Germany
After Germany's defeat in World War I by the Treaty of Versailles, it was forbidden to have and create anti-aircraft artillery, and anti-aircraft guns already built were subject to destruction. In this regard, work on the design and implementation of new anti-aircraft guns in metal was carried out in Germany secretly, or through dummy firms in other countries. For the same reason, all anti-aircraft guns, designed in Germany before 1933, had the designation "arr. eighteen". Thus, in case of inquiries from representatives of England and France, the Germans could answer that these were not new weapons, but old ones, created during the First World War.
In the early 30s, in connection with a sharp increase in the characteristics of combat aviation - speed and range of flight, the creation of all-metal aircraft and the use of aviation armor, the question of covering troops from attacks by attack aircraft arose sharply. In these conditions, large-caliber machine guns and small-caliber anti-aircraft machine guns of 12, 7-40-mm caliber, capable of effectively hitting rapidly moving low-flying air targets, turned out to be in demand. Unlike other countries, Germany did not begin to create large-caliber anti-aircraft machine guns, but concentrated efforts on anti-aircraft machine guns (MZA) of 20-37-mm caliber.
In 1930, Rheinmetall created a 20-mm anti-aircraft gun 2, 0 cm FlaK 30 (German 2.0 cm Flugzeugabwehrkanone 30 - a 20-mm anti-aircraft gun of the 1930 model). The ammunition known as 20 × 138 mm B or Long Solothurn was used for firing. 20 × 138 mm B - means that the caliber of the projectile is 20 mm, the length of the sleeve was 138 mm, the letter "B" indicates that this is an ammunition with a belt. Projectile weight 300 grams. This ammunition was widely used: in addition to the 2.0 cm FlaK 30, it was used in the 2.0 cm Flak 38 anti-aircraft gun, in the KwK 30 and KwK 38 tank guns, in the MG C / 30L aircraft cannon, and in the S-18/1000 and S-18 / anti-tank guns. 1100.
The anti-aircraft gun 2, 0 cm FlaK 30 in the version for the ground forces was installed on a towed wheeled carriage. The weight in the firing position was 450 kg. Combat rate of fire - 120-280 rds / min, food was carried out from a round magazine for 20 shells. Sighting range - 2200 meters.
2.0 cm FlaK 30
The Wehrmacht began to receive guns from 1934, in addition, 20-mm Flak 30 were exported to Holland and China. This anti-aircraft gun had a rich combat history. The baptism of fire of 20-mm anti-aircraft guns took place during the Spanish Civil War, which lasted from July 1936 to April 1939. 20-mm FlaK 30 were part of the anti-aircraft units of the German legion "Condor".
The F / 88 artillery unit consisted of four heavy batteries (88mm cannons) and two light batteries (originally 20mm cannons, later 20mm and 37mm cannons). Basically, fire on ground targets was fired by 88-mm anti-aircraft guns, which had a long firing range and a high destructive effect of shells. But the Germans did not miss the opportunity to test the effectiveness of small-caliber assault rifles when firing at ground targets. Mainly FlaK 30s were used to shell Republican positions and destroy firing points. It is not known whether they were used against tanks and armored vehicles, but given that the maximum thickness of the T-26's armor was 15 mm, and the 20-mm PzGr armor-piercing incendiary tracer projectile weighing 148 g at a distance of 200 meters pierced 20 mm armor, it can be considered that the FlaK 30 posed a mortal danger to the Republican armored vehicles.
Based on the results of the combat use of the 20-mm Flak 30 in Spain, the Mauser company modernized it. The upgraded sample was named 2.0 cm Flak 38. The new installation had the same ballistics and ammunition. The Flak 30 and Flak 38 had basically the same design, but the Flak 38 had a 30 kg less weight in the firing position and a significantly higher rate of fire of 220-480 rds / min instead of 120-280 rds / min for the Flak-30. This determined its great combat effectiveness when firing at air targets. Both guns were mounted on a light wheeled carriage, providing circular fire in a combat position with a maximum elevation angle of 90 °.
