France
French anti-aircraft artillery failed to have a noticeable impact on the course of hostilities. If Soviet and German anti-aircraft guns, in addition to their main purpose, were actively used to destroy tanks and other ground targets, and the British and American quite successfully covered protected objects from attacks by bombers and V-1 missiles, then the French did not succeed in anything. Nevertheless, a number of samples of anti-aircraft weapons were created in France, which had good anti-tank potential, which the Germans subsequently used, who captured these weapons.
Unlike many European countries, where the 20-mm "Oerlikon" was adopted, in France the minimum caliber in the MZA was represented by a 25-mm cannon. This is despite the fact that the production of 20-mm aircraft cannons was carried out by Hispano-Suiza SA. The development of a 25-mm universal anti-aircraft anti-tank automatic gun at Hotchkiss began in the second half of the 1920s. But the French military did not show interest in the new anti-aircraft machine gun, considering that a large-caliber 13, 2 mm Hotchkiss M1929 machine gun would be enough to destroy air and ground lightly armored targets. Events in Spain, where German 20-mm anti-aircraft guns 2.0 cm FlaK 30 were successfully used against Soviet light tanks T-26, forced the military to reconsider their views. As a result, the generals returned to the proposal of the "Hotchkiss" company and made a request for the production of a 25-mm cannon.
By that time, a 25-mm anti-aircraft gun ordered by Romania was already in production. But the command of the French army could not decide for a long time what it actually wanted, and several times changed the requirements for the rate of fire and the design of the gun carriage. The original tripod carriage was found to be unstable, which led to the development of a new carriage and a two-wheeled front end to it. As a result, time was lost and anti-aircraft installations began to enter the troops only before the outbreak of hostilities.
25-mm anti-aircraft gun Hotchkiss Mle 1938
Two variants of 25-mm anti-aircraft guns entered production - light and heavy. One - 25-mm automatic gun Hotchkiss Mle 1938 (Mitrailleuse de 25-mm sur affut universel Hotchkiss Modele 1938) was installed and transported on a uniaxial carriage. The other was the Hotchkiss Mle 1939, which was a heavier and more stable weapon for use in stationary positions. Both samples had the same ballistic characteristics and fully met the requirements of the time.
For 25-mm anti-aircraft guns, there were four types of 25x163 Hotchkiss Mle1938 projectiles - fragmentation, incendiary fragmentation, armor-piercing and armor-piercing tracer. At a distance of 300 meters, an armor-piercing projectile weighing 280 grams, with an initial speed of 870 m / s, penetrated 30-mm armor along the normal. That is, in 1940, this gun could penetrate the frontal armor of German armored vehicles and light tanks, as well as the side armor of medium ones. However, the Mle 1938 anti-aircraft gun should not be confused with the SA34 / SA37 anti-tank guns, which had a much more powerful 25x194R round.
The machine was powered by a carob magazine for 15 shells inserted from above. This decision limited the practical rate of fire to 100-120 rds / min. The mass of the Mle 1938 in the firing position was about 800 kg. The muzzle velocity of a 262 g fragmentation projectile is 900 m / s. Effective firing range - 3000 m. Altitude reach - 2000 m.
There were also modifications of the Mle 1939 and Mle 1940, which had differences in sights and machine tools. Shortly before the German invasion in May 1940, the Hotchkiss company produced a small batch of twin 25 mm Mle 1940J installations. The production facilities of the "Hotchkiss" company on the eve of the war were unable to satisfy the demands of the French army in terms of the production of anti-aircraft guns. In total, the French armed forces received about 1000 25-mm anti-aircraft guns of all modifications - incomparably less than required.
After the fall of France, some of the 25-mm machine guns remained in the hands of the Vichy armed forces, some were used by anti-aircraft gunners of Free France in the Middle East, but the vast majority of the surviving 25-mm guns became German trophies. Later, most of them were included in the defense system of the Atlantic Wall. They were assigned the 2.5-cm Flak Hotchkiss 38 and 2.5-cm Flak Hotchkiss 39 indexes and organized the release of shells in France. At the end of the war, many 25-mm anti-aircraft guns were installed by the Germans on trucks and armored personnel carriers, and also used them as light anti-tank weapons in defensive street battles.
