We thought for a long time about whether it is worth telling in detail about the world-famous anti-aircraft gun of the Germans, which was noted in many wars, in various armies of the world and at the same time remained one of the best in its class.
We apologize in advance to everyone who is used to millimeter calibration, but we decided that it was worth using centimeter here, as was the case with the Germans. The essence is still the same as 8.8 cm and 88 mm.
So, we will talk about the "akht-komma-aht", an 8, 8-cm anti-aircraft gun, more precisely, a whole series of Flak 18/36/37 and Flak 41/43 guns. Worldwide fame implies a huge amount of materials on this weapon, which means a huge amount of opinions and judgments.
But, on the other hand, can the T-34 tank get bored? Or a Ju-87 plane? Is everything written about the "Willis" or the "Universal" armored personnel carrier? Are there limits to understanding the genius of designers of weapons and military equipment? The fact that, in our opinion, the German anti-aircraft 8, 8-cm cannon is the most famous weapon of the Second World War is undoubtedly. The fact that this cannon is really a brilliant weapon is also, but we, of course, could not help but discover a couple of nuances.
In general, German designers already in the First World War understood the importance of anti-aircraft artillery for a future war. Therefore, they began to develop semi-automatic anti-aircraft guns of "serious" (from 7, 5 to 10, 5-cm) calibers. The work was prevented by a loss in the war. Germany, according to the Versailles Treaty, was practically deprived of the army and navy, military production and forced to stop developing new types of weapons and equipment.
Today, in many publications, one can read the authors' complaints that it was the Soviet Union that revived the military power of Germany. It was in Soviet factories and in Soviet design bureaus that the future strength of the German army was forged. However, the example of a really great weapon shows that the new accusations, although they have some basis, are largely (if not mainly) invented by Western propagandists.
German designers and industrialists worked after the First World War in many European countries. Almost all of them. It was not even necessary to look for traces of German developments, everything was in plain sight. Sweden and Holland were especially distinguished. There, the development was practically openly carried out by the Krupp company. The fig leaf covering these developments was the numbers in the designation. All new guns were of the "1918 model", that is, they had the number 18 in the designation.
In fact, such weapons not only existed, they still quite calmly fought two world wars. These were shipboard 88-mm universal (that is, having the ability to fire both air and surface targets) 8.8 cm SK L / 45 and 8.8 cm SK L / 35 guns of the 1906 and 1916 models, respectively.
These guns were found on dreadnoughts, cruisers, destroyers and submarines of both the Kaiser fleet and the Kriegsmarine.
In the service of the Kriegsmarine
Universal guns of the cruiser "Konigsberg", which became "Admiral Makarov" in 1946
But the heroine of this material is not the successor to these ship's anti-aircraft guns. They are only related to the caliber, in fact, they are completely different weapons.
The Krupp company began to develop an 8, 8-cm anti-aircraft gun only in 1931. Just in Sweden. The pace of work is impressive, even with many minor flaws. From the beginning of the design (1931) to deliveries to the troops (1933), Krupp managed not only to design the weapon, but also to establish mass production in Essen (1932). This is how the "old development" anti-aircraft gun 8, 8-cm Flak 18 appeared.
The question arises about such a large caliber for anti-aircraft guns. Why make a deliberately complex weapon if smaller calibers could handle the existing aircraft?
The thing is that the designers from the Krupp company closely followed the likely enemy. Simply put, the development of aviation. They saw the prospects for high-speed high-altitude bombers even then.
And the second thing. By 1930, Krupp, together with the Bofors company, had already developed a quite good m29 cannon. caliber 7, 5 cm. However, this caliber was clearly not enough for high-altitude targets. The military demanded to increase the caliber to 10, 5 cm. But in this case, the projectile was quite heavy, and the loader could not provide the required rate of fire and high rate of fire. So the 8.8 cm caliber was, in its own way, a compromise between rate of fire and range.
Despite the almost open production of anti-aircraft guns, the Germans continued to play the role of bona fide executors of the Versailles Treaty. And the countries of the West, accordingly, the role of blind-deaf-mute observers. Until 1935, there were no anti-aircraft units in the German army! There were mobile battalions (Fahrabteilung). But this is so, to the question of preparation for the war of Europe against the USSR.
After more than a short excursion into the history of creation, we will begin to feel, look and twirl.
By the way, if we consider all the modifications of anti-aircraft guns, sample 1918, sample 1936, sample 1937, and sample 1941, maybe it will surprise someone, but the changes will be insignificant.