Before the start of World War II, each Wehrmacht infantry division in the state was supposed to have 16 pieces. Flak 30 or Flak 38. The advantages of 20-mm anti-aircraft guns were the simplicity of the device, the ability to quickly disassemble and assemble and relatively low weight, which made it possible to transport 20-mm anti-aircraft guns with conventional trucks or half-track SdKfz 2 motorcycles at high speed. For short distances, anti-aircraft guns could easily be rolled by the forces of calculations.
There was a special collapsible "pack" version for mountain army units. In this version, the Flak 38 gun remained the same, but a compact and, accordingly, lighter carriage was used. The gun was called the Gebirgeflak 38 2-cm mountain anti-aircraft gun and was intended to destroy both air and ground targets.
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. To increase the density of fire on the basis of the Flak-38, a quad 2-cm Flakvierling 38 was developed. The effectiveness of the anti-aircraft gun turned out to be very high.
During the battles in Poland and France, the 20-mm Flak 30/38 had to fire only a few times, repelling enemy ground attacks. Quite predictably, they showed high efficiency against manpower and lightly armored vehicles. The most advanced serial Polish 7TP tank, which, like the Soviet T-26, was a variant of the British 6-ton Vickers, was easily hit by 20-mm armor-piercing shells at real combat distances.
During the campaign of German troops in the Balkans, which lasted 24 days (from April 6 to April 29, 1941), 20-mm anti-aircraft guns demonstrated high efficiency when firing at the embrasures of long-term firing points.
In the domestic memoir and technical literature describing the course of hostilities in the initial period of the war, it is believed that the Soviet T-34 and KV tanks were absolutely invulnerable to the fire of German small-caliber artillery. Of course, 20-mm anti-aircraft guns were not the most effective anti-tank weapon, but several cases of their destruction of medium T-34s and the immobilization or incapacitation of weapons and observation devices of heavy KV were reliably recorded. The sub-caliber projectile adopted in 1940 at a distance of 100 meters along the normal pierced 40 mm armor. With a long burst, fired from close range, it was quite possible to "gnaw through" the frontal armor of the "thirty-four". In the initial period of the war, many of our tanks (primarily light ones) were hit by 20-mm shells. Of course, not all of them were fired from the barrels of anti-aircraft machine guns; German Pz. Kpfw light tanks were also armed with similar guns. II. And taking into account the nature of the defeat, it is impossible to establish from what type of weapon the projectile was fired.
In addition to the Flak-30/38, the German air defense used in smaller quantities the 20-mm automatic 2.0 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.
2.0 cm Flak 28
In Germany, the gun became widespread 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 - 2.0 cm Flak 28 and 2 cm VKPL vz. 36. In the period from 1940 to 1944, the Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik Oerlikon company supplied 7013 20-mm cannons and 14.76 million shells to the armed forces of Germany, Italy and Romania. Several hundred of these anti-aircraft guns were captured in Czechoslovakia, Belgium and Norway.
The scale of the use of 20-mm cannons is evidenced by the fact that in May 1944 the ground forces had 6 355 cannons, and the Luftwaffe units providing German air defense - more than 20,000 20-mm cannons. If after 1942 the Germans used 20-mm guns for firing at ground targets quite rarely, by the middle of 1944 more and more small-caliber anti-aircraft guns were installed in stationary defensive positions, which was an attempt to compensate for the lack of other heavy weapons.
With all its merits, 20-mm anti-aircraft guns had little armor penetration and their shells contained a meager amount of explosive charge. In 1943, the Mauser company, by imposing a 30-mm MK-103 aircraft cannon on the carriage of a 20-mm automatic Flak 38 anti-aircraft gun, created the 3.0 cm Flak 103/38 anti-aircraft installation. 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 was carried out due to the energy of the powder gases discharged through the side channel in the barrel, and the work of the feed mechanisms was carried out due to the energy of the rolling back barrel. The new 30-mm unit had a double-sided tape feed. The automatic equipment of the gun made it possible to fire in bursts with a technical rate of fire of 360 - 420 rds / min. The Flak 103/38 was put into serial production in 1944. A total of 371 guns were produced. In addition to single-barreled, a small number of twin and quad 30-mm units were produced.
