Sturmartillerie Self Propelled Guns and Flak Tanks

Our previous issue, 'Sturmartillerie" Part I. covered basically all heavily armored, fully-enclosed infantry support vehicles used mainly by infantry and anti-tank units. This booklet will make an attempt to illustrate the development of self-propelled vehicles, born out of the necessity to create support vehicles within the framework of an emergency program to fill most pressing combat needs. These solutions did not always ful­fill ail obligations and did not produce vehicles of overall sound design, as described in Part I. They closed the gap, however, and provided hard-pressed infanlry units with much-needed protection. This was especially true during the initial phase of the Russian campaign In 1941. when Russian tanks, and specifically their "T 34", rendered the entire German tank and anti-tank weaponry useless. During this period, only the 88 mm anti-aircraft gun. never intended to be used at that scale for ground support, proved to be effective. To equalize the balance of fire power, every conceivable weapon was utilized, and it will be most difficult to mention all of the conversions within the framework of this book.