Volume 8 Issue 88

Published by
Orbis Publishing Ltd
@ $erospace Publishing Ltd 1985 .

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 Lighf AA Gu s
of \fib
1939 saw tactical air power take its place as a signifrcant
factor on the battlefield., its importance callinE for newero
morc effective method,s to protect forces onthe growrd.Iligh
volumes of light anti-aircraft fire were seen to be the answer,
withthe Wehrmacht taking the lead.
In 1939 the liqht antr aircraft gun was relatively new tn concept, For the
most part such weapons had calibres ol between 20 mm (0 787 in) and
40 mm (1 575 in) and were all capabie of putting rnto the air large
volumes of automatlc fire, T'hey were mainly intended for the defence of
an area of sky that extended to no more than 3000 m (9 843 ft) at best,
although they were usually ernployed against targets flying at altttudes
much lower than that
Most of the quns included in thls study had a cahbre of 20 mm, Thts
calibre had been established by the end of World War I as the optimum
for a projectlle that could carry a useful explosive payload and yet
remain economrc to frre automatlcally, but after l94l this calibre had to
be revrsed upwards in size as atrcraft targets increased in speed and the
degree of protection they carried, Some nations, such as Germany, had
foreseen this trend and had accordingly equipped wrth 37-mm ( 1 457-in)
weapons, and it rs rndicatrve that the best ail-round weapon rn this
category that was in service during the war years was the Swedish
Bofors gun with a calibre of 40 mm, one that ls still in widespread use
toclay, But the smaller-calibre weapons remained rn use even though the
only way that they could ensure a target 'kill' was to increase the number
r
I
Part of a battery of Z-cm Flakvierling
SSsmounfed on SdKfz 7i I B-ton half-
tracks. This gunl half- tr ack
c om t:inatio n w as dere/oped f o
provide aerial protection for
armoured formafions in the field.
of projectiles actually hitting the target Since to increase the rate of iire
of most guns would in most cases have entalled a major redesign ti'ie
only way to boost the weigllit of frre was to increase the number of barrels
firing from cne mountirq at any one lirne, The best exarnple of this
concepi cou I be seen with the change of the single-barrelled 2-cm Flak
38 to the four-bai:relled 2'cm Flakvierling 38, one of the Gerrnan
weapons mosi ieared by Alhed tactical flyers
Nol ail the guns include<l in thrs study attained the fame olthe German
hght Flak \ reapons. Some, such as the Schneid.er 37-mrn qun, were
somewhat less than successfui but others, sucli as the Bofors gun, the
Oerhkon cannon and the Sovjet Model 1939, are assured ol a place in
artillery, if not vuorld, history. They defended the ground forces agarnst
tactrcal attack aircraft and they clefendecl home areas agarnst more
formal bomber forces in a war rn'which the alrcralt became a dominant
weapon.
The crew of a Multiple Gun Motor Carriage M I6 are on the aleri )il Northern
Italy late in thewar. The Ml6 was aMaxson mount carriedon anM3 half track
andwas one of the more widely used of the mabileMaxson mounts. The first at
them were produced during early J 943 and they were widely used.
,,:l:|l, l,r*'t
li'::iif lri|11'ri' lf " i' 6:r'l
:
E USA

Maxson Mount
3ne of the main Amerrcan weapons both types of carriagre the guns were four machine-gllns to a new conflgura- Traverse:360'
croduced as a counter to the low-flytng supplied wrth rounds each, fed tnto
200 tion using two 20-mm cannon. Israel Muzzle velocity: BB4 m (2,900 ft) per
arcraft was not of the same calibre ai the gmns from belts carried in enclosed has adapted all the Maxson Mounts it second
i;.ie other weapons in this study, for chests mounted outboard of the guns. has in service to this new form, and Maximum effective ceiling: about
lstead of using what are normally re- On some turets the belts could be fed Brazil rs another nation takinQlthe same 1000 m (3,280 ft)
garded as cannon calibres, the Arner- into the guns under electrical control path. Israel continues to use rts mod- Rate offire: (cyclic, all gmns) 2,300 rpm
rcan solution used heavy machtne- but the normal gun action was more ernized Maxson Mounts on halftracks
gruns with a calibre of 12,7 mm (0.5 in), commonly used. but there rs a towed version as well, The crew of aMultipleGun Motor
This was the Maxson Mount, which The Maxson Mounts were normaily Carriage M16 relax on stand-by
used a combination of 'four 12,7-mm used to provrde protectron for convoys Specification close to the famous bridge at
Browning M2 heavy machine-guns on or mobile units against arr attack, and MaxsonMount Remagen. The crew have toned
a sinqle mounting with two guns on after 1945 continued to serve with Calibre: 12.7 mm (0,5 in) down the appearance of thevehicle
each side of a central pedestal-type many armres. Many are still in use to- Lengrth: (guns) 1,654 m (65.1 in) with hessian and a board over the
housing. The proper service designa- day but recent years have seen a Weight: in action 1OB7 kg (2,396 lb) tracks. Note the spare ammunition
iion for this arranQlement was Multiple move away from the retention of the Elevation: -5'to +85' magazines.
Caliber .50 Machine-Gun Carriage
M5i.
The Maxson Mount was used on a
varrety of different carriages. One of
the most common was a trailer towed
by a light truck or even a Jeep. Thts
trailer used twin axles, and rn action
legs could be lowered to the ground at
each corner to provrde increased sta-
brlity when frring. The trailer also car-
ried a number of batteries and a bat-
tery-charging set, for the Maxson
Mount was electrically powered. The
electrical supply was used for eleva-
tion and traverse, and the motors used
were powerful enough to meet the
most demanding calls made upon
them by the gnrnner, who sat on the
turret between the two pairs of
machine-gruns. The motors could move
the gmns from the honzontal to *60'in
one second, and the turret could
traverse at the same rate, In order to
keep the two marn battedes topped up
at all times, they were normally kept on
constant charge in action,
The combined fire of the four
Browning machine-gmns was suffi cient
to bring down any aircraft cauqtht in
therr fire, despite the fact that the
rounds carried no explosive payload,
The gnrns were aimed ustng a naval
reflector si ht but the tracer fired by
the guns could also be used to assist
aim and some qunners relied on the
tracer alone to make fire control cor-
rections,
The Maxson Mount was also used on
halftracks as well as towed trailers. On

A Maxson mount is dug in in the
So/omons. The gun layout can be
clearly seen, as can the box
magazines that heldup to 200
1 2.7 -mm (0.50 -in) rounds. The
gunner was seated between the guns
and used a reflector sight.
A Multip le C aliber 50 M achine-Gun
. carriagewas commonly kcnown as
Carriage M5 1 ts seen in action at theMaxson mount and the gunner's
Hollandia on New Guinea against helmet can j ust be seen protruding
low- tlylng aircr alt. This trailer- borne from between the magazines.

r742
 USA
Light AA Guns of World War II
37-mm Antiaircraft Gun MI
The development work that led to the
37-mm Antiaircraft Gun MI on Car-
riage M3 sedes started in ]92i, It was
yet another product of the fertile mind
of John M, Browning, who continued to
work on the grun until he ciied in 1926, It had been intended that the 37-mm
Development of the project then ( 1 -457-in) Antiaircraft Gun M I A2 was

lapsed until 1934, mainly as a result of
defence spending cuts of the period,
When work resumed it was not long
belore the gun was in productton, not
only for the US Army but for the US
Navy (37-mm AN-M4) and US Army
Air Corps (37-mm Aircraft Automatic
Gun M4 and MlO) as well, Production
started in 1940 under the auspices of
the Colt Company, andto some the gun
is still known as the Colt 37 mm.
The 37-mm ( 1.457-in) enrn was an un-
remarkable design that performed
well enougth, but it was rather iet down
by its ammunitrorr which proved to be
underpowered and was thus of iimited
value against low and fast aircraft
targets. Various production and car-
riage changes were rntroduced until
the MlA2 staqe was reached, and at
that point the British requested that the
Americans should use some of their
industrial potential to build Bofors gnrns
for them. A quick perusal of the Bofors
gmn convinced the Americans that it
was much better than therr 37 mm de-
siqn, and they promptly adopted the
Bolors in its place. But it was some time
before Bofors fabrication could qet
under way, so the MlAZ continued to
roll off the Colt production lines.
Somewhere along the line combat
analysrs revealed that manv anti-
aircraft gunners were not ustnq the
qnrnsights to aim their weapons but
were instead watchinq the tracer ele-
ments as they f,red and corectinq the
alm on-o the larger by this means
alone While this was, and still is a
positive way to aim a QIun, at calibres of
37 mm and above, it soon becomes an
uheconomic practice on any scale.
Accordingly a new Combination
Mount M54 was developed that car
rred two 12.7-mm (0.S-in) Brovrning
heavy machine-quns, one on each stde
of the central 37-mm barrel. As the
machine-quns were ballistically very
simrlar lo the main gun lherr tracer
could be used as the aiming element
and once on target the main gnrn could
be fired, This worked out very well in
practice, Most of these combrnation
mounts were used on halftracks or on
board US Navy vessels right through
and after the war, but there was a forces, lorig after they have c:rr=:
drawback as iar as the orrginal desig-
nels were torcerned: iar lrom using
the two machrne-quns as the arminql
elements of the combrnation, many en-
thusrastrc qunners contrnued to use all
three weapons to fire tracer all the
time thereby negating the onqdnal in-
tention.
During the war larqe numbers of
MlA2 guns and combrnation mounts
were delivered to the USSR as part of
Lend-Lease Many of these weapons
never found their way back to the Un-
ited States and stlll appear in odd cor-
ners of the world where Soviet influ-
to be the standardUS Army light anti-
aircraftweapon, but the Bofors Gun
took ovet that role. However, the
M I A2 rem aine d in production un tiJ
there were enough Bofors Guns to
hand.
ence rs paramount. Some re:.-:- -.
service wrth Warsaw Pac: :--...' -
from use in the West
Specification
MlA2 on Carriage M3AI
Calibre: 37 mm (1.457 in)
Lengrthof piece: 1.980 m (78.2 ::.
Weight: in actron2TTBkg (6.121t:
Elevation: - 5" to +90"
Traverse:360'
Muzzle velocity: 853 m (2,800 i. i=:
second
Maximum ceiling: 5669 m (lB €l - ..
Rate offire: (cyclic) 120 rpm
Projectile weight: 0,61 kg (1 -?1'r

;offih oertikon
The 20-mm Oerlikon gun has a rather First introduced in its earliestfonr, tt
long history, stretchinqi back as far as 1914, the Oerlikon 20-mm saw its
1914 when it was produced by one widestservice as anavalweapon. as
Reinhold Becker in Germany. Ver- here, mounted on the escort carrie!
sions of this gun were used duringt HMS Trumpeter onconvoy duty in
World War I as German air force 1944.
weapons, but in 1919 Becker transfer-
red his brainchild to Switzerland
where it was produced by a flrm
.'--known that concern
as SEMAG untrl
was taken over by the Werkzeug Mas-
chrnenfabrik Oerltkon at Oerlikon, still
in Switzerland. Under this new con-
cern production of many types of Oer-
likon gun expanded greatly (the ori-
grnal Becker weapon as the Type F,
the SEMAG model as the Type L and
its own verston as the Type S), and the
usual practice of licence production
elsewhere soon followed. France was
one early manufactunng location (2-
cm Mitrailieuse C.A. Oerlikon), and much more 'formal' Later rn the war a
Japan another (Type 98). Sales were triple-gun mounting with the three
made worldwide, and Oerhkon air- qnlns one over the other was placed
cralt and anti-aircraft guns were a into productron and some of these
common sight rn many natLons. types of mounts were later used on
The Oerlikon was a qas-operated trucks
gun wrth the mechanism aclton
assisted by the larqe coil springs
arouno lhe barrel that were a recognl-
tion feature of the weapon. After 1935
the Oerlikon was produced in the Un-
ited Kinqdom for the Royal Navy so TheSwiss 20-mm (0.79-in) OerEkor-
that by 1939 there were considerable cannonwas manufactured in the
numbers of thrs Gun, 20-mm, Oerlikon United Kingdom andmany other
inuse, Thiswas justaswell, forby i940 countries, and was one of the mosl
they were being pressed into service importantweapons of its type inxsa
on land mountinqs ol all kinds. Some of during World War I I. Although used'
I these British mountings were simple in mainly as anavalweapon. many'
the extreme llut others such as the were employed by land forces. Tk:s
Haszard semi-mobile mount were is theBritishHB Mk I mounting-

