 36 had 6 rounds.
3, 7-cm submachine guns mod. 43 were installed on both single and two-gun mounts.
During World War II, there was a "difficult" altitude for anti-aircraft guns from 1,500 to 3,000 meters. Here aircraft were inaccessible for light anti-aircraft guns, and for heavy anti-aircraft artillery guns, this height was too low. In order to solve the problem, it seemed natural to create anti-aircraft guns of some intermediate caliber.
German designers of the company "Rheinmetall" offered the military a gun, known under the index 5-cm Flak 41.
The operation of the automation is based on a mixed principle. Unlocking the bore, extracting the liner, throwing the bolt back and compressing the spring of the bolt knob were due to the energy of the powder gases discharged through the side channel in the barrel. And the supply of cartridges was carried out due to the energy of the recoiling barrel. In addition, a partial fixed barrel rollout was used in automation.
The barrel bore was locked with a wedge longitudinally sliding bolt. Power supply of the machine with cartridges is lateral, along the horizontal feed table using a clip for 5 cartridges.
In the stowed position, the installation was transported on a four-wheeled cart. In the firing position, both moves were rolled back.
The first copy appeared in 1936. The process of revision went very slowly, as a result, the gun was put into mass production only in 1940.
A total of 60 anti-aircraft guns of this brand were produced. As soon as the first of them entered the active army in 1941, major shortcomings emerged (as if they were not at the range).
The main problem was ammunition, which was poorly suited for use in anti-aircraft guns.
Despite the relatively large caliber, the 50mm shells lacked power. In addition, the flashes of shots blinded the gunner, even on a clear sunny day. The carriage turned out to be too bulky and inconvenient in real combat conditions. The horizontal aiming mechanism was too weak and worked slowly.
Flak 41 was produced in two versions. The mobile anti-aircraft gun moved on a biaxial carriage. The stationary cannon was intended for the defense of strategically important objects, such as the Ruhr dam. Despite the fact that the gun turned out, to put it mildly, unsuccessful, it continued to serve until the end of the war. True, by that time there were only 24 units left.
In fairness, it should be said that weapons of this caliber were never created in any of the belligerent countries.
Anti-aircraft 57-mm S-60 was created in the USSR by V. G. Grabin after the war.
Assessing the actions of the German small-caliber artillery, it is worth noting its exceptional effectiveness. The anti-aircraft cover of the German troops was much better than the Soviet, especially in the initial period of the war.
It was anti-aircraft fire that destroyed most of the Il-2 lost for combat reasons.
The very high losses of the Il-2 should be explained, first of all, by the specificity of the combat use of these attack aircraft. Unlike bombers and fighters, they operated exclusively from low altitudes - which means that more often and longer than other aircraft, they were in the realm of real fire of the German small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery.
The extreme danger that German small-caliber anti-aircraft guns posed to our aviation was due, firstly, to the perfection of the material part of these weapons. The design of anti-aircraft installations made it possible to very quickly maneuver trajectories in the vertical and horizontal planes, each gun was equipped with a control device for artillery anti-aircraft fire,which issued corrections for the speed and course of the aircraft; tracer shells made it easier to adjust the fire. Finally, German anti-aircraft guns had a high rate of fire; so, the 37-mm Flak 36 installation fired 188 rounds per minute, and the 20-mm Flak 38 - 480.
Secondly, the saturation of these means of troops and air defense of rear facilities for the Germans was very high. The number of barrels covering the targets of the Il-2 strikes increased steadily, and at the beginning of 1945, up to 200-250 20- and 37-mm shells could be fired at an attack aircraft operating in the zone of the German fortified area per second (!).
The reaction time was very short, from the moment of detection to the opening of fire. The small-caliber anti-aircraft battery was ready to give the first aimed shot within 20 seconds after the discovery of Soviet aircraft; the Germans introduced corrections for the change in the course of the Il-2, the angle of their dive, speed, range to the target within 2-3 seconds. Their concentration of fire from several guns on one target also increased the likelihood of being hit.
