War and Military Atlas

How Battles Were Fought
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme

Switch Atlas

The Inner World

The Civil World

The Natural World

Weapons Systems

8.8 cm Flak Gun

Also Known As The 88
Modern, Nazi Germany

Citation Formats

General Reference

APA Style

BibTeX

The 8.8 cm Flak 18/36/37/41, universally nicknamed the 88, was a German anti-aircraft gun developed in the 1930s whose flat, high-velocity trajectory and the standard anti-aircraft mount's ability to depress its barrel below the horizontal also made it, almost by accident, one of the most feared anti-tank guns of the Second World War.

Facts
Weapon Class
Anti-aircraft and anti-tank gun (88 mm) 1
Introduced Year
1936 1
Developed through several marks (Flak 18, 36, 37, 41) from prototypes as early as 1928; the Flak 36 entered service in 1936.
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Wehrmacht, Armed Forces and Units
Sources
1. Wikipedia: 8.8 cm Flak 18/36/37/41
WikipediaCombat history, Support of ground troops section
Quote, Combat history, Support of ground troops section
The 8.8 cm Flak performed well in its original role of an anti-aircraft gun and it proved to be a superb anti-tank gun as well.
View the Source
1. Wikipedia: 8.8 cm Flak 18/36/37/41
WikipediaIntroductionView the Source
1. Wikipedia: 8.8 cm Flak 18/36/37/41
WikipediaDevelopment history section
Quote, Development history section
Flak is a contraction of German Flugabwehrkanone, meaning aircraft-defense cannon, the original purpose of the weapon.
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.

View At A Past Year

The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.