I
20-mm Oerlikon (continued)

The Oerlikon normally used a 60-
round drum maqtazine for the feed sys-
tem, but a 20-round box magaztne was
used on some versions, rncluding
those used by the Germans, who knew
the Oerlikon as the z-cm Flak 28 or
FIak 29, and some ol thetr guns were
later passed to the Italians (Cannone-
Mitragliera da 20 Oerlikon). Over the
Atlantic the Americans were produc-
ing Oerlikons by 1940 as the 20-mm
Automatic Gun Mk IV, originally for
the Royal Navy but later for ther own
use, and the type was particularly use-
ful rn the Pacifrc aqainst Japanese
kamikaze attacks. Thus the Oerlikon
gun was another ofthose weapons that
started life in a neutral state but ended
up being used by all sides, and some of
the kamtkaze aircraft that attacked US
Navy shipprng were shot down bY
Oerlikon guns carried on those same
ships, flring back at aircraft that also
carried Oerhkon guns The sdme sltua-
tion prevailed in Europe, for manY
Luftwaffe arrcraft carried Oerlikon
quns of one type or another.
Many of the quns used by the United
Kingdom armed forces had their ori-
LJK
qrins rn Royal Narry models, but these
were fairly easy to adapt to a number
of land mountings, At sea most Oerlt-
kons were used on simple pedestal
mountings whatever naw happened
to be using them. Many are still in use
today (but oniy rarely on land) for they
continue to be a popular naval
weapon, which cannot be bad for a
design that can trace its oriqdns to 1914,
Since then it is probable that more
Oerlikon Guns have been produced
than any other weapon of their type.
Specification
AutomaticGunMkiV
Calibre: 20 mm (0,787 in)
Lengrthof piece: 2.21 m (87 in)
Weight: (qn-rn only) 66.68 kq (147 lb)
Eievation: - 10" to +75"
Traverse:360"
Muzzlevelocity: 831 m (2 725 ft) per
second
Maximum effective ceiling: 1097 m Twin 20-mm Oerlikons are cleaned years, the Oerlikon is now rarely
(3,600 ft) aboard the IndianNavy sloop HMIS encountered in towed form, although
Rate offire: (cyclic) 465-4BO rpm Narabda Jalem the war. Still in modern guns by the same firm are in
Projectileweight:0, 119 kq (0,2625 ]b) service a f sea a fter more than 70 wideuseonland.

Polsten
In many ways the Polsten gun maY be Oerlikon or a Polsten. The same The Polsten never replaced the kon is still in widespread productton
regarded as a Poiish rather than a Brit- mountinQi couid also accommodate an Oerlikon gun in service, for although there is no reason why they should not
ish weapon, but lt was produced only Amencan Hispano aircraft cannon, the Oeriikon was expensrve it was continue to work on fbr many years to
in the Unrted Kingdom, It had its ori- also in 20-mm (0.787-in) calibre. very robustly made and could last for a come.
Qrins in the fact that although the Oerli- One changte that was introduced as very long time Instead the Poisten and
kon qun was a highly successfui standard. on the Polsten was a new the Oerlikon soldiered on side by side Specification
weapon it was difficult to manufacture magazine. The old Oerlikon drum with the British army until both were Polsten (Universal Mounting)
and requrred a iarge number of magaz,ne proved lo be unpoPuiar in withdrawn some time during the 1950s, Calibre:20 mm (0.782 in)
machining processes, The Poles de- service as it was a bulky and awkward Even now Polstens continue to appear Lengrthof piece: 2, 178 m (85.75 in)
cided to make production easter: they item and took some time to load prop- at odd spots around the world, and as Weisht: (qun) 54 9 ks (121 ]b)
took the basrc desiqn but introduced erly. It was also very difficult to make the ammunition for them and the Oerli- Elevation: -5"1o +85'
changtes to make the weapon simpler and consumed a large number of Traverse:360'
They were just about to complete the machining operations On the Polsten Muzzlevelocity: 831 m (2 725 ft) per
pro;ect when the Germans invaded it was replaced by a vertical box second
Poland in September 1939. Subse- maqazine holding 30 rounds arranged Maximum effective ceiling: 2021 m
quently the members of the design rn a 'double-stack' conflguration that (6,630 fr)
team fled to the UK, taking their draw- was not only easier to load but which Rate of fire: (cyclc) 450 rpm
ings and experience with them and was much easier to chanqe on the gun Projectile weisht: 0, I 19 kq (0,2625 lb)
re-established the team there, They It was also far cheaper to make.
were jorned by expatriate Czechs and
some Britisir desrqners and tn tLme
their results were placed rn production
rn a weapon known as the Polsten ( Pol'
aiter Poland and 'sten' after the Brittsh
Sten Company, the same company that
manufactured the cheap and cheerfui
Sten sub-machine qun),
The Polsten was a remarkable piece
of desrgn dno Droducl:on engtneerlng,
The Oerlikon qun used 250 compo-
nents, but the Polsten reduced this to
i19; the costs were considerably re-
duced as a result. faliing ltom a nom.n-
al 5320 for the orrgdnal to between f60
and f,70 tor the Polsren. Not surpns'ng-
ly, as soon as the Polsten was ready it Above : B roken down into its
was rushed into production. That was operating position, a Polsten gun
in March 1944 and thereafter produc- sftor4/s tfie sparse construction of this
tion ofthe Oerlikon ceased tn favour of simplified, lightened version of the
the cheaper weapon well-tried Oerlikon.
Although the Polsten was cheaper
and easrer to make 1t was every bit as
effective as the Oerhkon ortqnal. The
Polsten could flt lnto any mountinq in-
tended for the Oerlikon, so 1t was used
in a diversrty of roies ranging from air-
craft gun to tank co-axtal weapon. On
grround mountings it was used as an
anti-aircraft gun on a Untversal Mount-
ing that could accornmodate either an

Right: A 20-mm (0.79-in) Polsten Mk I Gun on the Mounting, Universal Mk I

(t[e wheel outline is diagramatic). The Polsten was a simplified Oerlikon Gun
designed by a team of PolishengineerswhofledfromPoland to the United
Kingdomin 1939.
1744
 lviaastricht -The
of Death
The German columns advancing across Europe in 1940 should have presented rich
pickingsforAllied airmen. Unfortunatelyfor them, theGermanshadforeseenthe
threat from the air and had taken steps to cou nter it.
In May 1940 the German army attacked Bel-
gium, France and the Netherlands in a cam-
paign that was to be one of the most successful
miiitary operations of all time, In an operation
codenamed'Sichelschnitt' (srckle stroke), the
Germans attacked through Belgium to draw
forward the bulk oi the Britlsh and French
forces, and then cut through the Ardennes to
break through to the Channel coast, so drivrng
a corridor between the Allied northern armies
and the rest of France, By so dorng the Ger-
mans achieved a total victory that all but knock-
ed France out of the war and created a situation
where, but for luck, the entire strength of the
British army could have been lost,
The French campaign of 1940 was innovative
not only for the full use of the now-famous Blitz-
kneg tactrcs of the German Panzer formations,
bul also for the first use of anti-aircraft artrilery
on a grand scale. It may be argued that antr-
aircraft artillery had already come of age dur-
lng World War I, and that the Spanish Civil War
had provrded later indicatlons of what was to
come, but both of these examples bore little
resemblance of what was to happen rn France,
The equipments of World War I bore no re-
semblance to the automatic guns that were the
prlmary equipment of the hght Flak units of the
German army in 1940, In fact May I94O was to
be the frrst operational use of such weapons on
a major scale, The Polish campaign of Septem-
ber 1939 had provided them wrth few chances
to prove therr prowess, 1br much of the lll-fated
Folish air force had been driven from the sky
/ny ne Luftwaffe in the earty days of that liEhtl
nmg campargn,
Above:Anemplaced 2-cm Flakvierling 38 in the
original FIak 38 platform. All four barrels
discharged their spentcartridge casesrnlo a
disposal chute at the front.
Right:Gun crewsmanhandle their Z-cm FIak 30s
into position for towing early in thewar. Such guns
gave Allied pilols a seyere sftock
liftill
Both the British and the French air forces
were to learn exactly what the German hght
flak cou]d do during May and June 1940, Both
had little prior indicatron of what to expect,
Both arr forces were equrpped with what now
appear to be slow and cumbersome bomber
aircraft, though the Royal Arr Force considered
at the time that it was well-equipped with the
single-englne Fairey Battle and the twin-
engine Bristol Blenheim. Both carried what
seemed then to be a usefui bombload, and both
were equipped to carry out bombing attacks
either at high ievel or from low altitudes, in the
latter case relying on the pilot's ability to re:
lease the bombloads at the correct instant,
Neither aircraft carried much in the way of
defensive armament other than rearward-
facing machrne-guns.
A2-cm (0.79-in) Flak 30 is shown in action. using
On the ground the German army moved for- what appearc to be a special raised emplacemen:
ward its hght flak batteries with the leading probahly on a range ar on a static ftring positior:.
Ines pf troops and tanks As the Germans Raising the level of theweapon enabled the cre',','
moved forward they did so under a constant to serve the gun much more easily, making life less
screen of batterres emplaced ready for instant tiring over prolonged,periods of constant firing.
action, but in the early days of the advance
through Belgium and the Ardennes there was channels and it was these channels that pr:-,'=:
little enough ior them to do. Much of the Royal to be less than satisfactory when tried rn ac:--:-
Arr Force strength was in the north and was The French army headquarters did nc: 3.::--
expected to be used against the German forces municate to the Brrtish Expedrtionary :ct:=
advanclng through Belgium, but they were in- (BEF) direct but rather through a tortuous c:a---
itially little employed. Exactly why thrs hap- nel of lesser command levels, so orders -.';=:=
pened has to be discovered through the man- frequently delayed or lost simply because .:.=
ner in which the French and British lorces co- correct maR was not at his supposed lcca:-::-
operated. Both the Royal Air Force squadrons when necessary, Added to this was the le.r.a:
in France and the French air force were there gy tmposed by the months of the 'Phone-v 'rr,-a:
primarily to support their armies in the fi.eld, that had prevarled since September olthe i:=-
Thus orders for the squadrons came vta army vlous year,
 :i:li'::}ai:
Around the bridge lay a heavY
ancentr ation of G erm an mobile
batteries. As the B attles
light flak
made their bombing run theY meta
hail of automatic fire.
So as the Germans carried out their lnitial
drawing actions by moving through Belgium
and attacking the Netherlands, the Allies did
little in response other than to advance into
Belqium to take up preasanged positions The
Allied air forces took little part in this operation,
despite the eagerness of the Royal Air Force
AdvancedAlr Striking Force (AASF) comman-
der, Arr Vice-Marshal P.H. L, Playfair, He had at
his disposal 10 squadrons of Battles and
Blenherms and his remit was to use them where
they could be most effective, (One of his secon-
dary functions was to bolster the French air
forie's bomber strength, for despite the
numerical strenqth of the French in the air they
had oniy about 100 bombers, and ofthose only
1746
a quarter were modern.) On l0 May the AASF
was awaiting orders from the French com-
mand, but none came. The French were still
uncertain of the German intentions and were
apparently staying therr hand. In the end Play-
fair decided to go ahead by himsell and sent
off a force of Battles to attack a German column
that had been observed moving towards Lux-
embourg.
The result was a harbinger of what was to
come. The attacking German column was in-
deed a powerful one, but was moving under its
own light flak screen. Thus as soon as the Bat-
tles arrived overhead the German gunners
were waiting and ready, They could not be-
ireve therr good fortune for the Battles had
been ordered to attack from a height ofabout
76 m (250 ft), not from any tactical necessity but
because there was no deienslve top cover
available from the Hawker Hurricane fighter
squadrons, By sending the Battles ln iow, it was
hoped that they would escape the worst atten-
tions of the l,uftwaffe, As it was they made
perfect targets lor the light flak, The ]arge span
of the Battles combined wrth thelr slow speed
ensured that every aircraft became the reci-
pient for a storm of accurately-aimed fire, With-
in seconds of starting their attack three of the
Battles had been shot down and every one of
the rest sustained damage that rendered them
useless once they had retwned to base, often
with wounded or dead crew members.
Another failure
Despite this failure, another attack was tried
in the afternoon of the same day with the same
resuits. During the day 32 Battle sortles were
sent out: 13 of them were lost and every one of
the rest sustained damage of one sort or
another. Not all of these casualties can be
assigned to the light flak, for the Luftwaffe was
usually waiting nearby to pounce once the flak
area had been cleared, The Luftwaffe pilots
kept clear ofthe flak-defended areas, for they
had learned the hard way that flak gnrnners
were (as they still are) apt to open fire at any
target that presented itself in range and ask
questions regarding identity afterwards
The next day was given over to reconna$s-
ance missions, the Battles and Blenheims again
being involved, again to their cost, Eight air-
craft were dlspatched and only five came
back. In contrast, two Blenheim squadrons
attacked troop concentrations in the afternoon
and came back with only light casualties. But
this was not the tast raid of the day: in the same

