German AA vehicles

H

hardlec

Active member
The Germans designed many AA vehicles during WWII. Does anyone have any information as to how good they were at shooting down aircraft, or defending ground troops from air attack?

There were three types of air attack I am familiar with:
Tactical close air support, such as a Sturmovik strafing an armored column
Tactical air attacks, such as Mitchel Bombers hitting a unit marshaling for an attack
Strategic air attacks, such as the B-17s hitting the town a battalion is currently guarding

There may be more.

I'm pretty sure the German 20mm AAA would do little against a B-17 at 20 angles. The dreaded 8.8 was not so good at shooting at P40s attacking at treetop level, but much better than no anti-aircraft at all....
I'm looking at a "big picture" point of view.
 
It is a pretty big question as there was quite an extensive range of German AAA vehicles I know that many pilots spoke about how good it was especially later in the war when it became more concentrated as the Reich shrank.

Here is some information although not specific to vehicles...
http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/ttt07/german-aaa.html

I would also recommend the book Flak: German Anti-Aircraft Defenses, 1914-1945 by Edward B. Westermann.

http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/wesfla.html
 
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