World War 2 In Review

8.8 cm Flak 18 (Sfl.) auf schwere Zugkraftwagen 12t (Sd.Kfz 8).

The 8.8 cm Flak 18 (Sfl.) auf Zugkraftwagen 12t (Sd.Kfz. 8) , also known as the Bunkerflak or Bufla, was a German Wehrmacht half-track self-propelled gun developed before World War II and used in the first half of the war. It was used during the Invasion of Poland but is best known for its use during the Battle of France, where it was the only German self-propelled gun capable of destroying the heavier Allied tanks such as the French Char B1 and the British Matilda II. Remaining vehicles were used on the Eastern Front. The last Bufla was destroyed in 1943.

Description

The 8.8 cm Flak 18 (Sfl.) auf Zugkraftwagen 12t (Sd.Kfz. 8) consisted of a 8.8cm Flak 18 gun mounted on a pedestal in the rear of a Sd.Kfz. 8 half-track heavy artillery tractor ("DB s8" or "DB 9" model). A gun shield was provided for the 88, but the gun crew had no other protection. The driver's cab was replaced by a lower, armored cupola and the engine compartment was lightly (14.5 mm (0.57 in)) armored.

The upper body had a crew compartment with three bench seats, one for the driver and his assistant, and two others for the gun crew. The gun was mounted behind the crew compartment. It could fire directly ahead without any problem, but traverse was limited to 151° to each side by the gun shield. Elevation was between -3° and +15°. The windshield could fold forward and was also removable.

Design and Development

In the mid-1930s, most modern armies had standardized on anti-tank guns ranging from 37 mm to 45 mm. While adequate to knock out the tanks of the period, their relatively small, high-velocity rounds were ineffective against fortifications, even when high explosive ammunition was available for them. When planning for a war with Czechoslovakia, the German army needed a vehicle that could reduce armored gun turrets and concrete bunkers. Experience with the Flak 18 during the Spanish Civil War showed that it was effective against land targets such as bunkers and vehicles as well as against aircraft. For this reason, the Army Weapons Office asked for a more mobile version of Rheinmetall's 8.8 cm anti-aircraft gun.

Daimler-Benz combined the best of both designs in the DB s7 prototype which appeared in 1934. It used the same engine as the ZD.5, but otherwise bore little resemblance to the older model other than an upper body that had two bench seats for the crew behind the driver's seat. This upper body remained the same over the life of the Sd.Kfz. 8. It weighed 14.4 tonnes (14.2 long tons; 15.9 short tons) and could pull loads of 12 tonnes (12 long tons; 13 short tons). An improved version was introduced in 1936 as the DB s8. The heavier (15 tonnes (15 long tons; 17 short tons)) DB 9 model appeared in 1938. It used the Maybach HL 85 TUKRM engine, could carry an 800 kilograms (1,800 lb) payload and could tow a 14 tonnes (14 long tons; 15 short tons) load. Daimler-Benz tried unsuccessfully to use their diesel OM 48/1 engine, but it was repeatedly rejected by the Army Weapons Office.

Type: Self-propelled gun

Place of origin: Nazi Germany

In service: 1938–1943

Used by: Nazi Germany

Wars: World War II

Designed: 1938

Manufacturer: Krupp

Produced: 1938

Number built: 10

Specifications (DB 9)

Mass: 20 tonnes (20 long tons; 22 short tons)

Length: 7.35 m (24 ft 1 in)

Width: 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in)

Height: 2.8 meters (9.2 ft)

Crew: 2+ gun crew

Armor: (14.5 mm (0.57 in)) on cab and engine

Main armament: 8.8cm Flak 18

Engine:

Maybach HL 85 TUKRM 8.5L 12-cylinder water-cooled petrol

185 horsepower (188 PS)

Payload capacity: 2,550 kg (5,620 lb)

Transmission: 4 + 1 speed ZF

Suspension: torsion bar

Ground clearance: 40 cm (16 in)

Fuel capacity: 250 liters (66 US gal)

Operational range:

250 km (160 mi) road

125 km (78 mi) cross-country

Maximum speed:

51 km/h (32 mph) road

21 km/h (13 mph) cross-country

Service History

All ten vehicles were assigned to the first company of the anti-tank battalion Panzerjäger-Abteilung 8 which participated in the Invasion of Poland in 1939, the Battle of France in 1940 and Operation Barbarossa in 1941. The company was redesignated as Panzerjäger-Kompanie ("Anti-Tank Company") 601 in January 1942 and then as the third company of Anti-Tank Battalion 559 the following April. It reported that the last three vehicles had been lost by March 1943.