Probably, precisely because of this feature of the guns, all German 8, 8-cm anti-aircraft guns had one unofficial nickname from their caliber "Acht-acht" (Eight-eight) or, as mentioned above, "Acht-Komma-Acht" … Although the other version of the unofficial name looks more beautiful. From the word "Achtung", which means "attention" or something like "nix!" The Germans had no less such concepts than the Russians. A soldier on either side of the front is a soldier. And the humor is similar, soldier.
Let's start with the trunk. The barrel of the cannon consists of three parts. Free pipe, casing and breech.
Recoil devices. Consists of a spindle-type hydraulic recoil brake and a hydropneumatic knurler. The rollback brake is equipped with a compensator. The rollback length is variable.
Carriage. A longitudinal beam, which in the stowed position was a cannon cart. The side frames were located at an angle of 90 degrees to the wagon. In the stowed position, the villages rose up. Thus, the carriage had a cruciform shape.
A curbstone is installed on the base of the carriage. Above, already on the pedestal, a swivel (upper machine) is installed. Moreover, the lower end of the swivel pin was inserted into the slide of the leveling mechanism.
The lifting and turning devices had two guidance speeds. The balancing mechanism is spring, pulling type.
The problem of transporting guns has been solved in an interesting way. The tool itself did not have wheels. Two single-axle trolleys (Sd. Anh.201) were used for transportation. Carts or moves are disconnected when the weapon is brought into the firing position. Moreover, this is, perhaps, a drawback of this system, the carts are not interchangeable. Front single slope, rear dual slope.
Now it's worth talking about upgrades. More precisely, about what and why was changed in the design of the gun. So, the next modification is 8, 8 cm Flak 36. We will omit small details, we will talk about significant changes.
First of all, the design required the unification of the trolley travels. The presence of two different moves significantly reduced the viability of the guns. Therefore, the designers went to unification. Create a cart that is used in front and behind. The Sd. Anh.202 bogie with dual wheels was created.
This unification naturally caused a change in the gun carriage. I had to unify the front and rear of the gun carriage. There was no other way to ensure the interchangeability of the carts.
Two more changes were caused by the requirements of mass production of guns and a reduction in the cost of the gun. Let's start with the second point. Expensive brass was replaced by steel. It seems to be a trifle, but the cost of the tool has significantly decreased.
But the main change, from the point of view of mass production, took place in the production of barrels. The gun received a detachable front part. Moreover, it is very important to understand that this change did not affect the design of the gun itself and its ballistics in any way.
You can still visually distinguish Flak 36 from Flak 18. It is much more difficult with the next modification - Flak 37. The fact is that the modernization of the gun in this case touched not the mechanical part, but the system of indication of the direction of fire. Visually, the gun looks like Flak 36. If we discard the details, the modernized gun has improved the SIPS associated with the cable fire control device.
A very common misconception is that the 8.8 cm Flak 18/36/37 anti-aircraft guns began to be used as anti-tank guns only after the start of the war with the USSR. Alas, this decision is not connected with the Soviet Union and our tanks. Germany began to use these weapons precisely as anti-tank weapons during the French campaign. But more on that below.
The gun received its baptism of fire already in Spain in 1936. It was these weapons that were in service with the Condor Legion. It was in Spain that the understanding appeared that aviation in the future would begin to snap. That is, actively work to suppress anti-aircraft artillery. The result of the Spanish campaign was the appearance of armor shields at Flak.
Let's return to the already mentioned use of anti-aircraft guns as anti-tank guns. Again, it happened in France. And the main factor, in our opinion, for making such a decision was … an excess of anti-aircraft guns among the Germans and the "unemployment" of anti-aircraft gunners.
And the presence in the French army of S35 tanks, the armor of which was too tough for the standard 37-mm anti-tank guns of the Wehrmacht.
German aircraft in France completely suppressed the French. The work of anti-aircraft guns on aircraft was a rare phenomenon for the Wehrmacht. But if for the air defense of the Reich this was, in principle, the norm, then for the army air defense such a situation was unnatural. The tools must work. It was at the level of the army air defense that the idea of using air defense guns as a vehicle was born.
But in the next campaign, in North Africa, 8, 8-cm anti-aircraft guns were already used against armored vehicles in full. And the Eastern Front in this respect has become just a continuation of the scheme already worked out in Europe and Africa.
Where 37-mm cannons could not cope (and the Red Army had equipment of this level), anti-aircraft guns came to the rescue.
It is imperative to mention the next 8.8 cm gun from this series - the Flak 41.