Despite the developed arms industry, the French anti-aircraft artillery, like the armed forces, on the whole, were not ready for a collision with the German military machine. The French anti-aircraft guns that fell into the hands of the Germans were subsequently used in secondary directions or transferred to the Allies.
Shortly before the war, the French government ordered 700 37-mm automatic anti-aircraft guns Schneider 37 mm Mle 1930. As follows from the designation, this gun was created in 1930, but due to the lack of orders from its own armed forces, it was built in limited quantities for export.
37 mm Mle 1930
A small number of guns were acquired by Romania. In 1940, the Schneider company managed to transfer only a few 37-mm anti-aircraft guns to the military. It is difficult to talk about the effectiveness of these tools, since they left no trace in history. But, judging by the technical data, it was a completely advanced design for its time. The weight in the firing position was 1340 kg, the rate of fire was 170 rds / min, the effective range was 3000 meters.
The first French 75-mm anti-aircraft gun Autocanon de 75 mm MLE 1913 was developed on the basis of the legendary 75 mm Mle. 1897. Guns of this type were installed on the chassis of a De Dion car. Some of them survived until World War II and were captured by the Wehrmacht.
In the French army, obsolete 75-mm anti-aircraft guns mod. 1915 and arr. 1917 were in service in 1940. After the start of construction of the defensive Maginot Line, all these anti-aircraft guns were removed from anti-aircraft positions around Paris and placed in concrete casemates and caponiers like ordinary field guns. But in the early 30s, when a new generation of high-speed and high-altitude aircraft appeared, the French command decided to return at least some of the guns to the air defense, subjecting them to modernization. Barrels of old guns mod. 1915 were replaced by longer ones produced by the Schneider concern. The upgraded gun became known as the 75-mm mod. 17/34. The new barrel has significantly improved combat characteristics and increased the ceiling of fire.
In the 30s, the Schneider company released a new anti-aircraft gun of the 1932 model. This anti-aircraft gun stood in battle on a cruciform platform, and the barrel trunnions were located under it, near the breech. In 1940, the troops had 192 75-mm guns of the new model. In 1936, another new 75-mm anti-aircraft gun was adopted, which was supposed to become self-propelled. The 1932 model of the year was serviced by a crew of nine people, fired 25 rounds per minute and could be towed at a speed of 40 km / h.
French 75-mm anti-aircraft guns of the 1932 model captured by German troops.
After the German invasion of France, the French generals were still undecided on their 75-mm anti-aircraft guns. The rearmament program was far from complete, many guns had barrels of the 1897 model of the year. During the Wehrmacht offensive in May and June 1940, 75-mm anti-aircraft guns could not have any effect on the course of hostilities, the Germans captured a huge number of 75-mm anti-aircraft guns.
The old models were removed from their beds and sent to strengthen the defenses of the Atlantic Wall, and the new guns fought as part of the Wehrmacht until the end of the war, including repelling the Allied landings in Normandy and fighting British and American armored vehicles. In Germany, various models of French anti-aircraft guns were designated as 7.5 cm FlaK M.17 / 34 (f), 7.5 cm FlaK M.33 (f) and 7.5 cm FlaK M.36 (f).
Italy
There are not many materials about Italian anti-aircraft guns in our military-technical literature. Perhaps this is due to the insignificant role of Italy during the Second World War, but nevertheless, Italian engineers managed to create, and the industry to produce many interesting samples of anti-aircraft weapons. Almost all of the famous Italian anti-aircraft guns were used in land battles.
In October 1931, the technical department of the Italian army issued a terms of reference for the development of a universal anti-tank and anti-aircraft machine gun of 20-25 mm caliber. The Breda company presented its sample, developed on the basis of the French large-caliber 13.2-mm machine gun Hotchkiss Mle 1929. The assault rifle, designated Canon mitrailleur Breda de 20/65 mod.35., Inherited gas-operated automatic equipment from Hotchkiss and used the newest Swiss ammunition 20x138В - the most powerful of the existing 20-mm shells. The barrel with a length of 1300 mm (65 calibers) provided the projectile, which had a muzzle velocity of more than 800 m / s, with excellent ballistics. Food was carried out from a rigid clip for 12 shells.