Bibliography

Chamberlain, Peter, and Hilary L. Doyle. Thomas L. Jentz (Technical Editor). Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War Two: A Complete Illustrated Directory of German Battle Tanks, Armoured Cars, Self-propelled Guns, and Semi-tracked Vehicles, 1933–1945. London: Arms and Armour Press, 1978 (revised edition 1993).

Spielberger, Walter J. Halftracked Vehicles of the German Army 1909–1945. Atlgen, PA: Schiffer, 2008.

8.8 cm Flak 18 (Sfl.) auf schwere Zugkraftwagen 12t (Sd.Kfz 8).

Matilda IIs, North Africa.

Matilda II.

Matilda II, North Africa.

Matilda IIs, North Africa.

Matilda II, North Africa.

A reactivated Vickers Medium Mk II serving with the Royal Tank Regiment in 1940.

Two Vickers Medium Mk II tanks and a Morris reconnaissance car during maneuvers on Salisbury Plain in 1939.

Vickers Medium Mark I tanks on maneuver somewhere in England, in 1930.

The staple of the British armored force in the interwar period, the Vickers Medium Mk I. This vehicle serves with the Royal Tank Regiment in Essex, in 1939.

Another British technical innovation served the artillery in a fully motorized British Army, this Light Dragon tractor tows a 3.7in howitzer of the Royal Horse Artillery in 1938. Developed from the Vickers 6-ton, 12 Dragon and Light Dragons served from 1928, but wheeled vehicles such as the Morris Quad and AEC Matador trucks became the standard British artillery tractors ahead of the looming war.

A38 Valiant infantry tank.

Universal Carrier 2-pdr.

June 19, 1944: The remains of a Universal Carrier blown up by a mine in Tilly-sur-Seulles.

Infantry and carriers of 59th Division advancing during fighting around Caen, 11 July 1944.

Carrier, Fontane-Etoupefour, July 1944.

Carrier (T251469).

Carriers, North Africa.

Staghound I armored car, Netherlands.

Stuart light tanks.

A member of the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars mans the turret-mounted .30-inch machine gun on one of the regiment's new Stuart tanks, 28 August 1941.

Sherman ARV I towing a Sherman medium tank, Normandy, June/July 1944.

Staff officers examine a newly-arrived Sherman tank sitting on a Scammell Pioneer tank transporter, 15 September 1942.

Instead of its end, the desert war was just the beginning for the SAS. Here a jeep manned by Sgt. A Schofield and Trooper O Jeavons of 1 SAS operates near Geilenkirchen in Germany. The SAS were involved at this time in clearing snipers in the 43rd Wessex Division area, Nov. 18, 1944. The jeep is armed with three Vickers ‘K’ guns, and fitted with armored glass shields in place of a windscreen.

SAS troopers cleaning weapons behind the lines in the desert.

SAS desert jeeps. On board is the Greek Sacred Squadron; men who fought on after their country was overrun, and were recruited by David Stirling. So impressed were the SAS with what the Long Range Desert Group had done with their vehicles, the SAS soon procured their own bespoke jeeps.

David Stirling, left, and Jock Lewes rest in the shade cast by a truck of the Long Range Desert Group, planning an operation in the desert behind the lines.

A close-up of a heavily armed patrol of ‘L’ Detachment SAS in their Jeeps, just back from a three month patrol. The crews of the jeeps are all wearing ‘Arab-style’ headdress, as copied from the Long Range Desert Group, Jan. 18, 1943.

2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, Sidi Bishr, Nov. 1942.

A 1924 Rolls-Royce Armoured Car with modified turret, in the Bardia area of the Western Desert, 1940.

British armored car, Palestine, 1938.

Armored car and Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost cars at Lydda Railway station, Palestine, circa 1938.

Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost cars with armored car at Lydda Railway station, Palestine, circa 1938.

Crews of No. 3 Armoured Car Company pose in comic mode during a brew-up, 1939. Dark blue overalls over Service Dress with sweaters are worn along with mixed webbing Patterns 1908 and 1925 and Goggles, Motor Transport.

Bofors gun portee.

Chevrolet WB of 3 RHA (Royal Horse Artillery) 2-pdr. Portee and crew at range practice. In action as many of the crew as possible worked on the ground, as a direct hit would often dismount the gun, which would be thrown backwards, killing or injuring the men on the vehicle.

Portee, truck-mounted anti-tank guns, used as highly mobile, hard-hitting artillery units, speed over the desert and attack the enemy from all sorts of unexpected quarters. A mobile anti-tank unit of the Eighth Army in action, somewhere in the desert, Libya, on July 26, 1942.