PaK 44

Having created the 88-mm FlaK 18/36/37 anti-aircraft gun in 1928 , with the outbreak of World War II, the Germans quickly drew attention to its excellent anti-tank capabilities. In particular, in 1940, in the Dynamo operation to evacuate Anglo-French troops from Dunkirk, when the English commander, Lord John Gort threw several dozen Matilda tanks into a counterattack near Arras , these guns were the only weapons capable of penetrating them 78- mm frontal armor, invulnerable to standard anti-tank artillery calibres 37 and 50 mm. Thanks to this, the counterattack, which initially developed successfully, was foiled.

All further samples of anti-aircraft guns were created by German designers as universal, with the possibility of defeating enemy armored vehicles with them. The development of the FlaK 18/36/37 gun was the FlaK 41 gun, which was characterized by a barrel length increased to 71 calibers. Also until 1941, the Luftwaffe adopted a 105-mm FlaK 38 gun.

However, by the end of 1940, neither the 88-mm nor the 105-mm guns of the German military were satisfied with the power and reach in height. Therefore, in 1940, a 128 mm caliber gun was adopted, which received the FlaK 40 index. To this day, it remains the heaviest and most long-range air defense weapon among the classic WWII anti-aircraft guns - its reach in height was brought to 12.8 km.

With the outbreak of war with the Soviet Union, "universal" anti-aircraft guns were the only German weapons capable of confidently hitting Soviet KV and T-34 tanks from a distance of 1.5 km or more. However, the design features of anti-aircraft guns, such as a high profile, made them unsuitable for camouflage on the ground and anti-tank defense. However, the German army until 1943 did not have specialized anti-tank guns whose ballistics would be close to the ballistics of their own anti-aircraft guns, and in 1942 a decision was made to design heavy anti-tank guns with anti-aircraft gun ballistics.

The first such gun was the PaK 43 , which was adopted in 1943, and was built using a barrel from the 88-mm FlaK 41 anti-aircraft gun. The debut of this gun took place in 1943. She easily hit any Allied tank in the frontal projection at all reasonable battle distances. Its armor penetration rates were so impressive that the barrel was subsequently used to create three powerful anti-tank self-propelled guns at once - Nashorn , Ferdinand and Yagdpanther . As an armament of anti-tank self-propelled guns, the gun received the Stu.K index . 43 , later replaced by Pak. 43 in three versions, respectively: Pak. 43/1 (formerly Stu.K. 43/1), Pak. 43/2 and Pak. 43/3 ^{[1] [2] [3]} .

However, from the end of 1944 the Germans ceased to satisfy even this instrument. And then the decision is made to create a super-powerful anti-tank gun with ballistics of a 128-mm FlaK 40 anti-aircraft gun with a barrel length of 55 calibers. The new gun received the index PaK 44 L / 55. Since it was not possible to establish such a giant barrel on the carriages of an ordinary anti-tank gun, the Mayland company, which specialized in the production of trailers, designed a special three-axle carriage for the gun with two pairs of wheels in front and one behind. At the same time, the high profile of the gun had to be maintained, which made the gun extremely visible on the ground.

However, the armor penetration of the gun was extremely high - according to some estimates, at least until 1948 there was no tank in the world that could withstand the impact of its 28-kg shell. The first tank capable of withstanding shelling from PaK 44 was in 1949 an experienced Soviet tank IS-7 .

According to the methodology for determining armor penetration, adopted in the Axis , at an angle of 30 degrees, an armor-piercing-piercing projectile 12.8-cm Pz.Gr.40 / 43 from a distance of 2000 meters pierced 173 mm of armor, from 1500 meters - 187 mm, from 1000 meters - 200 mm, from 500 meters - 210 mm.

The low security and mobility of the gun, whose weight exceeded 9 tons, forced the Germans to work out the option of installing it on a self-propelled chassis. Such a machine was created in 1944 on the basis of the Royal Tiger heavy tank and received the name Yagdtigr . With the PaK 44 cannon, which changed the index to StuK 44, it became the most powerful anti-tank self-propelled gun of the Second World War - in particular, evidence was received about the defeat of Sherman tanks from a distance of over 3,500 m in the frontal projection.

We also studied options for using guns in tanks. In particular, the famous experimental “ Mouse ” tank was armed with the PaK 44 in a duplex with a 75-mm gun (in the tank version the gun was called KwK 44). It was also planned to install the gun on the experimental super-heavy tank E-100 .