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8.8 Cm FlaK 18
The 8.8 cm Flak 18/36/37/41 is a German 88mm anti-aircraft and anti-tank artillery gun, developed in the 1930s. It was widely used by Germany throughout World War II and is one of the most recognized German weapons of the conflict. The gun was universally known as the ''Acht-acht'' ("eight-eight") by the Germans and the "eighty-eight" by the Allies. Due to its lethality, especially as a tank killer, the eighty-eight was greatly feared by Allied soldiers. Development of the original model led to a wide variety of guns. The name of the gun applies to a series of related guns, the first one officially called the ''8.8 cm Flak 18'', the improved ''8.8 cm Flak 36'', and later the ''8.8cm Flak 37''. Flak is a contraction of German ''Flugabwehrkanone'' (also referred to as ''Fliegerabwehrkanone'') meaning "aircraft-defense cannon", the original purpose of the weapon. In English, "flak" became a generic term for ground anti-aircraft fire. Air defense units were usually d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial War Museum
The Imperial War Museum (IWM), currently branded "Imperial War Museums", is a British national museum. It is headquartered in London, with five branches in England. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, it was intended to record the civil and military war effort and sacrifice of the United Kingdom and its Empire during the First World War. The museum's remit has since expanded to include all conflicts in which British or Commonwealth forces have been involved since 1914. As of 2012, the museum aims "to provide for, and to encourage, the study and understanding of the history of modern war and 'wartime experience'." Originally housed in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham Hill, the museum opened to the public in 1920. In 1924, it moved to space in the Imperial Institute in South Kensington and in 1936 it acquired a permanent home at the former Bethlem Royal Hospital in Southwark, which serves as its headquarters. The outbreak of the Second World War saw the museum expand bot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allied Military Phonetic Spelling Alphabets
The Allied military phonetic spelling alphabets prescribed the words that are used to represent each letter of the alphabet, when spelling other words out loud, letter-by-letter, and how the spelling words should be pronounced for use by the Allies of World War II. They are not a "phonetic alphabet" in the sense in which that term is used in phonetics, i.e. they are not a system for transcribing speech sounds. The Allied militaries – primarily the US and the UK – had their own radiotelephone spelling alphabets which had origins back to World War I and had evolved separately in the different services in the two countries. For communication between the different countries and different services specific alphabets were mandated. The last WWII spelling alphabet continued to be used through the Korean War, being replaced in 1956 as a result of both countries adopting the ICAO/ ITU Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, with the NATO members calling their usage the "NATO Phonetic Al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tiger II
The Tiger II was a Nazi Germany, German heavy tank of the World War II, Second World War. The final official German designation was ''Panzerkampfwagen'' Tiger ''Ausf''. B, often shortened to Tiger B.Jentz and Doyle 1993, p. 16. The ordnance inventory designation was ''List of Sd.Kfz. designations, Sd.Kfz.'' 182. (''Sd.Kfz.'' 267 and 268 for command vehicles). It was also known informally as the ''Königstiger'' (German language, German for Bengal tiger, ). Contemporaneous Allied forces (World War II), Allied soldiers often called it the King Tiger or Royal Tiger. The Tiger II was the successor to the Tiger I, combining the latter's thick armour with the armour sloping used on the Panther tank, Panther medium tank. It was the costliest German tank to produce at the time. The tank weighed almost 70 tonnes and was protected by of armour to the front. It was armed with the long barrelled (71 calibres) 8.8 cm KwK 43 anti-tank cannon. The chassis was also the basis for the ''Jagdtiger ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heavy Tank
A heavy tank is a tank classification produced from World War I to the end of the Cold War. These tanks generally sacrificed mobility and maneuverability for better armour protection and equal or greater firepower than tanks of lighter classes. Role Heavy tanks achieved their greatest, albeit limited, success when fighting lighter tanks and destroying fortifications. Heavy tanks often saw limited combat in their intended roles, instead becoming mobile pillboxes or defensive positions, such as the German Tiger I and Tiger II designs, or the Soviet Kliment Voroshilov tank, KV and IS tank family, IS designs. Design Heavy tanks feature very heavy vehicle armour, armor and weapons relative to lighter tanks. Many heavy tanks shared components with lighter tanks. For example, the US M103 (heavy tank), M103 heavy tank shared many components with the lighter Patton tank, including transmission and engine. As a result, they tend to be either underpowered and comparatively slow, or hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jagdpanther
The (German: "hunting Panther"), Sd.Kfz. 173, was a tank destroyer (, a self-propelled anti-tank gun) built by Germany during World War II. The combined the 8.8 cm Pak 43 anti-tank gun, similar to the main gun of the Tiger II, with the armor and suspension of the Panther chassis. It entered service in 1944 and served on the Eastern and Western Fronts. During the last stages of the war, limited German production resulted in small production numbers, shortage of spare parts, and shortened crew training periods of younger operators. Development The Jagdpanther was preceded by two attempts at mounting an 8.8 cm gun as a self-propelled anti-tank weapon; ''Ferdinand'' - also known as (P) - using the ninety-one leftover Porsche-built VK 45.01 (P) chassis from the Tiger tank competition it lost to Henschel in 1942, and the on the Geschützwagen III/IV (which used a combination of the Panzer III and Panzer IV components) chassis. ''Ferdinand'' proved to be too h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elefant