Universal 20 mm cannon 20/65 Breda Mod. 1935
Field tests have shown that armor penetration at a distance of 200 meters reaches 30 mm of homogeneous armor. An experienced batch of universal 20-mm Breda cannons, sent to Spain as part of military assistance to Franco's nationalists, showed good efficiency in the fight against light Soviet T-26 tanks. In total, 138 guns were sent to Spain as part of the volunteer expeditionary corps.
Subsequently, this automatic cannon became widespread in the Italian armed forces and was produced on various wheeled and pedestal machines in single and twin versions. In September 1942, the army had 2,442 Breda 20/65 mod.35 assault rifles, 326 units were in service with the territorial defense forces and 40 assault rifles were placed on railway platforms, 169 pieces were purchased by industrial enterprises at their own expense to protect against an air attack. Another 240 barrels were in the Navy. In 1936, a version of the Breda machine gun was developed, intended for installation on armored vehicles. Subsequently, it was actively used in the tower installations of L6 / 40 tanks, armored vehicles AB.40, 41 and 43.
Attempts to use the Breda 20/65 mod.35 in the role of an anti-tank gun in North Africa, as a rule, were not very effective. 20-mm shells could not penetrate even the frontal armor of the "cruiser" tanks "Crusader", not to mention the more protected "Matilda".
After Italy's withdrawal from the war, a large number of 20-mm Breda were captured by the Germans, who exploited them under the designation 2cm FlaK-282 (i). The Wehrmacht used over 800 Italian 20-mm anti-aircraft guns. These guns were also actively exported to Finland and China. During the Sino-Japanese War, machine guns were used as anti-tank artillery. The British had Italian MZA in significant volumes. The British handed over 200 trophy machine guns to Tito's Yugoslav partisans.
By the beginning of World War II, the Italian army and navy faced the fact that the 20-mm Breda 20/65 Mod. 1935 in terms of production rates lagged far behind the needs. In view of this, it was decided to purchase an additional number of 20-mm Cannone-Mitragliera da 20/77 cannons manufactured by Scotti for export.
Unlike Breda's anti-aircraft guns, the Scotty gun was powered by a 60-round drum magazine, which predetermined the best rate of fire. In ballistic terms, both guns were equivalent. A significant number of Cannone-Mitragliera da 20/77 were used by German troops in North Africa, but in Italy itself, the production of 20-mm Scotti anti-aircraft guns was much inferior to the Breda products. The total number of Scotti assault rifles that entered service with Italy is estimated at around 300.
In 1932, at the Breda firm, on the basis of the design of the same Hotchkiss large-caliber machine gun, they created a 37-mm anti-aircraft machine gun 37 mm / 54 Mod. 1932. First of all, it was intended to replace the naval 40-mm anti-aircraft guns QF 2 pounder Mark II. The sailors were not satisfied with the complexity of the design, the use of cloth tapes and the insufficient power of the ammunition, coupled with the modest ballistic characteristics of the 40-mm British anti-aircraft machine gun, created during the First World War.
Ballistic characteristics of the 37-mm anti-aircraft gun "Breda" surpassed the British "pom-pom", but the gun itself was frankly unsuccessful. Due to the high vibration, the accuracy of automatic fire was low. By the time Italy entered the war, the army units had only 310 guns, and 108 more submachine guns were in service with the territorial defense forces. After the defeat of the Italian troops in North Africa at the end of 1942, the army units had only 92 37-mm anti-aircraft guns.
In 1926, Ansaldo offered the armed forces a 75-mm anti-aircraft gun. However, the tests of the gun dragged on, and it entered service only in 1934. In the design of the gun, the influence of the 76-mm anti-aircraft gun of the British firm "Vickers" was visible. The gun received the designation Cannone da 75/46 C. A. modello 34, in the domestic technical literature it is more often referred to as “Anti-aircraft gun 75/46 mod. 34 ".