'. :.,r. :. t:::,::.i.::rlr',j..:;:i :1i;.'.'-l.ll
-*.+*':..J''.s
r Ail the bomFdii,E:th
a t at ta c ked
Maastricht on'l2WIav were shot
down. Two days later,28 outof3T
were lostover theMeuse bridges,
and the triumph of the FIak Artillerie
was complete.
afternoon eight Battles were sent to attack col-
umns spotted near Luxembourg and none of
them returned, for unbeknown to them the Bat-
tles flew over areas where the main force of
German Panzers was massing for the advance
to the Meuse and the subsequent dash to the
Channel coast, If the presence oi this armour
had been reported to the Allled high com-
mand, the subsequent course of the campaign
might have been dlfferent, As it was, the light
flak shot the Battles from the sky and those that
survived were pounced upon by the Luftwaffe,
Instead, Allied attention was still focused
upon Belgium, where a German advance had
taken bridges over the Albert Canal at Maas-
strrcht. The Germans had crossed the canal on
l0 May, and once across had ensured straight
away that large numbers of hght flak batteries
were moved up to defend the bridges. Around
each of the two main bridges, one at Maastricht
ttself and the other at Vroenhoven, the batter-
ies emplaced themselves, marked off the va-
rious sectors each was to defend, brought up
piles of ammunition, and waited, All this was
known to the Allied high command, but on 12
May they decided that an attempt had to be
made to cut the brrdges, Belgian and French
attempts to cut the bndges by shell-fire and
high-level bombing had failed, so the British
were asked to have a go.
In what now seems to have been a vastly
overambitious plan it was decided to make the
attack using only six Battles, three to each of thb
bridges. The squadron allocated the unenvi-
able task was No, 12 Squadron, known then as
now as the 'Dirty Dozen' or the 'Flyrng Foxes'
from their squadron crest, It was decided that
tn view of the nsks involved, only volunteers
should take part. in the mrssion, In a response
that is now part of the best traditions of the
Royal Air Force all avarlable crews volun
teered at once and the aircraft were made
ready wrth 113 4-kg (250-1b) bombs,
When it came to the take-off only five of the
six Battles were serviceable, and despite the
sixth crew switching to another aircraft the five
took off without them, Three of the Battles flew
to the metal bridge at Maastricht (actually at
Veldwezelt) and started their attack.
Single hit
The defensive response was overwhelming
as rt was just what the flak crews were expect-
ing, As soon as each Battle came within range it
was met by a curtain of tracer that soon found
the range and riddled each airframe with
she]]s. Within seconds all three aircraft were
hrt and brought down, Only one Battle crew
survived lo spend the pexl five years ln a pris-
oner-of-war camp, The other two Baltle crews
fared no better, In the attack on the concrete
bridge at Vroenhoven both were shot down
and their crews were krlled, The net result of
these losses was a single hrt by one bomb on
the brrdge at Maastricht, and the littie damage
caused was soon repaired,
These losses had been inflicted by the light
flak batteries with no help from the Luftwaffe,
but they brought no immediate change to the
ili;
li:a ;::,::,:i.:1_r.:;:i:r_..r,
.
j.lr'r::r1;ii.l':;,.ral
.r1:,!lfir:t:::-.):,i,jl]itiir,r
{
f iaii:i:ji i ::.:i::i.i::
ri::;:t, ,,l
ll:. :ti;l::;.:jratj.i;j,
tr.rir',;i::;:r.;.lii,.:ii
, -:::il:nil r:.:::r:.-1.1
it:ii i ::i1:.,..::..:,:::
.,.i.l "l
ts-s
fortune of the Battle squadrons in the remaiit-r,l:
days of the French campaign. On 14 Ma-; := -
tles attacked another series of brrdges -:-
time pontoon brrdges across the Meuse ::
Sedan, and at first casualties were hght T:::-
matters changed and it was the death-kte- :-
the Battles. In the course of one hour that a:::-
noon 28 aircraft were lost out of a totai c, :-
attacking. in its entire history the Roya- -:-:
Force has never sustalned casualttes grea::]
than these, and it meant the virtual end o, ,:-=
AASF, Although more missions were laur.ic-:r:l
it meant a breaking up of old squadrons to <=:c
others going and gradual withdrawal as :::
Germans advanced across France to the ccas-
What was perhaps the worst resu-lt for .::
AASF squadrons was that their casualties :r-i
been suffered for so few results, and the C=:-
mans hardly checked in thelr forward mon:::-
tum at any stage,
But ol course there were results rn the r::,;
term, The power and efficjency oi the Gen:--.
light flak weapons was duly acknowledq:i
and future ground-attack aircraft were tc i:
much faster, better protected and provri=d
with much better offensive weapons. I: is :
salutary exercise to contrast the success oi ::-:
Typhoons in 1944 wiih the failure ol the Ba:-..:s
only four years earlier: the Typhoons also :al
to contend wlth the German hght flak, bui --:-=.
fared immensely better. They at least h:.';
what to expect, whereas the Battle cre',..'s :-
1940 did not
 ,-!. Type 98 20-mm Machine Cannon
The Army Type 98 20-mm Machine
Cannon was a Japanese army weapon
tntroduced into service in 1938 and
was desrgned from the outset as a dual-
purpose weapon capable of use
agalnst alrcraft and armoured ground
targets. Thus it had a rather odd-
lookrng carriage that added to its
somewhat archaic appearance Thrs
appearance was deceptlve for the
Type 98 was a thoroughly modern
weapon wlth good overall perform
ance
the carriage was ralhe. "rgh and
mounted on two spoked wooden
wheels that. were used to move the
weapon, either as a towed unit behrnd
a light truck or anrmal team, or by man
handling. Once in position the tratl legs
opened to form the rear components of
a tripod wrth another outrigger leg for
ward Once the tripod had been de-
ployed the wheels were lifted off the
ground to permrt 360' traverse with the
gunner/aimer behrnd the gun on a
small seat If requrred the entire
weapon could be broken down rnto
separate loads for animal or man-pack
transport. It was possrble to flre the gun
dtrect from the wheels but since the
weapon had a rather hiqh centre of
qravrty it soon became unstable;
moreover, it todk only about three mr-
nules 10 aet lhe grr inro 6611en on t,.
tripod with a two- or three-man crew.
The Type 98 was a very hard-hrttrngr
weapon This was due marnly to its
20-mm (0.787-in) ammunltion, which
was simrlar to that fired from the Type
97 anti-tank rifle, thougrh the Type 98
ammunition used a sliqhtly ionger and
/
fi-** Scotti
./The ltahan army had two standard 20-
nm r0.787-int antl-dtrc dtt weapons Ln
servrce during World War II One was
the Breda and the other the Scottl or to
grve it its full ltahan designation, the
Cannone-Mitragliera da 20177 (Scotti),
which was also known as the Mitrag-
liera Isotta Fraschini from the produc-
tion facrlrty where it was manufac
tured the name Scotti comes from
Alfredo Scottr, the desrgner The Scotti
was fust mooted rn 1932, and the rnitial
examples were produced ln Swltzer
land at the Oerhkon works, whtch no
doubt accounts for the use of a drum
magazrne very similar to that of the
Oerltkon gun This drum was later dts-
carded in favour ol 12-round trays.
Compared wrth the Breda the Scotti
was a far simpler weapon. It resem-
bled the Oerlikon gun in some re-
spects, but used a different mechan
ism It was much easier to manufacture
than the Breda, but desplte the use ofa
longer barrel the Scotti's overall per
formance appears to have been rn-
ferior to that of lts contemporary The
same ammunitron type (toqether wtth
its super-sensitrve fuse) appears to
have been used, bul the maximum
effectrve ceiling was lower than that of
the Breda whrch indicates a drfferent
propellant charge. To balance thrs
aQlalnst targets at low altrtudes the rate
of fire was slicthtiy higher and for the
benefit ofthe qun crew the Scottr was
hghter than the other $/eapon.
The Scotti appears to have kleen
used in smaller numbers than the Bre-
da but it was also used by other na-
tions. Before 1940 many Scottis were
sold to various South American natrons,
)748
wider cartridge case Thrs cartndqe
enabled the Type 98 projectrles to
penetrate 30 mm ( 1 18 in) of armour'at
a ranqfe of 247 m (270 yards), so the
effecr of he sarre pro ectLlo agatnsr a
low-flying aircraft can well be im-
agrned According to many accounts
the Type 98 was used more rn the anti-
arcraft than anti-tank ro1e, desprte the
fact that rts cyclic rate of flre was rather
low (120 rounds per minute), de-
creased rn servrce by the use ofa box
maoaz.ne holdLng 20 rounds Ln re"-
tical row. "
A twrn-barrelled versron of the Type
98 was produced insmail numbers but
this was not the only other 20-mm
weapon used by the japanese By 1944
anti-arrcraft guns were 1n qreat de
mand and all manner of odd weapons
were impressed for the role Surplus
aircraft cannon were one source and
the Japanese navy often gave up pre-
cious weapons for extemporrzed
mountings in the defence of strateq[c
islands. Amonq these were 25-mm
(0 98-in) cannon that were lifted direct
wr h therr original naval mountrngs rnto
shore-located weapon prts rn srnqle-,
double- and triple-barrelled mount This Type 98 is emplaced for the anti- The seemingly high carriage is
ings. These Navy Type 96 25-mm aircraft role and has the barrel iat full converted to a low and stable firing
Machine Cannon weapons had a per- elevation. The 21-round box platform for the anti-aircraft role;
formance very srmrlar to that of the magazine is fitted, and here the note the combination of a muzzle
Army Type 98 and were used by army figure I 1 points to a cocking handle. brake with a rather short barrel.
personnel. To provLde these navy
weapons with mobility, some were Calibre: 20 mm (0.787 in) second
mounted on simple sledges for towrng Length ofpiece: L46 m (57 5 in) Maximum effective ceiling: about
across level ground. Weight: in actron269.77 kq (593 lb) 3650 m (1 I 975 ft)
Elevation: - 10'to +85" Rate offire: 120 rpm
Specification Traverse:360' Projectile weight: 0 136 kq (0.3 lb)
Type 98 Muzzle veiocity: 830 m (2,723 ft) per
and it also appears that many made the
long journey to China. After 1942 the
ease of fabrication of the Scotti (com-
pared with the more complcated Bre-
da) led to an increase in Scotti produc-
tion totals, but the type never seriously
challenqed the number of Bredas in
service. Before 943 many Scortrs were
I
used by Cerman troops operatLng rn
North Africa as the 2-cm Scotti (i), and
once the ltalians had surrendered the
Scotti became an established part of
the German inventory for units based
in ltaly. It was certarnly used by Ger-
man units operatinq against the Yuqo-
siav partisans and there seems to be
enougrh evidence to state that after
1943 the Qnlns were kept in production
at the Isotta Fraschrm facrlity in Tunn
for German ust2,
TVro versionsi ofthe Scotti were pro-
duced. One wasa semi-mobile version
that could be carried on trucks and
dismounted for usei once off the truck it
could be manh..ndled on a rwin-
wheeled carriage, thouqh in action the
gun rested on a ligrht flat tripod mount-
ing, The other version was static, with
the gmn on a pedestal mounting. This
latter version was used mostly on the
Italian mainland, and after 1943 num-
bers of them were taken over by Brit-
ish troops for the local defence of coas-
tal artiliery positions, A-fter 1945 the Weight: in actron 227 5 kq (502 lb) The Cannone-Mitragliera de 20/77
type was used for some years by the Elevation: - 10'to +85' (Scotti) was uscd alongside the
re-formed Itahan army Traverse:360' Breda as the standard Italian army
Muzzie velocity: 830 m (2.723 it) per )ight anti- air cr aft c annon. I t w as
second longer than the Breda and could use
Specification Maximum effective ceiling: 2135 m a 60-round drum magazine, but I 2-
Scotti (7 005 ft) round trays could also be used. Two
Calibre: 20 mm (0 787 rn) (cyclic) 250 rpm
Rate offire: types were produced, one static and
Length ofpiece: I 54 m (60.6 ln) Projectileweight: 0 125 kq (0 276 lb) the other fot towing by light trucks.
 20-mm Breda
One of the two standard Itahan 20-mm
(0.787-in) AA guns was the weapon
known to the Italian army as the Can-
none-Mitragliera da 20165 modello 35
(Breda) It was flrst manufactured in
1934 by the Societa ltaliana Ernesto
Breda of Brescia a company that was
no stranqer to weapon production but
whose staple actrvity was buildingr
locomotives and trucks, The Breda gun
was designed as a dual-purpose
weapon for use against ground and air-
craft tarqets and was taken into ser-
vrce by the Italian army in 1935,
The 2O-mm Breda gmn was a very
effectrve weapon and was much used
by the Itahan army, It had a rather com-
plicated twin-wheeled carriaqe that
coulo oe rowod into actron behind
truck, but it was light enough to be
manhandled over considerable dis-
tances and it could even be broken
down into four pack loads for man car-
riaqe or mule transport, In actron the
gun reqr-rired a team of three men: the
armer sat on the qun and used a com-
plex teiescopic sight incorporating a
predictor function Ammunition was
fed into the gun on 12-round trays, and
the feed mechantsm contalned the odd
Italian feature ofplacingr the spent car-
tridge case back into the tray once it
had been fired, Exactly what functron
this feature was supposed to impart rs
uncertain, but it appeared on several
Itaiian automatic weapons and at least
had the advantage of keeping the gun
position tidy.
Against ground targets the gmn flred
armour-piercing rounds. Aircraft
targets were engaged with a high ex-
piosive projectile that incorporated a
very sensitive percussion fuse to oper-
ate against light aircraft structures The
projectrle also had a self-destruct fea-
Iure if it dro nor hit a targel The rripod
platform ol lhe gun provrded a sready
base for flring, and against aircraft the
qun proved to be very successful,
Against tanks it was less effective but
any weapons captured by the Allies
d:nng lhe North AJrican campargns
were usually mounted on the liEtht
armoured cars of the day to provide
them with more offensive capability
than that provided by the usual
machine-gnrns, The Germans also took
over numbers of Breda gn-rns for their
Light AA Guns of World War II
own use in North Africa under the de-
sigrnation 2-cm Breda (i), and the ltalian
surrender of 1943 meant that ali gn-rns
on the Italian mainland immediately
changed to German use, Much farther
afleld some Breda guns were also
used by varrous ofthe warring Chinese
military factions.
Apart from the modello 35 there was
also a modello 39 This was a much
more complex weaponi it used the
same gun as before, but allied to a
statrc pedestal-rype mountlng on
which the gmn itself was suspended
below curved arms that carried the
sjghring system, Thrs verston was
usually retained for the defence of the
Italian marnland.
d
Specification
Bredamodello 1935
Caiibre: 20 mm (0,787 in)
Lengthof piece: 1,30 m (51.2 rn)
Weight: rn action 307.35 kg (678 Ib)
Elevation: - 10" to +80' Members of the Slovak division operating with the
Traverse:360o Wehrmachtaremanning a 20-mm Breda. Following the
Mwzle velocity: 830-850 m (2,723- Italian surrender, Germany commandeered much of the
2,789 ft) per second equipment of the Italian army, often giving it to their
Maximum effective ceiling: 2500 m dwindling number oI allies.
(8,202 ft)
Rate of fire: (cychc) 200-220 rpm
Projectile weight 0, 135 kq (0.298 ib)
One very prominentfeatureof the
20-mm (0.79 -in) B reda gun was the
long sight arm arrangement, which
was meantto keep the gun sight in
tront of the aimer's face at all angles
of elevation. lt worked very well, but
was rather complex and heavy, and
elsewhere much simpler design
solutions were usually found.