3.0 cm Flak 103/38
In 1943, the Waffen-Werke enterprise in Brune, based on the MK 103 30-mm air cannon, created the MK 303 Br automatic anti-aircraft cannon. It was distinguished from Flak 103/38 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. As a result, the MK 303 Br projectile had greater armor penetration. At a distance of 300 meters, an armor-piercing sub-caliber (BPS), called Hartkernmunition (German solid-core ammunition), could penetrate 75 mm armor along the normal. However, in Germany during the war there was always an acute shortage of tungsten for the production of BPS. The 30-mm installations were much more effective than the 20-mm ones, but the Germans did not have time to deploy large-scale production of these anti-aircraft machine guns and they did not have a significant impact on the course of hostilities.
In 1935, the 37-mm automatic anti-aircraft gun 3.7 cm Flak 18 entered service. Its development began at Rheinmetall in the 1920s, which was an unconditional violation of the Versailles agreements. The anti-aircraft gun automatics worked at the expense of recoil energy with a short barrel stroke. 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 bulky four-wheeled vehicle was a significant drawback. It turned out to be heavy and clumsy, so a new four-carriage with a detachable two-wheel drive was developed to replace it. The 37-mm automatic anti-aircraft gun with a new two-wheeled carriage was named 3.7 cm Flak 36.
In addition to the standard carriages arr. 1936, 37 mm Flak 18 and Flak 36 assault rifles were installed on various trucks and armored personnel carriers and 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). In April 1945, the Luftwaffe and the Wehrmacht had about 4000 37-mm anti-aircraft guns.
In 1943, on the basis of the 3.7 cm Flak 36, the Rheinmetall company developed a new 37-mm automatic 3.7 cm Flak 43. The gun had a fundamentally new automation scheme, when part of the operations was carried out using the energy of the exhaust gases, and part - due to the rolling parts. The Flak 43 magazine held 8 rounds, while the Flak 36 had 6 rounds. 37-mm Flak 43 assault rifles were installed on both single and vertically paired installations. In total, more than 20,000 37-mm anti-aircraft guns of all modifications were built in Germany.
The 37-mm anti-aircraft guns had good anti-armor capabilities. Armor-piercing projectile model Pz. Gr. at a distance of 50 meters at a meeting angle of 90 °, it pierced 50 mm armor. At a distance of 100 meters, this figure was 64 mm. At the end of the war, the enemy actively used 37-mm anti-aircraft guns to strengthen the anti-tank capabilities of infantry units in defense. The 37-mm assault rifles were especially widely used at the final stage during street battles. Anti-aircraft guns were installed in fortified positions at key intersections and camouflaged in gateways. In all cases, the crews tried to fire on the sides of the Soviet tanks.
A 37-mm automatic anti-aircraft gun captured by the Germans mod. 1939 g.
In addition to its own 37-mm anti-aircraft guns, Germany had a significant number of captured Soviet 37-mm 61-K and Bofors L60. Compared to German-made anti-aircraft guns, they were much more often used for firing at ground targets, since they often did not have centralized anti-aircraft fire control devices and were not used by German troops as standard weapons.
Medium-caliber anti-aircraft guns have been designed in Germany since the mid-20s. In order not to give rise to accusations of violating the Versailles agreements, the designers of the Krupp company worked in Sweden, under an agreement with the Bofors company.
In the late 1920s, Rheinmetall specialists created a 75-mm anti-aircraft gun 7.5 cm Flak L / 59, which also did not suit the German military and was subsequently offered to the USSR as part of military cooperation. It was a completely modern weapon with good ballistic characteristics. Its carriage with four folding beds provided circular fire, with a projectile weight of 6, 5 kg, the vertical firing range was 9 km.
