Most Feared Weapon System or Unit in Wargames

[Bison]

It looks more like the 150mm sFH ...?

They do look pretty similar and no I am not going to pretend to be an expert on every variant of WW2 weapon system, because I am not.

[Staggerwing]

Howitzers don't (usually, anyway) require gunshields. For an AT gun, they're pretty common. Pesky infantry and coax MGs...

[Gusington]

Not a wargame but the witches in Left 4 Dead 2 freak me the hell out.

[Bison]

Not a wargame but the witches in Left 4 Dead 2 freak me the hell out.

Surprisingly I never heard you scream.  Maybe that's why you went radio silent.


The 88 was a flak gun.   Anti-aircraft and anti-tank.

[Staggerwing]

Not a wargame but the witches in Left 4 Dead 2 freak me the hell out.

You do realize the this thread was started by 'Not a Wargame' Bison, right?  :D

[Bison]

Well I was going to say something about Tent's mine craft, but I held back.  :D

[Gusington]

^Of course :)

I am no expert either but the German 88 was used in almost every combat role imaginable for 60+ years, no?

[Bison]

Yeah it was a beast of a weapon system.

[Staggerwing]

The 88 was a flak gun.   Anti-aircraft and anti-tank.

The original concept for the 88 was as a DP Flak/AT which was why the crews had a few AT rounds with them during the Battle of France. Later on there was a dedicated Antitank (PaK43) version which could not engage air targets. That is the version with the wheels and sloped shield. The earlier DP Flak43 was mounted on a cruciform pedestal from which the wheels were removed when deployed.

[Bison]

So we are in agreement.  The 88 was both an anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapon system.  8)

[Staggerwing]

... and then there was the KwK36, which was mounted in the Tiger, just to muddy things up.  :D

[Gusington]

Doesn't the 88 pre-date WWII and was in service in one form or another from the 1890s on?

[Staggerwing]

The gun caliber (88mm) was, IIRC, introduced in late WW1. The actual guns are all somewhat different designs, much like all 75mm guns are also not the same (both the Sherman and Panther mounted a 75mm gun but they were very different from  each other).

[Gusington]

Their origin is a little murky: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_88

"The 88s were first produced in 1928. These early models, the Flak 18, used a single-piece barrel with a length of 56 calibres, leading to the commonly-seen designation L/56.e 88s were first produced in 1928."

[Bison]

The first such German gun was introduced in 1917, and it used caliber 88 mm, common in the Kaiserliche Marine German navy

From you wiki link.