40-mm Bofors
The 40-mm Bofors gun has by now pas-
sed virtually into legend as one of the
most successfui weapons of its type
that has ever been produced, and rt
was used by nearly all protagonists
during World War II and a measure of
rts effectleness can be seen by the
fact that it is still in service to this day.
The 40-mm ( I 575-in) Bofors gun had
its ongins rn a l92B request from the
Swedish navy for AB Bofors to desiqn a
light antr-aircraft gun. The flrst weapon
was manufactured in 1930 and was
subsequently produced in srngrle- and
twin-gun mountings for the navy, and
on a mobrle ground mountingr for the
army. It was this latter versron that be-
came the most famous, for rt was soon
seen to be the best qun of its type
available It had a high muzzle velocrty
(making it an ideal anti-aircrait
weapon), it fired a good-srzed projec-
tile with a worthwhrle payload that
could bring down virtually any arrcraft
that it hit, and the mounting and car-
rraqe were relatively light and handy
to use in action. Within a few years
orders were flooding into the AB
Bofors factory at Karlskroga but, more
tmportantly at the time, a number of
foreign governments negottated for li-
cence production of the gun and its
ammunition, These nations included
Hungary, Poland Finland, Greece
Norway and many other countries as
well, Thus by 1939 the Bofors gun was
in productron all over Europe for many
armies in a bewildering afianqement
of cross-deals, For instance the United
Kingdom took out a hcence, but was in
such a hurry to re-arm with the Bofors
gun that it also purchased quantities
from Poland and Hungary, France
wanted to set up a line but purchased
gnrns from Poland.
Some nations, such as Poland, in-
corporated their own modifications,
contributlng a lighter carriage (in the
40-mm armata przeciwiotnicza wz 36)
which was later adopted by the British.
Progressive developments to the car-
riage and sights were gnadually intro-
duced and there were manv and va-
rious models of naval mountings. Some
of these variations are covered seoar-
ateiy, though the gun itself chanqed
but little. It used a robust clip-fed
mechanism in which the sequence
was automatic once the gunner had
pressed the trrgger. As he did so a
round was rammed into the breech,
the breech closed and the weapon
fired, the spent case berng ejected
ready for another round to be fed, all in
a sequence that conttnued as long as
the trigger was pressed. If the barrel
became overheated 1t could be raoid
ly changed,
After 1940 the marn centres of Bofors
production were the United Kingdom
(Gun, AA, Mk 1) and the United States,
where the origrnal Swedrsh design
was reproduced virtually unchanged
as the 40-mm Gun ML On the German
side productron. was continued at the
Konqsberg Arsenal in Norv,a.r:-: *.=
by the German army and rhe Lr.,. --r
as the 4-cm Flak 28 (Bofors). In :-= l=:
Easl weapons caplured rn rhe l*:-':.
East lndies were used b-; ::,=
lapanese. The Sovier Lnron r=C=.'.-=:
some numbers of Bofors iror:- .:,:
Amerrcans under Lend-Lease. s: :
can be seen that Bofors guns',ier3 -:.
acilon on all fronts rhroughout th= ,'.
=:
Specification
Bofors gnrn
Calibre:40 mm (1.575 in)
Lengthof piece:2,25 m(88.6 rn)
Weight: in action 2460 kq (5,423 li.
Elevation: -5'to +90'
Traverse:360"
Muzzle velocity: 854 m 12.802 f1 r c=:
second
Maximum ceilin g: 7 2AA m (23,622 :',
Rateoffire: (cyclic) 120 rpm
Shellweisht:0 89 kq(1.96 lb)
Bofors 40-mm Gun, AA
Following Polish desrgn ideag when Britain began
Iicence manufacture of theBofors itwas decided to
simplity construction of the mounting. The Mk 2
carriage depicted had tubular stabilizing
outriggers instead of the riveted box of the original
Swed[sh Mk L Even today the Bofors remains in
service w ith almos t 40 countrie s'

tl

{
t l-lk I Ligrht AA Guns of World War II
The ffisffmws Sgmww
Along with the ZA-mm Aerlikon, the $afors Nll36 X60 40.-mm -
anti-\ircraftgrun ftas sorne cjat'rn to being an artillety *lassie ' It
js sfi]i serv:n g worldwide a{ler mare than 5A years '

