World War II Forums - View Single Post - anti aircraft used as anti tank (german 88)

Friedrich · #20 (**permalink**) June 21st, 2002, 03:57 PM

Hallo, gentemen!

Many of you have right points. It is good that you gave life again to this old post I had not seen. (Then I did not know this forum existed to my sorrow...)

Mighty 88 mm cannon entered service during WWI as an antiaircrat gun. We had already used our lighter 75 mm cannons against British Mk and French Renaults in 1918. Our infantry was defenseless against those iron monsters...

Then, during the Spanish Civil War the 88s were modernised and used for their initial porpouse, but some offucers and artillery men found out at once that the cannon had a lot of qualities as an antitank gun, common artillery cannon and of course as an antiaircraft gun.

Then, as Timo said, during the invasion of France in 1940, when French Mechanised divisions of DeGaulle and British armoured brigades attacked the flanks of the 7th Panzerdivision in Arras, Rommel ordered to use the heaviest guns available (88s) to counter attack the allied attacks. Because the 20 mm, 37 mm, 50 mm and short 75 mm guns of Mks. II, 38(t), III and IV could not pierce the thick armour of Mathildas (the tank with the thickest armour in 1940) nor the Char Bs and other allied tanks. Also the standard anti tank gun 37 mm was useless. So, the long-range and rapid 88 guns, also easily carriable was used very effective. All the anti-aircraft artillery batallions that Panzerdivisionen had were then used as anti tank artillery because of the great adaptability (?) of the 88s. Then, Marshall Rommel learnt the lesson and a year later, when again he faced heavy Matildas with his useless Mk II's 20 mm gun, Mk III's 50 mm gun and Mk IV's short 75 mm guns... he remembered those mighty 88s and used them again in an even more effective way, using Alexander the great's tactics of pushing enemy tanks with his own tanks until the range of the 88s. When it was obvious for all German commanders then special ANTI-TANK 88s were produced ant distributed in the front with better results. That's the PAK 88, but the FLAK 88 was still being produced and used as anti-aircraft gun and used as anti-tank gun whenever necessary.