Kanonier, Flakartillerie troops, Libya 1942
The appearance of Luftwaffe anti-aircraft units on the
battlefields of Europe and Africa in a conventional artillery role was not due
to any personal ambition of the Reichsmarschall, but rather to a sound and
admirable flexibility of thought on the part of the German staff. So often
ignorantly criticized for rigidness, the Germans, in their willingness to
experiment with combat techniques, compare very favourably with certain
episodes in the record of the Allied command.
The superb 8·8 cm anti-aircraft gun developed by Krupps in
the early 1930s first appeared at the front line in Spain during 1936,
equipping Flak batteries of the German expeditionary force. (It was entirely
logical that anti-aircraft artillery should fall under Luftwaffe control, not
least because of the importance of close technical liaison.) 'Flak' has come
into common English usage, and will be used throughout this text; it is a
contraction of Flieger-Abwehr-Kanone, 'anti-aircraft cannon'. The version used
in Spain, properly termed the 8·8 cm Flak 18, was followed in 1937 by the
improved Flak 36 model, which had provision for the speedy changing of barrels,
and a new and significant wheeled carriage designated Sonderanhänger 201. The
normal ground mounting was of cruciform design; for travelling the side arms
were folded upwards and wheeled bogies fitted to the long arms. The 201
mounting allowed the gun to fire on ground targets without being freed from the
bogies and winched down to ground level; the brakes were applied, the wheels
chocked, the side arms of the cruciform mounting folded down and the 'feet' at
their extremities winched down to brace against the ground - and the gun was
ready for action. It is not known who first suggested that the gun was too
versatile to be confined to flying targets, but he was certainly a soldier of
some vision; that battlefield use of the gun played a part in staff thinking
from an early stage is confirmed by the fact that from 1940 onwards armoured
shields to protect the crew during ground combat were fitted to new guns, and
fitted retrospectively to many Flak 18s.
The Luftwaffe Flak regiments and batteries operated in great
numbers throughout the war, and with enormous success. To detail all these
units is frankly beyond the author's competence and would serve little purpose;
but perhaps it is valid to consider one isolated campaign - that in North
Africa.
In the mobile desert warfare of which the Germans of
Rommel's Panzerarmee soon showed themselves to be masters, the Flak played a
vital part. Supply and replacement problems haunted Rommel almost from the
first - his uniquely vulnerable lines of communication lay across a
Mediterranean ranged by Allied aircraft from Malta and submarines from Malta
and Gibraltar - and although his precious tanks were superior in quality to all
Allied equipment until the very end of the campaign, their numbers were never
as high as he could have wished. To conserve the PzKpfw IIIs and IVs of 15th
and 21st Panzer Divisions, he evolved a deadly technique.
It. has been said that despite the glamorous image of the
tank columns which churned across the Western Desert, the real kings of the
African battlefields were the landmine and the anti-tank gun. The greatest of
these was the 'eighty-eight'; it was extremely mobile and could operate well
forward with the advanced armoured squadrons. I t was normally towed by the
heavy SdKfz 7 halftrack; this powerful vehicle could accommodate the entire crew
of eleven (layer, trainer, breechworker, fuse-setter, five ammunition numbers,
commander and driver) and their personal equipment, a good supply of ammunition
for immediate use, and reserves of fuel. Thus, once a target was sighted, the
gun could be got into action very quickly. Its impressive rate of fire -
between fifteen and twenty rounds a minute - was combined with great range and
accuracy. Maximum low-trajectory range was 16,500 yards, and the 21-lb
armour-piercing round could kill a tank at up to 3,000 yards - three times the
range of the best Allied equipment. Its air-burst high-explosive round was
notably effective against infantry. In the 'eighty-eight', Rommel had a deadly
antitank weapon, a fine anti-aircraft gun, and a fieldpiece capable of augmenting
conventional barrages with great speed and accuracy, all rolled into one supremely
functional piece of metal.
The most frightening and effective use of the gun was in
Rommel's famous 'Flak front'. In the face of advancing enemy armour the Luftwaffe
regiments would be sent right forward and dug in to ground level; the gun was
easy to conceal, as is any relatively small piece of equipment at ground level
under the peculiar light conditions of the desert, and its rounds used a
flashless propellant. A few troops of tanks would probe forward, making contact
with the British armour and then withdrawing, luring the Grants and Crusaders
within range of the trap. Once they were comfortably lined up the Flak would
methodically decimate them; their own short-range guns were useless, their
attackers were virtually invisible, and their casualties were frequently
appalling. At its anti-tank debut in the Battle of Sollum in June 1941 the
'eighty-eight' is claimed to have destroyed 123 out of 238 British tanks attacking
the Afrika Korps position in Halfaya ('Hellfire') Pass); according to German
sources this represented one 'brewed' tank for every twenty rounds fired by the
Flak batteries.
Another battle in which the 'eighty-eights' distinguished
themselves and their Luftwaffe crews was the series of actions near Agedabia in
January 1942. Prominent was a crack Air Force unit, Major Hecht's Flak Regiment
135; the 18th, 33rd and 35th Regiments also did well, as did Major Hartmann's
Reserve Flak Abteilung 114. The 135th, now led by Oberst Wolz, also figures
honourably in the records of Bir Hakeim in June [942; in this hard-fought
action he also had under command various detached battalions, notably 1I./Flak
25, I./Flak 18, I.fFlak 6 and I./Flak 43· The last-named unit won no fewer than
three awards of the Ritterkreuz (Knight's Cross) during the desert fighting;
they were awarded to Oberleutnant Gellert, Major Gürcke (the commanding
officer) and Oberfeldwebel Bösel. At El Alamein the [02nd and [35th Regiments
were organized as the main fighting units of the '9th Flak Division, under
direct army command and led by Generalleutnant Burckhardt; these units,
together with the 109th Flak Battalion attached to Graf von Sponeck's famous
90th Light Division, and various army Flak battalions, had a total strength of
eighty-six 8·8 cm guns at the opening of the battle. So seriously did the
British take these weapons that Montgomery issued explicit instructions to his
armoured brigade commanders concerning the absolute necessity of avoiding the
'Flak front' and saving their strength for the final battle with the panzers.
Even so, it is said that the 'eighty-eights' were largely responsible for the
massacre of the first wave of British armour at Alamein.
The Flak fought their way back along the coast with the
other survivors of the Panzerarmee, and were still scourging Allied armour as
the last stores were burned in Tunis in May 1943. The remains of the 19th Flak
Division took up their last firing positions along the Miliane line, in company
with the survivors of the 'Hermann Goring' Division and Koch's and Ramcke's
paratroopers. The 20th Flak Division, or what was left of it, was at Tebourba;
the 3/52 Battery distinguished itself in the last few days of the fighting when
Leutnant Happach and Oberfeldwebel Wilhelm Voight turned their 'eighty-eights'
on the American 2nd Armoured Battalion, and killed twenty tanks in as many
minutes.