In 1930, tests began on a 75 mm 7.5 cm Flak L / 60 anti-aircraft gun with a semi-automatic bolt and a cruciform platform. This anti-aircraft gun was not officially accepted into service in the German armed forces, but was actively produced for export. In 1939, the unrealized samples were requisitioned by the German Navy and used in coastal defense units.
In 1928, the designers of Friedrich Krupp AG began designing an 88-mm anti-aircraft gun in Sweden using 7.5 cm Flak L / 60 elements. Later, the design documentation was secretly delivered to Essen, where the first prototypes of anti-aircraft guns were made. The prototype was tested back in 1931, but the mass serial production of 88-mm anti-aircraft guns began after Hitler came to power. This is how the famous acht-acht (8-8) appeared - from the German Acht-Komma-Acht Zentimeter - 8, 8 centimeters - 88-mm anti-aircraft gun.
For its time, it was a very perfect tool. It is recognized as one of the best German guns of the Second World War. The 88-mm anti-aircraft gun had very high characteristics for that time. A fragmentation projectile weighing 9 kg could hit targets at an altitude of 10,600 m, the horizontal flight range was 14,800 m. The mass of the gun in the firing position was 5,000 kg. Rate of fire - up to 20 rds / min.
The gun, designated 8.8 cm Flak 18, passed the "baptism of fire" in Spain, where it was very often used against ground targets. The power of the 88-mm anti-aircraft gun was more than enough to "disassemble for parts" any tank or armored car at the disposal of the Republicans.
The first combat episodes of the 8.8 cm Flak 18 were recorded in 1937. Since there were practically no worthy targets in the air for these powerful guns, their main task at that time was the destruction of ground targets. After the end of the fighting in northern Spain, five anti-aircraft artillery batteries were concentrated in the vicinity of Burgos and Santander. During the Republican offensive at Terual, two batteries from the F / 88 were used to defend Burgos, Almazana and Saragossa. In March 1938, two batteries supported the Francoist operations in the Villaneva de Geva area with fire. At the same time, anti-aircraft guns were used with great success to suppress Republican artillery batteries.
The combat experience gained in Spain was subsequently taken into account when creating modernized models of 88-mm anti-aircraft guns. The most notable innovation is the bullet and shrapnel shield. Based on the experience gained during operation in the troops and during the fighting, the gun was modernized. The modernization mainly affected the barrel structure developed by Rheinmetall. The internal structure of both barrels and ballistics were the same. The modernized 88 mm cannon (8.8 cm Flak 36) entered service in 1936. Subsequently, the gun was modified in 1939. The new sample was named 8.8 cm Flak 37. Most cannon assemblies mod. 18, 36 and 37 were used interchangeably.
The modifications of the Flak 36 and 37 gun differed mainly in the design of the carriage. The Flak 18 was transported on a lighter wheeled cart Sonderaenhanger 201, so in the stowed position it weighed almost 1200 kg lighter than later modifications carried on the Sonderaenhanger 202.
In 1941, Rheinmetall manufactured the first prototype of a new 88-mm gun, designated 8.8 cm Flak 41. This gun was adapted for firing ammunition with an enhanced propellant charge. The new gun had a rate of fire of 22-25 rounds per minute, and the muzzle velocity of a fragmentation projectile reached 1000 m / s. The gun had an articulated carriage with four cruciform beds.
88-mm guns became the most numerous heavy anti-aircraft guns of the III Reich. In mid-1944, the German army had more than 10,000 of these guns. 88-mm anti-aircraft guns were the armament of anti-aircraft battalions of tank and grenadier divisions, but even more often these guns were used in anti-aircraft units of the Luftwaffe, which were part of the Reich air defense system. With success, 88-mm cannons were used to combat enemy tanks, and also acted as field artillery. The 88-mm anti-aircraft gun served as a prototype for a tank gun for the Tiger.
