The 88 mm gun (eighty-eight) was a German anti-aircraft and anti-tank artillery gun from World War II. It was widely used by Germany throughout the war, and was one of the most recognized German weapons of the war. Development of the original models led to a wide variety of guns.
Flak is a contraction of German Flugzeugabwehrkanone meaning “aircraft-defense cannon”, the original purpose of the eighty-eight. In English, “flak” became a generic term for ground anti-aircraft fire. In informal German use, the guns were universally known as the Acht-acht (“eight-eight”).
The versatile carriage allowed the eighty-eight to be fired in a limited anti-tank mode when still on wheels, and to be completely emplaced in only two-and-a-half minutes. Its successful use as an improvised anti-tank gun led to the deployment of them in North Africa.
The 88 was powerful enough to penetrate over 84 mm of armour at a range of 2 km, making it an unparalleled anti-tank weapon during the early war, and still formidable against all but the heaviest tanks at the end of the war. To give you an idea, one of the main British tanks the Matilda II had armour 78 mm thick.
It could fire several types of ammunition. For aircraft it used a round that would explode in mid air sending schrapnel in all directions just a like a big grenade. Planes either flew into the schrapnel, or the really unlucky ones were hit directly, casuing the plane to explode. The anti-tank round had a solid armour peircing warhead.
General Erwin Rommel’s timely use of the gun to blunt the British counter-attack at Arras ended any hope of a breakout from the blitzkrieg encirclement of May 1940. In the entire Battle of France, flak destroyed 152 tanks and 151 bunkers.
During the North African campaign, Rommel made the most effective use of the weapon, as he lured tanks of the British 8th Army into traps by baiting them with apparently retreating tanks. When the enemy tanks pursued, concealed 88s picked them off at ranges far beyond those of their 2-pounder and 6-pounder guns. A mere two flak battalions destroyed 264 tanks throughout 1941 North Africa campaign.
Its high velocity and flat trajectory made it a greatly feared weapon by both pilots and tank crews of the Allies alike.
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