- noLlen ire irrsl operal;ondi Bo o s lgni AA g:n -1 scl v7o' roprovo'J or

'classic'
.uiu-.""rt earlV as 1930, 1re version thai is rnosi remembereci as the
:orr to.il,ru land-based antt-aircraft role was kncwn 1o AB Bofo.s as the mi36
-io- ,ti year of rntroduction, name y 1936. The m 36 was the basis fiom whrch
alithe other Bofors gun variants sOrbng, and it is also worthy cl note for.the tact
rnat bv then the qun"des qn ltself was'frozen'. Later changes Lo {he Bofors gLln
,verc aln-rost e*c'iusrvelV"associated with the carrtage, fcr once ihe gun desrgn
'.\oS coil'cctn"no'urlner c'.ra..]qes \Ae'a nocessa'y.
lt"*nrf ,l u1 ;",1to *lamlne the gun itse f beTore dealing laler"rvith its many
tor*i ol iari,nge. The gun used a ioig slender barrel that was 60 calrbr-es long,
i n. eO tirnu. $i" calibre"of 40 mm (1.5U S in), but thrs was a rromrnai figure The
frii.r*f ir"ti *utdesigned for raprd changing when lt becarn.e.worn or tco hol f.rf
i irth"r rt" after prol6nged f iring. This cfiange involved lhe labour of a lew men,
Hl,i.nura te ciri'ied ou"t wiihin"mrnutes b/a trained crew Althcugh the land-
-gofoo
OiseO qun barrels were air-cooled' many naval installailons, especially
tnose n"ade irithe United States, used watercoolinE lackels. Fai'ther back on
tne gun what appeared to be the gun body was in fact argely.thc arrlrnun t ln
f eed"mechanrsm, f or the gun ttself ended only
just to the rea r ot rhe polnt v/nel e
tne ftarret met the 'receiv6r'. The bi-eech mechanism used a verllcal siiding block
iliontrrrtion, tf'e ttiass cartridge case of the fed round provrdrng conrpele
seaiing. For f iiing a five,round cliI was fed ]nto the amrn,rnrliron feed guides on
r-"p of if.," grn O"perating a lever ied one rounC into the f eed mechanistn, 'rvhere
i iriltbJ intrt ine rnecianical trigger was pressec, though)lope.ration oi the
cal vosnarl cr: '
.r ooercl dnotcct-arlvi.ret-equn.lnatvrascllieoculJilon
.-:'seq"ence *ne:"ay tue op'erarron o' tne tr gqe al'Jvrecj i're ro-^o :o bc eo Few Janding craftftad a:ryanti"aircraftweapons of their own. or crew to ntan
'"io1i e nreecn which'then-dutomaticallV cios[], th-^ round rnyas fir-ed and the t&enr, -qo anJ" unjls carr:ed J:ad fo Llse ti/fta{ever weai>ans they carried- Here
sibsequent recoil forces re opened the breech. electeci irie spent case.and lhe *ew af a Ea/ars $an sfands -re ady !.a take on any tatget thal appears,
.oif"O tf'.," t""d mechanlsm ready for the next round to be f ed, and the whole pralsa?tly dtaing fhe run-up fo theJun* 1944 D-fray Jandings'
,t!tn then returned io its original postron under the power o{ the reiul'n sprlng
-:o nii-" q-" oa cl As rier,rrned Lnc ne\r roundl"tot ed a o 'o o' Ar lne Poios were the fir-si 1c realize that thev coulC be rnade simpler atrd considerably
.riir crew h"ao to do while the gun was firing was folLow the iarg+t and Ieep iicl-rier, and soon tntroduced ihis ieaturs onto the glns they produced a{ their
,.plrq up ihe ieaciy rounds in-the ammr-tn iion feed guides uii"njl rr Srarachorn;ice. The Poles were among 16e first to supply completed
ctLlns to tne British before 1939, and ihe British ncted the changes they had
Bofors onthe move intrcdr-,ce1 ancj contec1 them on the early vei'sions produced in the United
qun ons
^e ca'r aqe'orlne Bo'ors o'a s mp e l-''l ao e 01 a rc:l J ^ Kirrqclon. Bul er,,en',rnith these changes thr: British later decided io go one
- 'lc'icd"'eo ' no'eJ{ betier, ar-:o in place cf the box section girders introdtced tubLllar sieeJ struts
- ^" g-e bi-rte i:'r"ge \,\as
inoue tne on tvu ' o ine n'o--r
'--,- connecteo 1yv6-v113elecr a\ trs '01r "^J 'ca' Tl-: siJe -ou'L' 9 wrriJl r"equrred .o .veiing or welcling, aiid which were aiso much lrghter than
'.t" totCeO jpwarOs
'6 on the move. Getting the.gurl nto act on took only a the legiLi tt'ru poti.l, veisi,-;n. This;tubular-' version later became the Brilish
-.,t *"tu
'.it .inr1"i unJ inln it co,.rlci be f ireid 'oftihe wheels', alihouEn th;s
"*niguncy
:lact:cJ iould introduce so"me lnstabllity at ceria n bari-e1 angles and was not Dugffr foprot€cf * rjrrercros"sjn g inltaty, anM j 4A-nm Eun crew stands ready
:.c:u raged. fcr:actiari, with the tr.!r rfiund of rle five-round cip jusf vrs;ble abave ffie
-.;iuoliqinafm136formthecarriageusedheavyborsectronsforlheoutrrg*qer breec"i?-.At J?0 raunds per minufe lfte siip n"ou Id take twa and a ftaJfseconds
.rt, unC dn" of the early changes njade to the carrrage ;nvolved these legs The to fire.

.. ....-....]
:. =....
::: l

''ll -'
 LiEht AAGuns of World War ir
::.,r vei'sion of lhe carlage as the Piatform M< 2. But since prcduction I
=s foi- the box sectir:n carrraoes exrsted these were kept n use and
'-.:t:on I

untii w'eIafter 1945 Tie Amerrcans dLd not introduce any major
- I.y -u 5\VeO \n toIiree Jps gn. a.- "eld teo lntr lVpe i-
. -.':,crure r-rghtOr.q.2
through ilre war, no douor th nkrng that productron totals
. -rre important f'rdn design detarl changes. The Americans knew the
Lj, 40.n;r, Crrr V L
u-; tne
- i.' lleArno,C.ns'lroprooJLea ghlWegnlversicn 1ownaSl^rN15
: .!as only on-. of severalaite mpts by gurn and carriage designers rn drfferent
-,- es to prociuce a light version {or- use by airborne forces or in theatres of
. ,.rch as Burma, where any mprovements n portabilrty or reduction_of
..-: I size rreant a qreat increase rn mobrlity. One of these was developed for
A1 . v .,.t On; T r1,. j3^no,u^ oroduceo o \ur\ Smdti Carr,dg^ tnol
. -to. 3 :i^qe r. e,no',Ats.aoWrr.rs thnBanlarr TreAmei'can M5was
,, :j-.signeci thai it could be carried in a Douglas C-47 (Dakota), bltt some
, - r:.: ng rlown cf the gun equipment had to be Carried out before th s couLd be
U ott" Y

Self-propelled Bofors
'.'cbility of another krnd carne when the Bofors qun was piaced on se f
olelg2 r:rqp" ITroBr .;>TI L (,rJO-JC . qU p-en(s ntO5-r\.Ce.Onebeng
-=:lrcuntingofarsinqlegunorr thehuLiofobsoLeieCrusadertai'rksandtheother
. --rch simpier convdrsi6n of Morris-Commercral or Ford 4 4 trucks. The Latter
:.s one of the most prolif ic Bi rtish self -prope led anti-aircraft weapons. and was
y rsu.d The Arrerlcans, however, by lar exceeded the British n the
-e
-r-ler of cxoerirents thcv nrade. Various fornrs of tank and halftrack chassis
,.
-re r-rsed foi- trials of all (lnds, some of them border ng on the b za're. For
rtarce. there wa.c a halftrack rnountrno known as th-^ T59 with two Bofors
:,.'.'s. one above lire o1her. Thi:; combinat-.:on was too much for the vehrcle and t
JrOcS V OVa Ocded ] -e p'C Lr o A-e'C.;'" o,:duCeJ On \ OnC Se-V Ce
-rpon mcurrtinq lire Boiors. Th:s was the M'1 9, a twin-narrelleC mounting on
: huli cf an M24 iiqht tank whrcr entei'ed sen"'ice rrr mid-1944.
. --ne Ax.> sirJe o' t,
-:nges "tcnco, I C' 8..:ors gJ^ -rtcc,!\c^ some con>.oa'cDlc
, at the hands of the Hunllar airs. Therr-major contribution to the Bcfors
--rr wasln the sighirng aruangements, f,:r they introduced an early form cf
.:cal prediclor sight that operated electrcally. Target speed and heght in
, |rratron, alonq witlr some otnei data, were fed lnto ihe siqht before an
--jeEement, and the sight th--n p ed cted the target's future path and off-set
.l-n lcr i I r-n afcL'd nqlT - ' A - e'cars ,L rf $r;1ih ntroCuced the 'dr
. e b-l<v Kril s-rt P ed tto' o r >dme p..-pose. b- rnis wds a cdr lra red
.- prneni tnat cou d tr;nsmri ciata to the jun!, a couTSe of actron that led in
tc nn..fe :At{er +S I' BO,c qJn5 Ue r)J L)perdlecj Unoe. re,fCIe contfol Above : A Bofors 40-mrn ( 1 5 7 5 -in)
.
--r.x a centra positon, ihe gun cr6ws srmpiy feeding in the arnnrunrtion. Gun rs seen jn a ction during the brief
3ut it was l-.ft to lhe Hirncir,an-q io ..hrrrn out what mL;st have been the most Syrian campaign of 1941. Thegun is Below:When the expected arc:.:'.
).jal vets on c' lnc Bo'cr, q .- :trJ lLr ne Wo'd War .. -ney -aoe tlrei' anearly model with na crew targets failed to appear af ter ::.:
--is at the Stratrsbitkerna, pari,:f tne Hungar"nn state railway concern, and in protection and sr'mp/esrghCs,ifems l944Normandy )anding, man; a::..
.'.-e proouced 3 \iers on oi the gun that was carried in Hungarian arr force thatwere aJtered later in the aircraftweapons were usei r-r : :-: =;
:sserschmitt I'le 210s. Th s vanani \^ras produced only in small nurnbers, but production run. Nofe tie ope.fi roles. Here a Bofors gun appe.:; ::
.:s used with considerable success by Hungarian piiots as'tank busters'. ammunitian bax in the foreground be jn use as a tarlk ambush.,, eaa::
.'ortunately, ferr,r Cetarls cf thrs interesiing use of the Bofors gun have sur- andfftewfteejs andaxlesstillanthe --.
arnidtfterurns oicaumont. or .,
.:d th-. war. carriage. 1944.

'w :.-

.:

