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Monday, June 24, 2013

88's

The dreaded '88', or to give it its more appropriate name, the FlaK 36.

FROM WIKIPEDIA:
The 88 mm gun (eighty-eight) was a German anti-aircraft and anti-tank artillery gun from World War II. It was widely used by Germany throughout the war, and was one of the most recognized German weapons of the war. Development of the original models led to a wide variety of guns.
The name applies to a series of guns, the first one officially called the 8,8 cm Flak 18, the improved 8,8 cm Flak 36, and later the 8,8 cm Flak 37.[N 1] Flak is a contraction of German Flugzeugabwehrkanone[3][N 2] meaning "aircraft-defense cannon", the original purpose of the eighty-eight. In English, "flak" became a generic term for ground anti-aircraft fire. In informal German use, the guns were universally known as the Acht-acht ("eight-eight").[N 3]
The versatile carriage allowed the eighty-eight to be fired in a limited anti-tank mode when still on wheels,[2] and to be completely emplaced in only two-and-a-half minutes.[2] Its successful use as an improvised anti-tank gun led to the development of a tank gun based upon it. These related guns served as the main armament of tanks such as the Tiger I: the 8.8 cm KwK 36, with the "KwK" abbreviation standing for KampfwagenKanone (literally "battle vehicle cannon", or "tank cannon").

Full link here.


The 88, was easily towed, by the SdKfz7 halftrack, with boggies attached to front and rear sections of the cruciform mount, with side sections raised to either side of the gunshield whilst on the move.


The gun could still be fired, whilst on its carriage, though with limited elevation and traverse. Amazingly it could be rapidly deployed for full action, in as little as two and half minutes.

Once deployed, with its semi automatic loading mechanism, it could put out 15-20 rounds a minute.

Here you can see it deployed in anti aircraft roll, with boggies detached and the gunshield appearing to be lowered slightly...


An iconic German weapon of WWII, used throughout the war in both Anti-Aircraft and Anti-tank roles. I believe its use as an anti-tank gun, was first devised from use in the deserts of North Africa... where attacking British Armour would be drawn onto a position of 88's and rapidly destroyed. The 88 could penetrate the armour of any allied tank, at great range.

The 88 in action...




I have long wanted to add a battery of these guns to my German forces and I finally managed to do that this week. I got lucky ordering from WaylandGames when they had a free shipping deal on, and once they arrived last weekend, I rapidly set to working on them and had them assembled and painted up in a week, just in time for them to be tried out in a game on Sunday arvo...

I am glad to say they did not disgrace themselves (as is usual with the first in game use of freshly painted troops!), though they only really provided a deterrent role, but they did pick off some British pack howitzers at extreme range.

Painted up in my style of German, Late War tri colour camo pattern.


I hope to make regular use of them in both my MidWar and LateWar armies, in both Europe and Eastern Front theatres.

The boxed set also came with the detachable boggies, an interesting touch, that I will get round to painting up eventually to add to the scene, though they are not a priority... now that I have these completed, I must get back to adding the tile shingles to the roof of my Victorian Terrace building...

23 comments:

  1. Well done... and educational! Great job!

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  2. Excellent work as always, Scott. The Tamiya 88 was the one kit I was too intimidated to get, but always was fascinated with. Best, Dean

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  3. Nicely painted Scott. That much firepower from 40' away with the extra crew is scary to go up against

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    1. Yes, I think these backed up by 4 Pak40s, and a some dug in infantry with fausts and schreks will deter most head on approaches by an armoured force...

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  4. Once again another great looking unit. I just managed to pick up a couple of these myself

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    1. Thanks, I am pondering adding another two to do an 'allied faction' from 'Von Swobda' from Bridge by Bridge

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    2. only 2 Scott - tut tut if your going to do Von Swobda you go for the full 12 88's all with upgraded crew. Now that will make your opponent think twice about about stepping out in the open with just about any vehicle! :) Nice painting on the 88's mate they look excellent.

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  5. They look great and are very deadly!

    Christopher

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  6. Nice work, a nicely painted and based 88 always look cool!

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  7. Very good... I had no idea they could fire while still in transport mode... looks like they were fairly unstable when doing it though!

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  8. Love the 88's Scott. Very very nice work!!

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  9. A truly iconic piece of equipment from WWII and a fabulous piece of painting and realisation by your good self.

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  10. Good stuff Scott. 88's were the bane of the 8th army where Rommel used them to great effect in their AT role after drawing the allied armour onto them with his Panzers (I'm doing 8th Army for FoW).

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  11. They look great Scott. Glad I'm not having to face them!

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  12. Great work - would be good to see a photo of the assembled german army you have. If I find some more time, I would not mind doing an Afrika Korps army - which is where the fearsome 88s made their first appearance as anti tank guns.

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    1. Danisnotatree - try telling that to the BEF Matilda crews who served in France in 1940.. :o))

      Anyone know if the 88 was used in the anti-tank role in Spain???

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  13. I'm surprised it took you so long to get some! For my Airfix Afrika Korps army they were about the first things I got! Very nice unit!

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    1. I actually ordered some back in october from maelstrom as part of their big sale - that order failed to show, but I had been hanging on to hope they may follow through with their promise to deliver... they've now definitely gone under and my belated claim back through visa has been honoured by my bank, so refund was forthcoming... knowing they now werent coming I ordered from Wayland.

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  14. Nice. You got to love a unit of 88's , unless of course you have to go up against em

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  15. Beautiful work as usual, Scott. I love the extra bases of additional crewmen to reinforce the sense of how rapid their fire could be. Your ambush pattern camo is top notch as well.

    As a note of clarification. From what I understand, the first use of 88s in a ground attack role was during the Spanish Civil War and not, as commonly believed, in North Africa. In fact, their first anti-tank use in WWII is reported in France in 1940 against British armour near Arras. Sorry to interrupt with the geek factoids - I can't help myself. :)

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    1. Thanks Curt, yes that extra little base of additional crew (for 10 points per gun) is a must, in game, upping their rate of fire from 2 to 3 shots per turn, well worth it and makes sense too - more bodies around to rapidly load the gun...

      Thats interesting, I was wondering at their deployment in Spain, and indeed in France & Poland - I imagine the BEF boys must have got quite a rude shock! Thanks for the additional info :-)

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