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Most countries realized there was a "hole in the sky" above the height that 37mm-40mm guns were effective and below the height as which 75mm guns and up were effective. The problem came in building a gun to fill the hole. Actually the problem was more in the fuses for the shell and the shells. the 45-60mm shells were too small to have the blast/fragment radius of the 75mm shells, the 47mm bore size being popularly known as the 3pdr and the 57mm the 6pdr vs the 75mm being a 12-17lb projectile. A direct hit was almost necessary. But this called for a much higher rate of fire than the 75mm guns, a rate of fire close to that of the 37-40mm guns, except that the ammo is 2-4 times heavier than the 37-40mm guns.
They could have replaced neither class of guns but could have denied the use of the band of airspace that the light and heavy guns could not effectively cover. The problem was cost, both in money and in engineering time.
Perhaps not but the German army isn't just any army. Heer divisions were the most capable in the world during both world wars. We've got first hand testimony from experts like Otto Carius stating flakvierling worked exceptionally well against ground targets. I'm not going to question their professional judgement.As for the 20mm being just what an Army needs in ww2, seem like no major combatant agreed with that.
You've got it backward. Killing ground targets is the primary purpose of Heer 20mm weapons from WWI (i.e. 20mm Becker) right up to the present day. The large HE payload of German 20mm shells allows these weapons to function in a manner similiar to the Soviet AGS-17 30mm automatic grenade launcher. Protection against CAS aircraft is just a bonus.
37mm flak was primarily intended for air defense.
You've got it backward. Killing ground targets is the primary purpose of Heer 20mm weapons from WWI (i.e. 20mm Becker) right up to the present day. The large HE payload of German 20mm shells allows these weapons to function in a manner similiar to the Soviet AGS-17 30mm automatic grenade launcher. Protection against CAS aircraft is just a bonus.
37mm flak was primarily intended for air defense.
Originally developed for use in anti-tank rifles and later adopted for use in German light flak. Hence effectiveness against ground targets was known from the beginning.
You've got it backward. Killing ground targets is the primary purpose of Heer 20mm weapons from WWI (i.e. 20mm Becker) right up to the present day. The large HE payload of German 20mm shells allows these weapons to function in a manner similiar to the Soviet AGS-17 30mm automatic grenade launcher. Protection against CAS aircraft is just a bonus.
37mm flak was primarily intended for air defense.
Luftwaffe 2cm, 3.7cm, 5cm and 8.8cm weapons were intended for use against aircraft. The Heer had different priorities.
Luftwaffe 2cm, 3.7cm, 5cm and 8.8cm weapons were intended for use against aircraft. The Heer had different priorities.
Thx very much for this very usefull photo, and information. It would be interresting to know from what distance the AZP S-60 could achieve this performance ? 500 M ? 1500 M ? If it is above 5.000 M with its HE-T, or HEAT-if it could for the last models ?- it could be a terrible deterrence against figther-bombers, including F-15 E, A-10 and F-22.I agree with Shortround6
one minor point, 57mm gun would have some A/T potential even against heavier 44-45 tanks as 37-40mm had against tanks in 39-44. See attachment, hits 4 and 10, the latter was penetrating one, are by SU-57-2 AA tank