,-=,

4"lj'
 FBANCE
25-mm Hotchkiss
Between the world wars the French
army retained qreat weapon stock-
piles from World War I, and with them
a military phiiosophy that deait only in
terms of World War I battles, Thus
when it came to considerations of anti-
aircraft weapons it was decided that an
updated '75 (the famous 75-mm/2,95 in
Model 1897) was all that was required,
and that a new 12.7-mm (0.S-in) hearry
machine-gun would suffice for low-
level defences. The French arma-
ments manufacturers, includrng Hotch-
kiss, thought otherwtse and rn 1932
brougtht out a new 25-mm (0.98-tn)
automatic weapon and presented it to
the military authoritres
The response was neqative. The
staff planners saw no need for a capable of berng moved tf requtred.
weapon such as the 25-mm Hotchkiss
and were unwilling to constder the
type. They did agree to carry out trials
with the new gmn, but that was all and
by the mid-1930s 1t appeared that the
project was defunct. Then came the
Spanish Crvil War, and French military
observers on the spot soon noted that
there most deflnitely extsted a re-
quirement for a weapon heavier than
machrne-guns to counter the actlvitLes
of ground-attack aircraft. Thus there
was a rushed order to Hotchkiss for
large numbers of its 25-mm weapon
, But this order was beset with uncer-
ii?:'** Schneider
The 37-mm Schneider gntn was pro-
duced rmtially during the early 1930s,
and was at the time rejected by the
French army whrch could then see no
reason for obtaining such a weapon. A
similar Hotchkiss proposal met with
the same response The Schneider
concern decrded to go ahead with de-
velopment oi the design under its own
auspices, and in time these efforts
were rewarded by a number of exPort
orders from natrons such as Romanta,
More were taken by the French navy,
but the numbers involved were never
large.
The Spanish Civil War changed
French official thinking to a radical de-
gnee: it was now clear that the bulk of
the anti-aircraft weapons used by the
French armed forces were at best
obsolescent or, in the case oflow-level
defence weapons, ineffectle, Accor-
drngly large production orders were
placed for weapons inttially to supple-
ment and eventuallY to rePlace ex-
strng stocks, But in the case ofthe 37-
mm guns the French staff planners
'.n.ere in somethtng of a quandary, for
ihey had nothinQi in what they came to
regard as the medium-calibre brack-
et At the bottom end 12,7-mm (0.s-in)
and 25-mm (0.98-in) weapons were
selected, and at the upper end of the
-;eapon bracket the old '75s (75-mm/
2 95-in) weapons were being updated
ard new desiqns were in prospect: but
::rere was nothing in the medium
i:racket and so a rushed procurement
proeramme was established,
The Schnetder 37-mm gun was an
:lmediate candidate for selectlon, but
:: the same time lt was appreciated
.:at it was not a very satisiactory
r;eapon The gun itself had a rather
s:-cit barrel (resultinq in a lack of
:a:qe and power) and the ammunition
-;.'as also not particularly powerful,
Lloreover it was considered that the
:=nage was too heavY and awkviard,
tainties reqfardrng rates of fire, type of
carriagre and so on it was late 1938
before the order was finally sorted out
and by then things had got a bit out of
hand, for Hotchkiss had alreadY
started production of a model for
Romania and the French order meant
changes to the design and the produc-
tion line But eventually the guns
started to flow from the factory.
There were two types of 25-mm
Hotchkiss. One was the Mitrailleuse de
25mm sur affut universel Hotchkiss
Modete 1938, which was a light
weapon transported on a sinqtle-axle
carnage; the other was the Hotchkiss
moddle 1939 which was a heavier
weapon intended for static use but
Both were basically srmple and adequ-
ate weapons with a hlgh rate of flre and
qood ammunitron that was also tn
tended for use aqainst ground targets if
the opportunlty arose Thus an armour-
piercrng prolectile was avatlable. A
version for use by the French navy was
produced uslnq d pedes'dl mounttng
and just before the Germans rnvaded
France in May 1940 Hotchkiss Pro-
duced a twin-barrelled variant known
as the Hotchkiss moddle 1940, which
did not qet past the inrtial trials stage.
The matn problem ior the French
army was that the Hotchklss produc-
Only a few (some sources say 20) of the 37-mm (1 .457-in) Schneider guns were produced for the French army, as the
ii|ponwis originally producedfor export.Itwaspassed over infavour of theSwedish BofotsGun after 1938'
and took too long to QIet into actlon,
Thus although the Schneider gun was
ordered as the Mitrailleur de 37 mm
Schneider moddle 1930 it was onlY
ordered in parallel wlth the Swedtsh
40-mm (1 575-in) Bofors from Poland
An order for 700 Schneider quns was
placed with deliveries hopefully ex-
tendrnq into 1941. In the event only
some 20 had been produced bY the
time the Germans invaded; this hand-
ful was emplaced around Paris and
thus never qot a chance to take any
part rn the events of MaY and June
1940,
This delay in deliverY was caused
marnly by production and other trou-
bles at the Schneider factorles. The
tron lines could not churn out the guns
rnsufficrert numbers. Despjte warl-me
urgency, the Hotchkiss worl<s were
beset by rndustrial troubles and other
delays to the extent that when the Cer-
mans rnvaded Fronce only Jusl over
LO0O Ho chkrss quns weltr rn setvicr.
whrch was way below the numbers
required In the event those that were
produced mainly fell into the hands of
the Germans. Some were retarned by
the Vrchy French armed forces and
some used by the Free French in the
Middle East, but the bulk that suwlved
May 1940 were rmpressed into Ger
man use and issued to vanous units
based rn Francet some were later in-
corporated into the Atlantic Wail
beach defences. The German de-
signations were 2.s-cm Flak Hotchkiss
38 and 2.5-'cm Fiak Hotchkiss 39.
37-mm qun was not easy to manufac-
ture, ahd rt took time to establish the
production faciiities In fact things qot
so far behind schedule that by early
1940the French army planners actual-
ly approached the United States and
requested largle numbers of Colt 37-
mm antr-aircraft quns, Nothtng came of
thrs venture beloro the Cetmans tn-
vaded.
Thus rne Schneider 37-mm gun
faded from the scene. The numbers
taken over by the Germans were too
small to be considered lor the usual
inclusion rn the German tnventory, and
by the time 1945 came around they had
all apparently vanished into the scrap
furnaces Thus the Schneider qun may
There are two main models of the
25-mm (0.98-in) Hotchkiss cannon;
thjsr's tfiem/e 38 ready for towing,
but minus the usual muzzle flash-
hider. Other versions used differing
barrel and sighting arrangements.
,
Specification
Hotchkiss moddle 38
Calibre: 25 mm (0.98 tn)
Lenqthofpiece: I 50 m (59 ln)
Weight: in action 850 kg (t,874 lb)
Elevation: - 5' to + BO"
Traverse:360"
Muzzle velocity: 900 m (2,953 ft) Per
second
Maximum effective ceiling: 3000 m
(9,843 ft)
Rate offire: (cyclic) 350 rpm
Projectile weight: O.29 kq (0 64 ]b)
be regarded as one of World War II's
least successful weapons,
Specification
Schneidermoddle i930
Calibre: 37 mm (1.45 in)
Length of piece: not recorded
Weight: in actron 1340 kq (2,954 lb)
Elevation: 0" to +80"
Traverse:360'
Muzzlevelocity: 800 m (2 625 ft) Per
second
Maximum effective ceiling: 3000 m
(9,843 ft)
Rateoffire: (cychc) 175 rPm
Projectileweight: about 0 55 kg
(1,21 lb)
 Flcll( Artillerie!
Trained to operate closelywith tacticalaircraft, theWehrmachtwaswellawareof
he value of an efficient anti-aircraft defence.ln spite of the politicalinterference
endemic in the Third Reich, when war came German arms were more effectively
shielded from air attack than any other.
',',:ren
the German army started to re-equip
:-lng the early 1930s, the liqht flak arm was
=:rirely new, Nothrng simrlar to it had been
:ar.t of the German army during and after
-,'"-orld
War I, so rt had to be built up from
s:ratch, working out its own internal arrange-
:ents and its own operational policies. Unfor-
.:nately thls had to be done wrthin the ex-
:lemely odd and factional structure of the poh-
-cal realities withrn Nazi Germany, One of the
casic ienets of the Third Reich's political struc-
:,lre was that no single organizatron could have
sole control of any particular state activity or
lnction, Thus the pohce lorce had to have a
:ivrl and a party orqanization, and even down
.l operational matters such as light antr-aircraft
lefence the responsibrhties had to be splrt. So
as the German army was re-arming for its new
arr-defence role, the Luftwaffe was also busy
ioing exactly the same. There was supposed
.c be a division of responsibrlities between the
army and the Luftwaffe in that the army hght
l:lak formations were intended for the defence
:f the held armies against attack, while the
-uftwaffe's responsibility was supposed to be
:he defence of the Reich itsell What actually
rappened was that there developed many
areas where responsrbrlrtres overlapped and
cecame confused. For instance, was a light flak
-rnrt defendrng its home barracks inside Ger-
riany to come under army or Lultwaffe control?
Such argnrments abounded, and reflected not
:nly on the control ofhght flak organizations but
:ven down to matters such as the procurement
:f weapons and equipment as they left the
,actories, Despite the imposition olrigrd quotas
:y high command levels, new equipmenl was
ds.'.=;==*&€iii;
frequently the cause of interservice squabbles,
and these grew in number and acrimony with
increases in the number of Waffen-SS units in
the fleld,
Many of these interservice squabbles were
never cleared up, and as the German war situa-
tion deterioraied they generally grew in
quantity and severity rather than died away,
Thus when dealing with such matters as the
organization and equipment of light flak units it
would be as well to remember that the 'perfect
case' examples provided were often not
achieved in reality. A unlt bound for the field
would often frnd its equipment or ammunition
'hijacked' by another arm, despite the obvious
results in many cases, In general the army
tended to be at the bottom of the prle when
equipment allocations were being considered,
and thus although a certain army field unit was
supposed to be equipped wtth haiftrack trac-
tors for its guns, it was frequently issued with
impressed French civilian trucks or something
similar. Some units on the Eastern Front often
had to use animals to tow their guns into action
when fuel ran out. Thus the picture of a super- A mittlerer Zugkraftwagen 8t half-track mounting
efficrent German war machine was not always a 3.7 cm ( 1.457 in) FIak 36 guards an I talian bridge
borne out rn reality. during September I 943. Some of these Flak 36-
Desprte their many differences in policy and armed half tracks had armoured cabs for the
priorities, the German army and the Luftwaffe driver and towed a trailet catrying extta
ammunition for the main gun.
generally organrzed themselves along similar
lines as far as the light flak units were con-
cerned, Although the bulk of this section will This early example of a mittlerer Zugkraftwagen 8t
carries a Z-cm (0.79-in) Flakavierling 38
deal wrth the German Army, Luftwaffe units somewhere deep in the Soviet Union during late
were very similar in most respects, although 1941 . This vehicle is towing a trailer that not only
inevitably there were some difierences, Later carried extra ammunition but also carried the
the Waffen-SS also tended to organize itself crew's kit and day-to-day supplies, as well as extra
alonq army lines, fuel for the vehicle.
I
**
=:A
Flak Artillerie!
In broad terms, German army liqht flak untts
.,vere divrded into two main types, motorized
and non-motorrzed. The non-motorized units
lwere intended mainly for the defence of rear
areas and static emplacements such as bar-
racks and stores dumps. They did have a mea-
sure of mobility and were allocated some trans-
port, but this was frequently withdrawn from
]rem ior other purposes, In contrast the moto-
rued units were intended to move into the fleld
;,'rth major formations and were equrpped
accordingly. The transport equipment, tf one
believes the many war-time accounts of these
'.:eits, was meant to comprise halftracks, though
-: practice trucks of various kinds were far
_T,OIe Common.
The field untt most generally used at high
-evels of command was the Flakregimeni, Thts
:culd take a number of forms, comprising
:::her three mtxed Flakabierlulgen (batta-
i.is light half-ttackmounts aZ-cm(0.7g-in) Flak 38, andwas known as the leichteSelbsfahrlafette SdKtz 1014, ustng fhe chassis of the I tonhalf'trackSdKfz 10
t"ri"tl?hj" is seen du ring theGerman drive onStalingrad in the summet of 1942, and is towing an ammunitiontrailer.
"r"mple
lions) or a mix of two schwere Flakabteilungen
(heavy battalions) and three leichte FlakaI:-
teilungen (I1ght battalions), The mixed forma-
tion was the more common as it provided com-
manders with greater flexibillty and enhanced
capabilrty. Some of these mixed Abteilungen
had as rnany as three heavy batteries (armed
with the famous 88-mm/3,46-rn Flak 18 or 36)
and three light batteries (one of them equip-
ped with the Flakvierling 38), Such an
Abteilung had a manpower strength of I 350
officers and men, 339 motor vehicles,
motorcycles, l2 searchlights, I2 88-mm
weapons and 48 hght flak weapons.
However, there were leichte Flakab-
tetlungen made up entirely of lighl flak batter-
ies. These were much smaller than the mixed
formations, having only three liqht flak batter-
ies and a manpower strengtth of 800 offrcers and
men, These light grouptngs were quite com-
ALuftwaffe crew mans aZ-cm(0.79-in) Flak38
during the last days of the war in March I 945. The
ring-type gvn mounting was one of the main points
that distinguished the FIak 38 from the earlier FIak
30, which did not have this feature although the
guns could be mounted on either carriage if
required. Note the simple sight in use in 1945.
mon and required far less logistic support than
the larger formations as they had their own
inteqral supply system that travelled wrth the
Abteilung when ii went into the field, carrying
not only ammunition, food and other supplies
but also a small hght aid detachment that main-
tained the guns and vehicles usrng a small field
workshop; mixed Abteilungen also had thts
function but mainly devoted to the heavy bat-
teries,
Such a leichte Flakabteilung was headed by
a battalion headquarters and command pla-
toon, The headquarters contained mainly the
admlnistrative staff responsrble for the day-to-
day supply and other routine functions that
allowed the rest of the battalion to get on wtth
its combat tasks, The command platoon was
the home of the battalion commander plus his
immediate staff and signallers, The command
platoon was responsible for its own defence,
but had no flak weapons other than the odd one
that might be awaiting issue or being passed to
the rear for repairs,
Each of the three batteries had four sections.
In theory, after 1941 or 1942, one of the four
sections was equrpped with the Flakvierhng 38
and the other three with the single-barrel Flak
30 or 38. Each ofthe sections had three guns, in
manpower terms each battery had slx officers
and 65 NCOs, while other ranks were sup-
posed to be at a level of 139, In practrce such
38 manpower levels were rarely achieved, the
demands of the Eastern Front being such that
nearly all army units were constantly combed
for manpower to make up new formations or
replace casualties. The same went for equip-
ment: each battery was supposed to have 58
motor vehicles and f,ve motorcycles, but In
practice had far less than this. The overall shor-
tage of motor transport proved one of the Ger-
 Light AA Guns of World War II

