Three Stories of the Dreaded "88"

this episode of the history guy brought to you by magellan tv of all the german weapons of the second world war perhaps none was more feared by the allies than the dreaded 88. a deadly accurate piece of anti-aircraft artillery the 88 was also used very effectively in a ground artillery role and in a direct fire role as one of the most effective anti-tank weapons of the war so effective that it was essentially adapted to an armored chassis to become the mighty tiger tank the 88 was produced in the tens of thousands in different models it was used on all fronts and it was such an important piece of technology that it was a critical part of some important turning points in the war so today on the history guy we're going to talk about three stories told from the german perspective that demonstrate the effectiveness of the mighty 88 stories that deserve to be remembered the 88 was one of the key pieces of equipment that allowed such stunning german success in the early part of the second world war which of course culminated in the june 1940 surrender of france which happens to be the topic of a new documentary that i just watched on magellan tv yes i love my subscription to magellan tv it's a new kind of streaming service it's made by filmmakers got more than 3 000 documentaries every single one is worth watching if you haven't signed up gosh why not if you like the history guy you'll love magellan tv and right now there's a great reason to sign up because our viewers get an exclusive offer of 30 off your annual membership which will get you magellan tv for less than three dollars and 50 cents a month heck that's worth it if you only watch one documentary and it's not just for new subscribers if you've subscribed before but you've let your subscription laughs you can still take advantage of this offer just by using the link in the description june 22nd the sound of surrender gives fascinating insight into the background in negotiations of the surrender of france in june 1940. including newly uncovered audio of the negotiations made in the same railway carriage where the germans had signed the armistice of november 11 1918. you will never see this pivotal historical event the same way again i'm a big fan of history documentaries but you might enjoy science or space or nature all of which magellan tv offers but john tv has the richest and most varied history content available anywhere ancient modern current early modern war biography and of course even non-historical genres like science and crime are historical in nature you can watch june 22nd the sound of surrender anywhere on your television laptop or mobile device magellan is compatible with roku amazon fire tv apple tv google play and ios and you can even cast from your phone to your television and of course the best part is magellan is offering that exclusive offer 30 off your annual membership and to get that offer all you have to do is use the link that's in the description it was may 1940 and the vermont had found stunning success in their attack across the low countries defeating much of the french army's armor at the battles of sedan and mont gornette and was engaged in operation sickle [ __ ] swinging towards the channel coast in an effort to cut the allied front and isolate british french and belgian armies fighting in the north on the extreme edge of the german advance was the german 7th panzer division under the command of a rising star in the german army general irwin rommel on may 21st the 7th was ordered to wheel around the french city of aras to seize river crossings over the scarpi river bypassing the british garrison to ross having found great success in the campaign so far rumble decided on speed his panzers ran ahead of his infantry and his flank was exposed at the same time the allies had planned a counter-attack under major general harold franklin using a group that was then called frank force the allied response at the time was ill-coordinated and there's some disagreement over the purpose of the counter-attack however the original goal was rather limited to relieve the pressure on the garrison at harass the attack would include one of the most concentrated attacks by tanks of the british expeditionary force in the battle for france the force included 58 mark 1 and 16 mark ii tanks the tank infantry mark 1 was an oddity it was small with a crew of only two and armed only with a machine gun the design had been nicknamed matilda by hugh ellis master general the ordnance owning to its small size and duck-like shape and gate despite its small size and limitations the matilda had relatively thick armor for a tank in 1940 and proved largely invulnerable to the standard 37-millimeter pac-36 anti-tank gun used by the german army in 1940 while its lack of a heavy gun made it essentially toothless against enemy armor it was effective against infantry and surprisingly effective against german anti-tank guns in crews while much smaller in number the infantry tank mark ii was a much more substantial vehicle at 25 tons more than twice the mass of the 11 ton mark 1. not only was it heavily armored but it mounted the 2-pounder anti-tank gun it appears that the allies were operating with limited intelligence and there is no evidence that they were aware of the particularly vulnerable position of the seventh panzer division however as historian carl heinz friezer noted in the 2013 book the blitzkrieg legend the 1940 campaign in the west accident had it that the british tank attack mattered without any prior reconnaissance exactly at