Anti-aircraft battery of 75-mm guns Cannone da 75/46 C. A. modello 34
The weapon did not shine with special achievements, but at the same time it fully corresponded to its purpose. The mass in the firing position was 3300 kg. A shell weighing 6.5 kg flew out of the barrel at a speed of 750 m / s. The gun could fire at targets flying at altitudes up to 8300 meters. Rate of fire - 15 rds / min. Despite the fact that it no longer fully coped with modern combat aircraft, the production of the gun continued until 1942. This is explained by the relatively low cost and good development in the troops. But they were built a little, in 1942 there were only 226 guns in combat service. Nevertheless, the 75-mm anti-aircraft gun managed to be noted in Africa and in the USSR.
Italian anti-aircraft gunners fire from a 75-mm gun at a ground target
At a distance of 300 meters, an armor-piercing shell from an Italian 75-mm anti-aircraft gun was capable of penetrating 90 mm of armor. Despite the relative scarcity, these guns were very often used to fire at ground targets. In 1943, after the surrender, all the remaining 75/46 anti-aircraft guns were registered by the Germans and continued to serve under the name Flak 264 (i).
In 1940, the Italian air defense ground units began to receive 90-mm Cannone da 90/53 anti-aircraft guns. In contrast to the outdated 75-mm cannons, the new anti-aircraft artillery system with an initial speed of 10, 3-kg projectile of 830 m / s could hit bombers at altitudes up to 10 km. Maximum range - 17000 m. Rate of fire - 19 rds / min.
In 1939, an order was issued for 1,087 stationary guns and 660 towed ones. However, until 1943, the Italian industry managed to hand over only 539 guns, including 48 converted for armament of the RT ACS. Due to the fact that the gun turned out to be not too light - 8950 kg, in order to increase the mobility of anti-aircraft units at the design stage, installation on a cargo chassis was envisaged. The exact number of "cargo" ZSU built in Italy is unknown, but according to a number of estimates, no more than a hundred of them were released. Heavy trucks Lancia 3Ro and Dovunque 35 were used as chassis.
Building on German experience with the FlaK 18, Italian 90mm anti-aircraft guns were also used as anti-tank or field artillery guns, albeit on a smaller scale. At a distance of 500 meters, an armor-piercing projectile normally penetrated 190 mm of armor, and at 1000 meters - 150 mm.
If the Italian infantry, albeit not without problems, could still cope with light tanks, then the first clash of Italian troops with Soviet T-34 and KV tanks made a strong impression on the command of the Expeditionary Corps (CSIR). So it became necessary to have an anti-tank self-propelled gun in service, capable of fighting any type of tanks. The 75mm guns were considered insufficiently powerful, so the choice fell on the Cannone da 90/53. The chassis of the M13 / 40 medium tank served as the base. The new tank destroyer received the designation Semovente da 90 / 53.
Italian tank destroyer Semovente da 90/53
In the rear there was a semi-open wheelhouse with a 90-mm gun, in the front there was a control compartment, and between them there was an engine. The angle of horizontal guidance of the gun is 40 ° in each direction. Vertical guidance angles: -8 ° to + 24 °. The power of the gun was enough to destroy any Soviet tank, but the combat value of the ACS was reduced by the low security of the crew on the battlefield from bullets and shrapnel. Thus, the Italian self-propelled gun could only operate successfully from an ambush or from previously prepared positions.
PT ACS Semovente da 90/53 was intended to arm the anti-tank units of the Italian contingent defeated at Stalingrad, but she did not have time to get there. At the beginning of 1943, the Ansaldo company handed over 30 self-propelled guns to the military, which were brought together into 5 divisions of 6 self-propelled guns and 4 command tanks in each. In the summer of 1943, Italian tank destroyers burned and knocked out several American Shermans during the fighting in Sicily. In the course of short but fierce battles, 24 self-propelled guns with 90-mm guns were destroyed or captured by the allies. After Italy's surrender, the surviving SPGs were captured by German troops. In 1944, the Semovente da 90/53 self-propelled guns took part in battles against the Anglo-American troops in the north of the country. The same fate befell most of the surviving 90-mm towed anti-aircraft guns. Throughout 1944, the German troops had at least 250 90-mm Italian anti-aircraft guns under the designation 9 cm Flak 41 (i) at their disposal.