Not all theGermanarmy unitswereable tomove

on wheels or tracks, and inwinter the sledge came
intoits own, seen here towed by two sturdy little
Pussian ponres. Improvisations such as this were
commonplace when the Eastern Front winters set
n, for the fighting did not cease even under
extreme conditions.
::ian army's major tactical and operational
',';eaknesses,
The logistic supply sysiem was based on a
lclumn of vehicles that carried the battalion's
ainmunition reserves, spare parts, food and
r:her day-to-day supplies, Workshop vehicles
-,','ere
there to keep the guns and the vehicles
--inctronlng, and in overall terms this integral
supply column enabled the hght flak batteries
-c remain rn the field wrthout support for some
Jays before replenishment was required, As
'.'nth the headquarters, this unit had no flak gruns
:iits own although rt was not unknown for gmns
berng maintained or repaired to be rushed into
action by the workshop fitters when an
3mergency arose,
The men of the light flak unrts obtained their
-nitial trarnlng at various schools scattered
around Germany, Some ol these schools were
ip on the Baltic coast, which allowed virtually
',mlimited flring across the open sea, usually
against banner targets towed by ancient Luit-
;,vaffe biplanes or light trainer aircraft, Flares lever-operated loadlng device, The most skil- the gun to the ground and pick it up agai:r
$red from mortars were anoiher common led personnel on ihe gun were the aimer and afterwards with a minimum of physical effor.
:arget, Many olthe flak schools used somewhat the ranqefrnder, but as time went on the from the crew, Once in place the gun rested cr
ancient equipment, for the more modern rangefinder wrth his hand-held stereoscopic a low flat platform that could be accuraie:;
-,yeapons were rn constant demand by front- rangefinder became less important, Aimers ievelled bysmall adjustable feet. At times gar-
rine units, Thus many flak crews trained on the found that the tracer elements of the projectiles rison units made their own local modiflcatiors
cld Oerlikon 2-cm (0.787-in) Flak 28 or 29, guns afforded them a much better indrcation of to suit particular requirements, and an instance
that had been purchased during the early days range than the rangefinder's shouted rnstruc- of this occurred rn the Channel Islands: a locai
cf German re-armament to get something rnto tions, and by mid-1944 the rangefinder was no commander decided thai he needed more
Lhe troops' hand quickly. Conversion to the longer an official part of the gun complement, anti-tank weapons and converted a Flak 30 gru::
Flak 30 or 38 was frequently made at operation- But the qun commander remained: the aimer so that it could fit onto a low, light anti-tank rifie
al-battery level, But throughout traintng the could only lay and fire the gun under his com- mountlng, Units on the Eastern Front some-
main accent was on teamwork, especially with mand, trmes placed their guns on sledges during the
ihe ammunition numbers who had to be adept Getting the gnrns tnto and out of action was a winter months, But these were exceptions,
at changing each gun's box magazines quickly relatrvely easy task, Apart from their small size
as soon as the old one on the gun was empty, and low weight, the Flak 30 and Flak 38 were
Refl11ing these magazines was another gun carried insrde the confines of a tubular steel
crew task, usually carried out with a speclal trarler that was designed so that it could lower

A3.7-cm (1.45-in) Flak 36 is seenin actionwith the

lhe 2-cm (0.79-in) Flakvierling 38 was often used
zs an anti-tankweapon, and is shown here in
with the Afrika Korps. Although of limited
=cion
:se agarnsl lan ks, it was very effective against
soft-skin vehicles and light armoured vehicles
such as most armoured cars and artillery tractors
(and their guns).
loader feeding into the gun six-round clips that
couldbe joined together to produce longer,
uninterrupted bursts of fire. The gun is heaviJy
camoutlaged by branches, but once in action suci-
concealmentwas soon blown away by blastfror
themuzzle.
 GERI\,4ANY
2-cm Flak 30
By the time the new German armY was
ready to re-arm during the early I930s'
the German armament manufacturers
had built up a considerable degree of
expertise in heatry automauc weapons.
This was especially true of the qiant
Rheinmetall-Borsiqt concern, and
accordingly it was given a contract to
produce a light anti-aircraft gun with a
calibre of 20 mm (0.787 in), and. this
was ready for servtce by 1935, Known
as the 2-cm Flak 30, the term Flak
standing for Fliegerabwehrkanone
(anti-aircraft gun), this light weapon
was of the type often known as a can-
non, and was the first of a series of
weapons that were to become
dreailed by low-flyrng AIIied aircraft
crews.
The Flak 30 was for its light calibre a
rather complex weapon mounted on a
carriage thal could be towed.on two
wheels and in action rested on
ground platform. This platform pro-
vided a stable firing base with 360"
traverse, and had a sear behtnd the
gun for the firer who used, in the Flak
30's original form, a rather complicated
form of reflector sight. These sights be-
came even more comPlicated when
simple predtctor systems were built
into.it, and at one point the small stght
had reached a state when it had to be
, driven by clockwork. In fact they got
I so comphcated that the whole idea
was dropped and later versions re-
re! ;-H FIak 38 and Flakvierlins 38
By 1940 it was already appreciated that
the low rate offire ofthe 2-cm (0.787-in)
Flak 30 was too low for future target
soeeds, so It was decided lo increase
the rate of hre in order to tncrease rhe
possible numbers of projectiles hitting
the target. It was also decided to rede-
sign the gun to get rid of the tnherent
lamming problem, Rhetnmetall-Borsig
was not given the contract for this pro-
ject. lt went instead to Mauser, who
came up with a new gun that was out-
wardly similar to the Flak 30 but inter-
nally much was changied to provide a
cycirc rate ot ftre ot 420 to 480 rornds
per minute. The ammuniLion. Ieed sys
iem and most of the carriage remained
much the same as before, So did the
complicated siqhts whjch were laler
simplrfied, as on the Flak 30
The 2-cm Flak 38, as the Mauser
design was known, entered service in
late i940 and eventually replaced the
Flak 30 on the Production lines. it
sewed alongstde the Flak 30 and was
also used by the Luftwaffe and the Ger-
man naw, There was even a sPecial
version for use by the German armY's
mountain units that could be broken
down into pack loads, This Lrsed the
same gun as the FIak 38, but the car-
riage was much smaller and lighter: rt
wai known as the 2-cm Gebirgsflak 38
and was intended to be a dual-purpose
weapon for use aQtainst ground targets
as well as against aircraft.
By 1940 it was appreciated that air-
craft targets were not only getting fas-
ter but also heavier and better pro-
tected against qround and alr fire
Undertaken with typrcal German thor-
oughness operattonal analysts re-
veiled that alrhough lhe htqh rale of
f,re of the Flak 38 was more hkelY to
ensure a tarqet hit, the low explosive
paytoad of the projectile was unlikely
to inflict enouqJh damaqe to ensure a
t758
The 2 -cm (0.79- in) F lak 30 w as a
R heinme tall-B or s ig de sign th at
entered German armY service in
i 935. Seen lrere on its triangular
firing platform, it was used on a
number of self-propelled mountings'
verted to simple 'cartwheel and bead'
iron siqthts. The gnrn had a crew offlve'
but in action was frequently managed
by less, especiallY when the guns
w-ere Iocated in static posittons.
Generally the number was at Ieast
four, and usuallY one man held and
operated a stereoscopic rangefinder,
tiough after 1944 this function was de-
leted as it was found to be operational- Abteilungen (battalions) there were used in the ground target role, and
there was even a sPectal armour-
ly unnecessary. usually three 2-cm batteries to one 3,7-
Ammunitlon was fed rnlo the qLln in cm (1,457-in) battery, but as the war piercing round for use against tanks,
a 20-round magaztnes, but for some nev- continued there were many variations
er-fullv determrned reason the Flak 30 on thrs theme. The Flak 30 was used Specification
was prone to ammunition lams Also, not only by the Germans, Before 1939 FIak 30
althouqh tt was perfectly adequale some were sold to the Netherlands Calibre:20 mm (0,787 in)
Lengith of piece: 2.30 m (90,6 in)
when flrst lntroduced, it was later dis- and even to China, In GermanY the
covered that its rate offire was too slow Flak 30 was also used by the Luftwaffe Weight: in action 450 kq (992 lb)
to cope adequately wlth the increased for ground defences, and the German Elevation: - 12' to + 90"
alrcr-aft speeds that prevailed after navy had many specialized naval Traverse:360"
1940. Consequently it was repiaced on mountings. Some saw service for the Muzzlevelocity: 900 m (2,953 ft) Per'
the production line by the later Flak 38, defence of armoured trains, and the second
but those already in sewice were not weapon was one of those mounted on Maximum effective ceiling: 2200 m
replaced until they became worn out several types of halftracks or trucks for (7,218 ft)
the defence of mobite formations and Rate of fire: (cyclic) 280 rmP
or were iost to enemy actlon
In army light anti-aircraft convoys. The FIak 30 was frequently Projectile weight: 0, I 19 kg (0.262 lb)
The 2-cm (0.79-in) Flak 38
was aMauser design
introduced to overcome
some of the drawbacks of
theFlak30,which .{€
included a slow rate offire
and various s toppages. /t
had a higher rate offire bul
used lfte same ca rriage as
the earlier weapon. emplaced on static Flak towers de-
fending largte cities often had fewer on
the gnrn,
The efficrency of the Flak 38 and
Flakvierhngi 38 was such that in late
1944 the US ArmY issued handbooks
on both weapons and imPressed into
service any they could flnd. Both
weapons were ofien used againsl
ground largers as well as aircrail and
aqainst liqhtly-armoured or sofl-sktn
vehicles thev could be devastating
'kill'. The only easy and lmmedlate way
to remedy this was to lncrease the
number of barrels firinq from one
mounting, and thus the 2-cm Flakvier-
Iing 38 was developed. This was slmp-
ly a single Flak 38 carriage modified to
accommodate four barrels capable ol
firino at once, This combination be-
cam"e a dreaded aircraft-killer that
constantly drew a toll of low-flylng
Allied arrcraft right until the end of the
war, The first such equipments en-
tered service in late 1940 and there
were never enough of them TheY
were used by the German army, the
Luftwaffe andthe nar,ry, and many self-
propelled mounttngs were improvized
or produced to mdke them more
mo6ile, There was a special version
for use on armoured trains and at one
pornt there was even a radar- ABritish soldier examines a curved box magazines can be seen
-controlled cm (0.79 -in) Flakvierling protruding from the guns, and it was
version under develop- captured 2 -
ment, The Flakvierting required a 38. The arrangement of the four these magazines with their Zj'round
capacity that limited the fire rate of
qrealer number of men lo serve it tn barrels can be clearlY seen, and the
iction (usually su or seven). but those reflector sight is prominent. The theguns.
 2-cm Flak 38 and Flakvierling 38 (continued)
:-: the Germans there were never
= :eqh of them and throughout th:
-=,:h many production facrlitres u'ere
r=',-oted to manufacture of the qr.ins
-:-:: carriaqes and ammunition. Ths
-. was produced rn several forms rn
--;drng high explosive (HE), hrgh ex-
:.:srve with tracer and various forms cr
:I:lOuI-pleIClllg.
Specification
nak 38
Calibre:20 mm (0 787 1n)
iengrthof piece: 2.2525 m (BB 7 in)
,Veight: rn actron 420 kg (926 lb)
Elevation: -20'to +90'
Traverse:360'
Muzzlevelocity: 900 m (2 953 ft) per
second
Maximum effective ceiling: 2200 nr
7.218 ft)
Rate offire: (cyclic) 420 480 rpm
Projectileweight:0. 119 ks (0 262 lb)
3.7-cm Flak 18, 36 and 37
',Vhen
the 3.7-cm Flak 18 entereo ser-
-.'lce in
it was regarded bv :he
1935
3erman army and Luftwaffe as a
:redium-calibre anti-aircraft 1r'/eapcn.
- had been developed rn Swrtzerland
,ly Rheinmetall to avoid the stlpula-
r:-ons of the l9i9 Versailles Treaty. anci
r,:r a trme was known as the ST t0 cr
Solothurn Sl0-i00. When it was iust
rtroduced the FIak 18 suffered from
:rany teethrng troubles whrch. v;ere
=.ontually ironed out. but even in r-s
:nal form was not regarded as much of
I success. In the weapon's oriqrnal
..rm the gun and carrrage \Yere
roved on a heavy and complex tY,/rn
.xled arranqiement but gettrnq in and
- rl ol acron with thrs carriage vras
:low, Moreover, carriaqe traverse'r/as
-. cw and the gun mechanrsm was so
prone to stoppages that crews had to
:e hrghly tralned to cope with them
:or all these drawbacks the 3.7-cm
i 457-in) FIak iB was never replaced
-r service Some examples were ex-
;crted to China before 1939
Manufacture of the original Flak IB
::ased rn 1936, and rn the same year
;loduction beqan of a new gmn wrth
:,ie same calibre This appeared to be
:e same design as before but there
,'.ere many changes, not the least of
.',hrch was a new lype ol ammLinLtLon
:;ith only one driving band in place of
---e orrgrnal two fhe carrrage was
ruch allered ro allow lowrng on a srng-
,: axle only Overall the new qun.
:rlown as the 3.7-cm Flak 36 retained
:e same performance as the earlier
':;eapon but was much handrer to r.rse
-: action There was one further
..lant, the 3.7-cm Flak 37, but this drf-
-::ed only in the type ofsight fltted: ths
'-.'as
a complex predictor{ype srght
::wered by clockwork.
The Flak 36 and 37 were produced
,. iarge numbers, and by Augnrst 1944
'---: Luftwaffe alone had 4 211 in ser-
,:: The German navy used varrous
ls of the basic gun on special naval
: ::ntings, and there was a version lor
,.: on submannes There were also
.=-,-eral self-propelled types some
'=sr1ly mounted on trucks and con-
-:.ed tank chassis and some on half-
:-:i:s In action the usual number of
.=:- to each gun was seven, one of
=:r operatlnqt a portable rangefln
-=: but after 1944 this crew member
--. wrthdrawn. Ammunrtron was fed
Ligrht AA Guns of World War II
Specification
Flakvierlirg 38
Calibre: 2l mm (0.787 in)
Lengrth ofpiece:2.2525 m (88.7 in)
Weight: -nactron 1514 kq(3,338 Ib)
Elevation: - 1C' to + 100'
Traverse:360'
Muzzle velocity: 900 m (2,953 ft) per
se::ll,j
Maximum effective ceiling: 2200 m
Rateoffire: (cychc) 1 800 rpm
Projectile weight: 0 1 19 kq (0 262 Ib)
A 2-cm (0.79-in) Flakvierling 38 is
mounted on a SdKfz 7/ I half track
with the crew ready for immediate
action. This conversion was tfust
produced during late I 94 I and was
widely used, not only against aircraft
but also against tank targets. This
vehicle had a crew of l0 men.
On the move, the 3.7-cm ( I .457-in) Flak 36 was a compac!
load and used a two-wheeled carriage. TheFlak 37
differed in uSing a more complex clockwork sighting
system, butwas otherwise identical to theFlak 36.
Below:The 3.7-cm (1.457-in) Flak
series was used on numerous self-
propelled mountings, one of which
w as nicknamed fhe'Mobelwagen'
(furniture van). It used a PzKfpw IV
chassis with the gun mounted
centrally and with sides that folded
down to form a firing platform for the
crew of seven (including the driver).
Right:A 3.7-cm (1.457-in) Flak 36 is in
position as part of the Atlantic Wall
coastal defences. This photograph
was taken during I 940 or 194 I, for
the emplacement is still an
earthwork (later itwould be
concrete) and the rangetaker is still
included in the crew; later he would
be removed to conserve manpower
into the gnrn in linked sx-round clips was also used in the field as an antr- Specification
After about 1940 the Flak 18 36 and tank weapon on occaslon and one Flak 36 and Flak 37
37 became the standard defence weapon developed for use on the East- Calibre: 37 mm (1.457 in)
weapons against low-flyinq aircraft ern Front was a muzzle-loaded stick Lengrthof piece:3.626 m (142 7o -:
and were usually organized into ntne- bomb that was fired agarnst tanks us- Weight: in action 1550 kg (3.4-- -:
or 12-gun battenes. Many were stati- ing a special blank cartrrdge, Elevation: -B'to +85'
cally emplaced on special flak towers Production of the Flak 36 and 37 con- Traverse:360'
that provided good all-round fire close trnued right up to the end of the war at Muzzlevelocity:820 mi2.690 r=- i
to important target aieas, Special flak three man centres (one in Czechoslo- second
trains that moved around the Reich to vakia) but the Flak 36/37 was not an Maximum effective ceiling: 4Bt - :
be in posrtion wherever Allied air easy or cheap weapon to produce a (i5,748 ft)
attacks were heaviest also carried fact whrch led to the introduction of the Rateoffire: (cyclic) 160 rpm
numbers of Flak 36s or 37s The type Flak 43 gmns Projectileweight: 0.64 kq ( 1 4 i' :
 trI [:fl;* Flak 43 and Flakzwillins 43
By 1942 the Allied air threat over all the The German 3.7 -cm ( I .457 -in)
;arious battlefields was reaching the Flakzwilling 43 was an attempt ta
pomt where there were never enough increase the firepower of the basic
ai-r defence weapons available, The Flak43 by adding an extra barrel,
3.7-cm (1,457-in) guns were always in but relatively few were produced as
demand as they were the standard theweaponwas rather high and
weapon against low-flying aircraft, and awlavard to emplace.
in 1942 Rheinmetall-Borsig was busy
developing a gun to replace the ex-
rsting costly and slow{o-make FIak 36/
37 series. As ever, Rheinmetall-Borsig
came up with a novelty, not in the gun
or carriage design, but in the manner
of manufacturer it decided to adopt
methods already in use for small-arms
production,
Rheinmetall-Borsig was in compett-
tion with Krupp for the new gun con-
tract, and at one point the order was
given to the Krupp gmn, which used
conventional production methods, But
at the last moment the Krupp design
developed weaknesses and Rhernme-
tall-Borsig got the award. This im-
mediately resulted in the internal party ter the type poued off the lines at Diir- became preferred over the sinqle- barrelled version, In action both types
and factronal wrangling that often be- kopp, In service the FIak 43 Proved barrel version. In the event both were required sx-man crews, and if a gun
set the German wartime tndustrial very successful, bu1 in the initial rush to produced until the end of the war, and was to be maintained in actton for any
dream, so by the time Rheinmetall- get the new gn-rn into production it had there were even plans for a four-barrel length of time more menwere needed
Borsig was actually able to go ahead been decided to retain the original mountrng at one stage There was also to supply ammunition to the gun,
on a new production line well over a Flak 36/37 ammunition and barrel de- a project on whrch the two barrels
year had passed. Rheinmetall-Borsig siqns. Thus the Flak 43 was at a dis- were mounted side-by-side, Specification
was partially able to make up the lee- advantage from the start, for the in- The single- and twrn-barrel Flak 43s Flak 43
way by the fact that its entn, known as creased speeds of low-flying aircraft were potent weapons, but the twin- Calibre:37 mm (1,457 in)
\ the 3.7-cm Flak 43, was produced with and thef tncreased degree of protec- barrelled versron was something of an Lengrthof piece: 3,30 m (130 in)
istampings, weldings and simPlY- tion meant that a single stdke ftom a unwreldy brute to get in and out of Weight: in action 1392 kq (3,069 lb)
fabricated components in the same Flak 43 did not always bring down the action because of its qeneral top- Elevation: -7.5" to +90"
way as sub-machine gnrns, The Pro- target aircraft, The only immediate heaviness, Fortunately for Allied air Traverse:360'
duction time for a qun was cut bY a answer to thrs was to multiply the num- crews, the number of Flak 43s was Muzzlevelocity:B4O m (2 756 ft) per
factor of four, and the overall perform- ber of barrels on a sinqle carrtage, and never enough to meet demands, espe- second
ance boosted by an increased rate of this led to the 3.7-cm Flakzwilling 43 cially regarding the Flakzwilling 43, By Maximum effective ceiling: 4B0O m
fire, with two barrels, one above the other, February 1945 there were 1,032 Flak (15,748 ft)
It was early 1944 before the first of on a single mounting, This made a kill 43s of both types in service, but of Rate offire: (cyclic) 250 rpm
the new Quns was ready, and thereaf- much more Iikely and the Flakzwilling these only 280 were of the twin- Projectileweight 0,64 kg (1,41 lb)