the worst moment and the worst spot punched full force into the unprotected flank of the german infantry columns the attack had hit between the seventh panzer's armor and infantry columns leaving the infantry without armor and on a weak flank where they were unsupported moreover the heavy armor of the matildas proved effective against the german anti-tank weapons an after-action report by the seventh set of the attack our own anti-tank weapons do not have a sufficient effect even at close range against the heavy tanks of the english the enemy simply breaks through the defensive front they form the british tanks shoot the german anti-tank guns to pieces or crunch over them and the crews are most likely killed in action but rommel did have one weapon that could defeat the heavy british armor the 8.8 centimeter flak 18. the germans had initially fielded an 8.8 centimeter anti-aircraft gun the flac meaning aircraft defense weapon 16 during the first world war while technically restricted from developing new weapons after the war by the treaty of versailles the arms manufacturer crop was able to skirt the restriction by working through the swedish firm bofors which they had majority ownership that initially designed a 75 millimeter weapon but had increased its power at the request of the german air force the flak 18 with various improvements in the flak 36 and flak 37 was an extraordinary weapon although it could be in place in just two and a half minutes it had a limited ability to fire even from its transport carriage its hydro-pneumatic recoil mechanism allowed at an exceptional rate of fire of 15 to 20 rounds a minute its range combined with an early analog fire control computer made it deadly against aircraft but unlike many anti-aircraft guns the 8.8 centimeter or 88 could be lowered below horizontal was provided with both armored piercing and high-energy anti-tank or heat ammunition allowing it to operate both as an anti-aircraft and an anti-tank weapon the 88 had a fearsome reputation historian paul fussell wrote in his 1989 book the real war that allies knew that the greatest single weapon of the war the atomic bomb accepted was the german 88 millimeter flat trajectory gun first tested in combat during the spanish civil war the flac 18 36 37 could penetrate an astounding 84 millimeters of armor at a range of two kilometers at ross rummel was able to organize the second line of defense using his 88s as the british tanks of the offensive entered open terrain the heavy guns opened up racer noted they lost two dozen tanks in just a few moments the 8.8 centimeter guns played a particularly important role beating this thrust off without a clear objective and not realizing the possibility of achieving a counter encirclement franklin withdrew his armor was then attacked by german dive bombers while retreating around 50 of the 74 tanks used in the attack were destroyed there has been much discussion about the battle of aras which so shocked the germans that have played a major role in the german strategic pause that allowed the allies to fortify the dunkirk beaches and evacuate the british expeditionary force the miracle at dunkirk but the potential had been much larger the 88 have prevented a disaster for the german army field marshal garrett von rudenstedt would later write a critical moment in the drive came just as my forces had reached the channel it was caused by a british counter-stroke southward from morass towards cambrie on 21 may for a short time it was feared that our armored divisions would be cut off before the infantry divisions could come to support them a year later on june 22 1941 the germans initiated what would become one of the largest and most destructive military campaigns in history with operation barbarossa the invasion of the soviet union at the spearhead of the invasion was the sixth panzer division under the command of general erhard rouse the six was equipped largely with light tanks the checkmate panzer 35t while the 35t was lightly armored it only mounted a 37 millimeter bank gun it's lightweight good maneuverability and speed offered an advantage on the muddy and difficult terrain of the eastern front while german anti-tank guns have been upgraded since 1940 only a few of the six army's anti-tank platoons have been issued the new five-centimeter pac-38 and most still use the 37-millimeter 36 but the divisions had been assigned a battalion of anti-aircraft guns which included 88's rouse with his division out in front of most of the german army would face a new threat in the east behemoths of the battlefield the massive soviet clement varoshala for kv super heavy tank named after soviet defense commissar clement borojov the kv was so heavy that historian david glanz wrote in his 1998 book when titans clashed that the kb was invulnerable to almost any german weapon except the 8.8 centimeter flack when an infantry battalion tried to stop a russian advance across a river rouse wrote that even the concentrated fire of the artillery and all other heavy weapons the troops possessed did not stop the steel pachyderms even the heaviest tanks of the division panzer iv hammered against the steel giants but the effort to destroy them was made in vain there was a real threat to the division rouse explained as it became clear that no weapon possessed by the group was a match for the russian monster tanks the danger of a general panic became imminent the only defense seemed to be the division's heaviest artillery pieces 100 millimeter field gun could destroy them at close range along with of course the high