The Flak 38 is a German towed 20mm automatic anti-aircraft gun from the Second World War. The first prototypes of the plot were created in 1938, and serial production began shortly after. The maximum vertical range was 3,700 m, and the initial velocity of the projectile was 900 m / s. Theoretical rate of fire was up to 420 rounds per minute.
The Flak 38 was developed by the Mauser company as a far-reaching modification of the Flak 30 cannon. First of all, the theoretical rate of fire was increased in the new cannon and the general mechanical structure was improved. This improved the parameters of the weapon, however, as shown by the combat operations of 1940-1941, the Flak 38 still had too little firepower, which it was decided to increase by creating a quadruple cannon - this is how the 2 cm Flakvierling 38 was born. Both versions of the cannon were massively used by the Wehrmacht in progress World War II in 1940-1945. They also served as an armament for several vehicles, including: Flakpanzer 38 (t), Mobelwagen and Wirbelwind.
The German army had experience in fighting airplanes with anti-aircraft artillery from the period of the First World War. However, in the 1920s and 1930s, the development of anti-aircraft artillery, although it did take place, was not treated as a priority in Germany. It should be added, however, that in the 1930s, the very successful 88 Flak 18 cannons (along with subsequent versions), as well as the 37 mm Flak 18 cannon and 20 mm Flak 30 and Flak 38 cannons were introduced into service. These weapons were responsible for providing air defense primarily to their own land units, although it was assumed that the German Luftwaffe would dominate the air over the battlefield, and that the land forces would face a limited threat from enemy aviation. Such assumptions influenced, among other things, the fact that the German infantry division in 1939 had only 12 20 mm anti-aircraft guns. However, with the growing air superiority of the Soviet, and especially the Allied, air forces, the German army began to intensively develop its own anti-aircraft defense (especially from 1943). In addition, there was also the need to provide air defense to German cities and factories that were forced to deal with Allied strategic air raids. The latter threat increased the production of such cannons 10.5 cm FlaK 38/39 how or 12.8 cm FlaK 40 .