g GERMANY

S-cm Flak 4I
In World War II air warfare terms
ihere was an altrtude barrd that ex-
tended from approximately 1500m
(4,92i ft) to 3000m (9,843ft) that ex-
istinq anti-aircraft guns could cover
only with difficulty Arrcraft flying in
this band were really too high or too
low for small- or larger-calibre
weapons, What was obviously re-
quired was an interim-caltbre weapon
that could deal with this problem but
as artillery designers rn both the Allied
and German camps were to dtscover,
it was not an easy problem to solve.
The German solutton to the interim-
altrtude band situatron was a gun
known as the S-cm FIak 4I, and the
best that can be said of it was that it was
not a success, It was first produced tn The ,-cm (1.97-in) Flak4l was one of the leasl successfuJ of all theGerman anti-aircraft guns, for it had encessive
1936, and was yet another Rheinmetall- recoil and flash and the carilage traversed too slowly. Despite their shortcomingrt 50 were use d until the war ended.'
Borsig design that was preferred over
a Krupp submisston, Development of and too slow to track fast targets, ded. One Flak 4l development was the the Allies were no more successful,
the prototype was carried out with no Two versions of the FIak 4i were formation of one battery operaiting Typical of their efforts was the British
sense of urgency, for it was l94O before produced: a mobile one using two ax- under a single remote control, twrn 6-pdr, a 57-mm (2,244-in) weapon
the production contract was awarded les to carry the gun and carriage, and a In action the FIak 41 had a crew of that never got past the trials stage be-
and in the event only 60 guns were static version for emplacing close to seven men. Loadrng rhe ammumtron cause of its indifferent perfoffnance,
completed, The flrst of them entered areas of high importance such as the was no easy task for it was fed into the
sewrce in 1941 and the type's short- Ruhr dams, Despite theii overall lack gnrn in flve-round clips that were some- Specification
comrngts soon became apparent The of success the gnrns were kept in ser- what difflcult to handle, Though de- Flak 4I
marn problem was the ammunition de- vice until the war ended, but by then signed for use agtainst arrcraft targets, Calibre: 50 mm (1,97 in)
spite its 50-mm (1.97-in) calibre, this only 24 were left, During the war years the Flak 4l was also provided with Lengrth of piece: 4,686 m ( 184 5 in)
was rather underpowered and on some development work was carried special armour-piercing projectiles Weight: in action 3100 kg (6,834 ]b)
firing produced a prodigious amount of out using the Flak 4ls, not so much to for use against tanks, but this AP round Elevation: - 10" to +90"
muzzle blast and flash that distracted improve the gnrns themselves but to appears to have been little used as the Traverse:360'
the aimer, even in broad daylight, The determine the exact nature of the Flak 4l was one of the few German Muzzle velocity: 840 m (2,756 ft) per
carriage proved rather bulkY and weapon that was to replace them, in weapons that was not selected for second
awkward to handle in actton, and de- time this turned out to be a design mounting on a self-propelled carrtage. Maximum effective ceiling: 3050 m
spite the characteristics of the ex- known as the Gerdt 56 (Ger2it was a If the Germans were unsuccessful in (10,007 ft)
pected targets the traversing mechan- cover name meantng equipment) but thelr attempt to defend the interim- Rate of fire: (cyclic) 1B0rpm
ism was also rather underpowered it was not flnalized before the war en- altitude band, it has to be stated that Projectile weight: 2,2 kq (4,85 ]b)

1760