The fact is that, paradoxically, it is necessary to debunk another myth about this series of anti-aircraft guns. In terms of their performance characteristics, the Germans do not surpass similar weapons of other states. Check out the Soviet 85mm 52K anti-aircraft guns or the British 3.7-inch anti-aircraft guns. The German guns are in no way superior to their competitors.
The designers of Germany also understood this. Therefore, already in 1939, the Rheinmetall company began designing a really new weapon - Gerat 37. The goal is to create a weapon against high-altitude targets. It was necessary to create an anti-aircraft gun with improved ballistic characteristics.
It was the Gerat 37, or rather, the first prototype of this gun, that was named 8, 8 cm Flak 41.
For military trials in 1942, the guns were sent to North Africa. True, it was not possible to deliver all the guns to Tunisia. The transports were attacked and sunk. Thus, of the 44 guns sent, 22 remained.
This gun, in our opinion, is the best medium-caliber anti-aircraft gun during the Second World War. The high-explosive fragmentation grenade had an initial speed of 1000 m / s. The ballistic ceiling of the gun is almost 15,000 meters. According to other sources - 14,700 meters, which, in general, is not important. Such characteristics were largely provided by a barrel with a length of 74 caliber.
Alas, the Flak 41 was produced in limited quantities until the very end of the war. Not only because of the complexity of the design of the gun itself, but also because of the impossibility of using ammunition from other anti-aircraft guns of the same caliber. In addition, attempts were made to use the old carriage from Flak 37. But the carriage simply could not withstand the increased loads. It was then that muzzle brakes appeared on the 41s.
In general, the German anti-aircraft 8, 8-cm Flak 18/36/37 guns were turned into a legend not by designers and engineers, but by soldiers and officers. More precisely, an extraordinary tactic of using these guns by personnel. Probably, only the Flak 37 can be called a clear anti-aircraft gun. The rest of the guns are more generalists.
The further fate of Flak 41 is interesting. In 1943, the gun entered the army and became the "gravedigger" of the Krupp model 8, 8-cm Gerat 42. More precisely, the gravedigger of the anti-aircraft gun of this variant. But on the other hand, 8, 8-cm Gerat 42 has become quite famous already in a new capacity. As an anti-tank and tank weapon.
It was this gun that was used by Krupp to create an 8.8 cm anti-tank gun 8.8 cm RaK 43. They simply installed the gun on a new carriage Sonderanhänger 204. After a while, the carriage was changed towards simplification. So another weapon appeared - 8, 8-cm Cancer 43/41.
The further fate of good weapons emerges from the logic of motorized warfare. The cannons are transferred to the chassis.
The first was the Nashorn self-propelled gun. Tank destroyer, medium in weight. Installed on the chassis of a T-IV tank.
The next tank destroyer was called the Elefant. One of the most heavily armed and heavily armored German vehicles of the war period. We are better known under a different name - "Ferdinand". A tank destroyer that proved to be excellent at the Kursk Bulge, which was "spoiled" by only a meager number of units produced.
Another representative of tank destroyers is the Jagdpanther.
The car is outstanding. Very similar to the Soviet SU-85. True, with genetic deficiencies, passed on from the father - the Panther tank.
Well, the crown of this gun's career was the Tiger II tank, better known as the Royal Tiger. There also stood, albeit slightly modified, but 8, 8-cm Cancer 43. This "Tiger" hit almost everything that was then used by opponents.
Naturally, the weapon, which initially did not show outstanding results, was gradually replaced by more modern, more powerful, technologically advanced ones. This is the fate of any weapon or equipment.
The 8, 8 cm Flak 18/36/37 guns and the Flak 41 are an excellent example of how fate can turn out if it is slightly corrected by the war. How can talent appear where the military road has thrown. Well-deserved fame and well-deserved fame.
TTX 8.8-cm anti-aircraft gun model 1918/1936/1937:
Caliber, mm: 88
Manufactured, pcs: more than 17400
Rate of fire, rds / min: 15-20
Mass in the stowed position, kg: 8200
Weight in firing position, kg: 5000
Dimensions in the stowed position
Length, mm: 5500
Width, mm: 1765
Height, mm: 2100
Firing angles
Angle VN, city: 85
Angle GN, city: 360
In the museum collections of our country, the 88-mm station wagon is a very rare guest. To see so that point-blank, - they say, such a weapon appeared in the collection of the museum of Vadim Zadorozhny. Alas, at the time of our visit, he was not there. The photographs given in our case were taken by our colleague at the Museum of the Liberation of Kiev at the Lyutezhsky bridgehead.
