Canon of 88 mm

The Flak 18 was a general-purpose and effective weapon used during the Second world war by the forces of the Axis, leading the Alliés required an equivalent answer in the urgency.

History

The growing effectiveness of the Aviation at the end of the First World War creates the request for an artillery able to counter it. The staff of the Axe lance a project studied by Krupp Ag which initially associates Bofors because of the restrictions on the basis of field gun is the 77 Austrian mm then increased with 88 Misters.

The first specimen of the gun is manufactured in 1928, under name 8,8cm Flak18 L56, this last figure defining the length of the tube (either 56 times gauge). It is used successfully during the war of Spain but one notes minor defects and a too important weight which requires two axles. It is shortened to become L36.

In May 1940 it is used horizontally and breaks the offensive of the armoured tanks British Matilda and B1bis French in north east of France. It is useful then with brilliance at the time of the countryside of North Africa and during the Opération Barbarossa.

It equips the Tigre I and then under various versions the Nashorn, the Elefant, the Jagdpanther and the Tigre II. The lighter tanks the such Panzer IV and the Panther are equipped with the 75 mm long.

Until at the beginning of 1945 its version PAK 43 has only one counterpart about on its level at the Allies, the 76/55 British who equips the Sherman Firefly and the hunter of tank '' Achilles ''. The the United States then put on line the 90 mm of the M26 Pershing and the Soviets the series of the JS with gauges reaching 122 mm, this last, not having been conceived like anti-tank gun, was less powerful in perforation of shielding than the 88mm L/71. The Jagdtiger is equipped with a gun of 128 Misters.

To note that in the German nomenclature the ammunition are indicated in centimetres (example: 8,8cm in the place of 88mm).

Employment

The principal use is related to the anti-aircraft fight ( Flak in German). The power of the gun in shooting of goal in white against the shieldings of the enemy tanks justified its loading on turrets of Panzer via of the models adapted by the technical engineers of the Armament, once the latter were sufficiently broad so that it is possible.

Anti-aircraft artillery

The gun of 88mm in its alternative Flak was dreaded pilot S of bomber S and tanks Alliés.

The research undertaken as of the First World War (first “acht-acht” in 1916) as regards anti-aircraft guns leads to the creation of the Flak 18 (1933), then Flak 36/37 (with shield, in 1936) of Caliber 88 mm, a length of 56 gauges (88L56) and equipped with a cruciform foot. This heavy anti-aircraft gun is in equipment in the formations Flak of the Luftwaffe, for the defense of the Reich, and in the heavy anti-aircraft units of divisions of the Wehrmacht.

These units, in particular the 7th Panzer Division carried out by Rommel, will discover a new role to him: that of anti-tank gun. Towards 1940 - 1941, at one time when the standard gauge of the Pak (anti-tank guns) is of 37 mm, the " 88" at initial high speed used in tended shooting proves to be the best anti-tank device available. The units Flak have then, in Africa particularly, more destruction of tanks to their credit than the Pak .

The shells are then built in version anti-tank device ( panzergranate ) and a modified version of the 88 is born in 1942: the Flak 41 , equipped with a mounting reduced, more specifically anti-tank and anti-aircraft. Another modified version is intended for the tank Tigre: the KwK 36 . Lastly, a completely anti-tank gun will be adapted: the long Pak 43 of 70 gauges. The Flak 36/37 and 41 will remain throughout the war the gun DCA standard of the defense of Reich, shouldered by a heavier version, the Flak 40 of 128 Misters C' is one of the best (if not the best) anti-aircraft guns and anti-tank of the war.

  • 88mm FlaK 18,36,37 and KwK 36 L/56 (88x 571R)

    • Carried: 15 km in tended shooting, 10 km in altitude
    • Weight: 7,2 T with the train, 5 T in static position
    • Weight of the Shell: 9,4 kilograms
    • initial Speed: 820 m/s
    • Rate of shooting: 12 to 15 Being useful blows/min.
    • /Men: 11
  • 88mm PaK 43 and KwK 43 (88x 822R)
    • Weight of the Shell: 10,4 kilograms
    • initial Speed: 1000 m/s
  • 88mm Flak 41 (88x 855R)
    • Weight of the Shell: 9,4 kilograms
    • initial Speed: 1000 m/s

However, its lack of mobility as well as the destruction of almost all rolling stock in the last months of the year 1945 will leave the principal anti-tank role with the Panzerschreck and the Panzerfaust, weapons of heavy infantryman, towards the end of the war.

KwK 36: the gun of the Tiger

  • Canon of 88 KwK 36 (team the Tiger I). See.

KwK 43: the gun of the Bengal tiger

  • Canon of 88 KwK 43 L/71 (team the Tiger II). See.

Operations

War of the desert

One of the tactical tricks of Erwin Rommel, called the fox of the desert , was to employ the Canon of 88 mm during the first exchanges of the war of the desert. It uses its light tanks as pickups in order to bring the average tanks Matilda of the VIIIe Armée, so problems with their panels of reinforced side shielding, with range of the anti-aircraft guns used in horizontal shooting (tended), which proves very effective to destroy them while remaining out of reach because of their higher rise.

On the face of the east

The Soviet tanks advance until being stopped by a defense equipped with weapons with long range, like the guns of 88, which open fire with precision, whereas they are out of reach of the opposing embarked weapons. But this superiority is of short duration, because the Red Army is always accompanied by a powerful artillery of bombardment. Being useful German must thus take down quickly under penalty of being crushed. This concept is then much more accessible to a hunter of tanks, which has of a higher mobility and a powerful armament, in particular the Jagdpanther V.

See too

Internal bond

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