At the beginning of World War II, during the Polish campaign, heavy anti-aircraft batteries armed with Flak 18/36 guns were used very little for their intended purpose. MZA of 20-mm and 37-mm caliber perfectly coped with Polish aircraft flying at low altitudes, providing effective protection to their troops. During the entire campaign in Poland, heavy anti-aircraft batteries fired at Polish aircraft only a few times, but they were widely used to destroy ground targets. In a number of cases, the crews of anti-aircraft guns located in the forward battle formations of the German troops had to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the counterattacking Poles. Eighteen anti-aircraft batteries, concentrated around Warsaw, took part in the shelling of the Polish capital. Batteries of 88 mm guns also supported the actions of the German infantry during the Battle of Bzur.
8.8 cm Flak 18 (Sfl.) Auf Zugkraftwagen 12t
Self-propelled guns 8.8 cm Pak 18 on the chassis of a 12-ton Zugkraftwagen tractor showed themselves very well when firing at ground targets. Taking into account the fact that the self-propelled guns' armor was weak, they changed positions after 2-3 shots and the Polish artillerymen simply did not have time to detect them. 10 self-propelled guns were part of the 8th separate heavy artillery anti-tank battalion (Panzer-Jager Abteilung 8). The production of self-propelled guns of this type was limited to 25 units, since the chassis was considered not very successful.
In the spring of 1940, this division was attached to the 2nd Panzer Division, which was part of the 19th Corps under the command of General Heinz Gudarin. The self-propelled gun also performed well in France. On May 13, 1940, the 8.8 cm Pak 18 self-propelled guns were used to combat long-term enemy firing points on the Meuse River. 88-mm anti-aircraft guns successfully coped with the task assigned to them, suppressing the resistance of the French bunkers, which forced the French soldiers in this sector to surrender. Self-propelled guns went through the entire campaign, successfully used to fight French tanks. Later they took part in the invasion of the Soviet Union. The last of the SPGs of this type were lost in the USSR in March 1943. Subsequently, the Germans widely installed 88-mm anti-aircraft guns on various half-track and tracked chassis. These vehicles were used as self-propelled guns and anti-aircraft guns.
On a much larger scale than self-propelled guns, towed anti-aircraft guns were used in France. So, on May 22, 1940, 88-mm cannons from the 1st division of the anti-aircraft training regiment (Flak Lehr Regiment) fired at close range heavy Char B1 bis tanks from the French 1st Panzer Division. Within a few minutes, 7 tanks were knocked out. Two days earlier, a large group of tanks from the 29th Dragoon Regiment and the 39th Tank Battalion had been ambushed by artillerymen of the 1st Battalion of the Hermann Goering Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment. Shells from 88 mm anti-aircraft guns easily penetrated the frontal armor of both the French Char B1 bis and the British Matilda Mk I.
The acht-acht gun became a real "lifesaver" for the Germans, effective both in air defense and against ground targets. During the 1940 campaign in the West, the artillerymen of the 1st Anti-Aircraft Corps destroyed on the ground: 47 tanks and 30 bunkers. The 2nd Anti-Aircraft Corps, supporting the actions of the 4th and 6th armies, knocked out 284 tanks, destroyed 17 bunkers.
During the African campaign, 88-mm Flak 18/36 anti-aircraft guns, available in the German Afrika Korps, proved to be a deadly anti-tank weapon, largely devaluing the British superiority in the number and quality of tanks. Rommel's troops, which arrived in Africa, had only 37-mm anti-tank guns Rak-36/37, T-II tanks with a 20-mm cannon, T-III with a 37-mm cannon, and T-IV with a 75-mm short-barreled cannon. The British had well-armored tanks "Crusader", "Matilda", "Valentine", hardly vulnerable to German tank and anti-tank guns. Therefore, the 88-mm anti-aircraft guns were for the German troops the only effective means of dealing with enemy tanks.