velocity armor-piercing rounds of the 88. as the soviets began a decisive tank drive with their kv-1s they were met by fire from the 88s rouse wrote well camouflaged and sighted in staggering positions these weapons quickly destroyed a number of soviet tanks and brought their attack to a standstill the 88 had again saved the german army from allied tanks but that was not the last time that rouse and his six spins of division would have to face the kv-1 only a few days later roush found that his only supply line was blocked by a kv-1 efforts to circumvent the monster-proofed futile due to terrain and the single tank was preventing re-supplies as well as blocking rouse from getting his wounded to his aid station an attempt to surround the tank and attack from all sides with the 50 millimeter anti-tank guns proved futile and several guns were disabled by the tank later the germans would see that even these new anti-tank guns left only a blue mark on the massive kv-1 ross attempted to bring up an 88 but the crew was seen by the tank which scored a hit before the gun could be employed destroying it ross then had engineers sneak to the tank during the night pack it with anti-tank explosives the explosion was large but the effect was small leaving what was described as a slight dent the tank remained parked on his only line of supply finally rouse had his light tanks harass the tank their guns being entirely ineffective but keeping the tank crews attention as they tried to manage a shot against the nimble 35 ts while the crew was distracted the germans were able to sneak from behind and in place an 88 the 88 hit the kv-1 in the rear but didn't knock it out the turret started to rotate to the 88 and the crew fired twice the high rate of fire of the 88 serving them well the tanks stopped moving but they shot it another four times for good measure as the germans came up to inspect the tank they found that out of the seven hits on the back of the massive tank only two had penetrated the armor five had only left dense then suddenly the turret started moving again while the 88 had knocked two holes in the tank the crew had merely been stunned the germans quickly threw hand grenades into one of the holes created by the 88 killing the crew the mighty 88 had won the day but only just barely it was june 18th 1944 and colonel hans von luke commander of the 125th panzer grenadier regiment was in a difficult position a massive british artillery barrage had devastated his defensive positions in the night the allies were unleashing operation goodwood a massive attack intended to break out of the normandy beachhead which included three british armored divisions the largest tank battle in the history of the british army as van luck rushed to survey the situation in the morning he already found british tanks had broken through his lines he had no idea what force he could bring to bear to stop them when driving through the city of kenya he came upon four flak 88s a crew from the luftwaffe the air force assigned to defend the city from air attack quickly bunluck pressed them into service when the battery commander refused telling van luck fighting tanks is your job i'm the luftwaffa von luck threatened to shoot him saying either you're a dead man or you earn yourself a medal but look at them deploy in an apple orchard near the village it was an effective position later when van luck returned he described the scene the 8.8 centimeter cannons were firing one shot after another you could see the shots flying through the corn like torpedoes in extensive cornfields to the north of the village stood at least 40 british tanks on fire or shot up a british major whom would befriend upon look after the war said when we got about a thousand meters from the villages on the hills we came under concentrated fire from 88 within seconds about 15 of our tanks were stationary or on fire by late afternoon i had only a few tanks left that were still intact we had to break off for advance and withdraw despite initial successes by the british the germans contained the offensive of course wars are not generally won by a single weapon system and clearly the vaunted 88 was not enough to protect the german military from finally being defeated but it was one of the exceptional weapons of the war during the war a tanker wrote to the chrysler corporation which had built his m4 medium sherman tank and said that the 88 went through the american tanks just like they were a piece of paper more than 21 000 of the 8.8 centimeter flat guns were produced during the war and they were a real threat to the hubris of american industrial might paul fussell wrote of them frankly the allies had nothing as good despite wanting them designating themselves as the world's greatest industrial power i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guy short snippets of forgotten history between 10 and 15 minutes long and if you did enjoy please go ahead and click that thumbs up button if you have any questions or comments or suggestions for future episodes please write those in the comment section i will be happy to personally respond be sure to follow the history guy on facebook instagram twitter and check out our merchandise on teespring.com and if you'd like more episodes on forgotten history all you need to do is subscribe

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 620,406

Rating: 4.9242382 out of 5

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy, wwii, tanks, 88

Id: BpNYTA6Ax5o

Length: 15min 37sec (937 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 05 2021