Elefant ( German for "elephant") was a heavy tank destroyer (self propelled anti-tank gun) used by German ''Panzerjäger'' (anti-tank units) during World War II. Ninety-one units were built in 1943 under the name Ferdinand (after its designer Ferdinand Porsche) using VK 45.01 (P) tank hulls which had been produced for the Tiger I tank before the competing Henschel design had been selected. Following their use at the battle of Kursk, in January to April 1944 the surviving ''Ferdinand''s received modifications and upgrades. They were renamed ''Elefant'' in May 1944. The official German designation was ''Panzerjäger Tiger'' (P)Not to be confused with either the ''Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger Ausf. H'' or ''Ausf. E'' versions of the Tiger I, or the ''Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B'' (Tiger II) and the ordnance inventory designation was ''Sd.Kfz.'' 184. Development history Porsche GmbH had manufactured about 100 chassis for their unsuccessful proposal for the Tiger tank, the " Por ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tank Destroyer
A tank destroyer, tank hunter or tank killer is a type of armoured fighting vehicle, predominantly intended for anti-tank duties. They are typically armed with a direct fire anti-tank gun, artillery gun, also known as a self-propelled anti-tank gun, or missile launcher, also called an anti-tank missile carrier. The vehicles are designed specifically to engage and destroy enemy tanks, often with limited operational capacities. While tanks are designed for front-line combat, combining operational mobility and Military tactics, tactical offensive and defensive capabilities and performing all primary tasks of the armoured troops, the tank destroyer is specifically designed to take on enemy tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles. Many are based on a Continuous track, tracked tank chassis, while others are wheeled. Since World War II, gun-armed powerful tank destroyers have fallen out of favor as armies have favored multirole main battle tanks. However, lightly armoured Anti-ta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tiger I
The Tiger I () was a Nazi Germany, German heavy tank of World War II that began operational duty in 1942 in North African Campaign, Africa and in the Soviet Union, usually in independent German heavy tank battalion, heavy tank battalions. It gave the German Army (1935–1945), German Army its first armoured fighting vehicle that mounted the 8.8 cm KwK 36, KwK 36 gun (derived from the 8.8 cm Flak 18/36/37/41, 8.8 cm Flak 36, the famous "eighty-eight" feared by Allied troops). 1,347 were built between August 1942 and August 1944. After August 1944, production of the Tiger I was phased out in favour of the Tiger II. While the Tiger I has been called an outstanding design for its time, it has also been criticized for being overengineering, overengineered, and for using expensive materials and labour-intensive production methods. In the early period, the Tiger was prone to certain types of track failures and breakdowns. It was expensive to maintain, but generally mec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gun Turret
A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in some degree of azimuth and elevation (cone of fire). Description Rotating gun turrets protect the weapon and its crew as they rotate. When this meaning of the word "turret" started being used at the beginning of the 1860s, turrets were normally cylindrical. Barbettes were an alternative to turrets; with a barbette the protection was fixed, and the weapon and crew were on a rotating platform inside the barbette. In the 1890s, armoured hoods (also known as "gun houses") were added to barbettes; these rotated with the platform (hence the term "hooded barbette"). By the early 20th century, these hoods were known as turrets. Modern warships have gun-m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anti-tank Gun
An anti-tank gun is a form of artillery designed to destroy tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, normally from a static defensive position. The development of specialized anti-tank munitions and anti-tank guns was prompted by the appearance of tanks during World War I. To destroy hostile tanks, artillerymen often used field guns depressed to fire directly at their targets, but this practice expended too much valuable ammunition and was of increasingly limited effectiveness as tank armor became thicker. The first dedicated anti-tank artillery began appearing in the 1920s, and by World War II was a common appearance in many European armies. To penetrate armor, they fired specialized ammunition from longer barrels to achieve a higher muzzle velocity than field guns. Most anti-tank guns were developed in the 1930s as improvements in tanks were noted, and nearly every major arms manufacturer produced one type or another. Anti-tank guns deployed during World War II were often mann ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Würzburg Radar
The low-UHF band Würzburg radar was the primary ground-based tracking radar for the Wehrmacht's Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine (German Navy) during World War II. Initial development took place before the war and the apparatus entered service in 1940. Eventually, over 4,000 Würzburgs of various models were produced. It took its name from the city of Würzburg in Bavaria. There were two primary models of the system. The first Würzburg was a transportable model that could be folded for transit and then brought into operation quickly after emplacement and levelling. The A models began entering service in May 1940 and saw several updated versions over the next year to improve accuracy, notably the addition of conical scanning in the D model of 1941. The larger Würzburg-''Riese'' (giant) was based on the D model but used a much larger parabolic reflector to further improve resolution at the cost of no longer being mobile. As one of German's primary radars, the British spent considera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Air Defense
Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface (Submarine#Armament, submarine-launched), and air-based weapon systems, in addition to associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements, and passive measures (e.g. barrage balloons). It may be used to protect naval, army, ground, and air forces in any location. However, for most countries, the main effort has tended to be homeland defense. Missile defense, Missile defense is an extension of air defence, as are initiatives to adapt air defence to the task of intercepting any projectile in flight. Most modern anti-aircraft (AA) weapons systems are optimized for short-, medium-, or long-range air defence, although some systems may incorporate multiple weapons (such as both autocannons and surface-to-air missiles). 'Layered air defence' usually refers to multiple 't ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