Rommel initially had 24 Flak 18/36 at his disposal, but they managed to have a great influence on the course of hostilities. The guns were hiding and well camouflaged, which came as an unpleasant surprise to the British tankers. The Matilda Mk II attack of the 4th Tank Brigade ended in disaster for the British, 15 of 18 tanks were lost. In the trap that Rommel created by placing his 88-mm cannons near the pass, rightly called by the British soldiers "the pass of hellfire," of the 13 Matilda tanks, only one survived. " After just two days of fighting in early June 1941, the British lost 64 Matilda tanks. At the beginning of the African campaign, 88-mm anti-aircraft guns were installed in well-fortified stationary firing positions, later they were increasingly used in maneuvering actions, often firing directly from the wheels in the transport position. With this method of shooting, the accuracy slightly decreased, but the time of folding-deploying decreased many times. Using the features of the North African theater of operations, German troops actively used 88-mm guns during offensive operations. Before the attack, the guns were secretly advanced to the leading edge and during the tank attack they supported their vehicles with fire. At the same time, British tanks were shot from a distance at which their return fire was ineffective.
In 1941, the only German artillery systems capable of penetrating the armor of Soviet heavy KV tanks were 88-mm anti-aircraft guns, if you do not take into account, of course, corps artillery. During the war, 88-mm towed anti-aircraft guns were actively used to combat Soviet, British and American tanks on all fronts. Especially their role in anti-tank defense increased after the transition of German troops to strategic defense. Until the second half of 1942, when the number of 88-mm guns on the front line was relatively small, not many T-34 and KV tanks were hit by them (3.4% - 88-mm guns). But in the summer of 1944, 88-mm guns accounted for up to 38% of destroyed Soviet medium and heavy tanks, and with the arrival of our troops in Germany in winter - in the spring of 1945, the percentage of destroyed tanks ranged from 50 to 70% (on different fronts). Moreover, the largest number of tanks was hit at a distance of 700 - 800 m. These data are given for all 88-mm guns, but even in 1945, the number of 88-mm anti-aircraft guns significantly exceeded the number of 88-mm anti-tank guns of special construction. Thus, at the last stage of the war, German anti-aircraft artillery played an essential role in land battles.
Anti-aircraft guns 8.8 cm Flak 18/36/37/41 were very effective against any tank that participated in World War II. Especially in this regard, Flak 41 stood out. At a distance of 1000 meters, the Panzergranate 39-1 caliber armor-piercing projectile, which weighed 10.2 kg, fired from the barrel of this gun at a speed of 1000 m / s, penetrated 200 mm armor along the normal. Reliable protection from its fire was realized only in the Soviet heavy tank IS-3, which did not have time to take part in hostilities. The IS-2 of the 1944 model was the best in terms of resistance to fire from 88-mm guns among the fighting vehicles. In the general statistics on irrecoverable losses of heavy IS-2 tanks, damage from 88-mm guns is about 80% of cases. Any other serial tank of the USSR, USA or Great Britain did not provide its crew with at least any protection against 88-mm anti-aircraft guns at all.
In 1938, the 105-mm anti-aircraft gun 10.5 cm Flak 38 was adopted. Initially, it was developed as a ship's universal anti-aircraft gun. The gun had a semi-automatic wedge breechblock. Semi-automatic mechanical type cocked when rolling. The 10.5 cm Flak 38 cannon originally had electro-hydraulic guidance drives, the same as the 8, 8 cm Flak 18 and 36, but in 1936 the UTG 37 system was introduced, which was used on the 8, 8 cm Flak 37 cannon. free pipe. The system thus upgraded was named 10.5 cm Flak 39. Both types differed mainly in the design of the gun carriage. The initial velocity of a fragmentation projectile with a mass of 15.1 kg was 880 m / s, an armor-piercing mass of 15.6 kg was 860 m / s. Armor penetration of the gun at a distance of 1500 meters - 138 mm. Rate of fire - up to 15 rds / min.
10.5 cm Flak 38
The guns were in production throughout the war. Due to the large mass, which was 14,600 kg in the stowed position, the gun was mainly used in the air defense of the Reich, they covered industrial facilities and Kriegsmarine bases. In August 1944, the number of 105-mm anti-aircraft guns reached their maximum. At the time, the Luftwaffe had 116 cannons mounted on railway platforms, 877 cannons mounted fixedly on concrete foundations, and 1,025 cannons fitted with conventional wheeled carriages. Until 1944, they were practically not used against tanks. The situation changed after the Red Army entered the territory of Germany. Due to the extremely low mobility, 105-mm anti-aircraft guns were located as an anti-tank reserve in pre-prepared positions in the depth of the defense, in case of a breakthrough by Soviet tanks. At real combat distances, a 105-mm anti-aircraft gun could destroy any tank with one shot. But due to the large mass and dimensions, they did not play a big role. Only 105-mm shells hit no more than 5% of medium and heavy tanks. A 105-mm gun with a range of firing at ground targets of more than 17,000 meters was of much greater value in the case of counter-battery warfare.
In 1936, Rheinmetall began work on the creation of a 128-mm anti-aircraft gun. Prototypes were presented for testing in 1938. In December 1938, the first order for 100 units was given. At the end of 1941, the troops received the first batteries with 128-mm anti-aircraft guns 12, 8-cm Flak 40. This artillery system was characterized by a high degree of automation. Guidance, supply and delivery of ammunition, as well as the installation of the fuse were carried out using four asynchronous three-phase electric motors with a voltage of 115 V.
12.8cm Flak 40
The 128 mm 12, 8 cm Flak 40 cannons were the heaviest anti-aircraft guns used during World War II. With a mass of a fragmentation projectile of 26 kg, which had an initial velocity of 880 m / s, the reach in height was more than 14,000 m.
Anti-aircraft guns of this type were delivered to the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe units. They were mainly installed on stationary concrete positions, or on railway platforms. Initially, it was assumed that mobile 12, 8-cm installations would be transported on two carts, but later it was decided to limit itself to one four-axle carriage. During the war, only one mobile battery (six guns) entered service. Due to the stationary placement, these guns did not participate in the fight against tanks.
Among the Soviet weapons that fell into the hands of the Germans, there was a large number of anti-aircraft guns. Since these guns were practically new, the Germans willingly used them. All 76, 2 and 85mm cannons have been recalibrated to 88mm so that ammunition of the same type can be used. By August 1944, the German army had 723 Flak MZ1 (r) guns and 163 Flak M38 (r) guns. The number of these guns captured by the Germans is not known exactly, but it can be said that the Germans had a significant number of these guns. For example, the Daennmark anti-aircraft artillery corps consisted of 8 batteries of 6-8 such cannons, about twenty similar batteries were located in Norway. In addition, the Germans used a relatively small number of other foreign medium-caliber anti-aircraft guns. The most widely used cannons were the Italian 7.5 cm Flak 264 (i) and 7.62 cm Flak 266 (i), as well as the Czechoslovakian 8.35 cm Flak 22 (t) cannons. After Italy's surrender, a large number of Italian weapons were at the disposal of the German troops. In 1944, at least 250 90-mm Italian anti-aircraft guns, named 9 cm Flak 41 (i), were in service in the German army. It is safe to say that some of these captured anti-aircraft guns were used in the battles of the final stage of the war against our tanks and allied tanks.
German anti-aircraft guns of medium and large caliber during the war, in addition to their direct purpose, proved to be an excellent anti-tank weapon. Although they cost significantly more than specialized anti-tank guns and were used for lack of better, the anti-aircraft guns available in the anti-aircraft battalions of tank and grenadier divisions and in the anti-aircraft units of the Luftwaffe managed to have a noticeable impact on the course of hostilities.
