The Flakpanzer IV Kugelblitz (German for "ball lightning") was a German self-propelled anti-aircraft gun developed during World War II. By the end of the war, only a pilot production of five units had been completed. Unlike earlier self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, it had a fully enclosed, rotating turret.
Development
The need for a specialised self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, capable of keeping up with the armoured divisions, had become increasingly urgent for the German Armed Forces, as from 1943 on the German Air Force was less and less able to protect itself against enemy fighter bombers.
Therefore, a multitude of improvised and specially designed self-propelled anti-aircraft guns were built, many on the Panzer IV chassis, starting with the Flakpanzer IV Möbelwagen (a stopgap design) and progressing through the Wirbelwind and Ostwind models. However, these designs were tall, open-topped designs with sub-optimal armor. These flaws were to be eliminated in the Kugelblitz, the final development of the Flakpanzer IV.
thumb|left|"Kugelblitz" (Model)
General Heinz Guderian was shown several Flakpanzer projects for consideration in May 1944, one of which was the Leichte Flakpanzer IV 3 cm sketches created by Oberleutnant Josef von Glatter-Gotz. This design was chosen by Guderian, with Daimler-Benz to produce the vehicle and the armament to be created by Rheinmetall.
The first proposal for the Kugelblitz envisioned mounting a modified anti-aircraft turret developed for U-boats on the Panzer IV chassis, which was armed with dual 30 mm MK 303 Brünn guns (a configuration known as Doppelflak, "dual flak"). This was however abandoned as impractical, as development of this gun had not yet been completed, and in any case the entire production run of this gun turret was reserved for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. Instead, the Kugelblitz used the 30 mm MK 103/Pz cannon in a Zwillingsflak ("twin flak") 103/38 arrangement. The MK 103 had also been fitted in single mounts to such planes as the Henschel Hs 129 in a ventral gun pod, and to the twin-engined Dornier Do 335. Each 30mm gun could fire 450 rounds a minute.
Other versions of the Kugelblitz were planned. One version would have two 20 mm and two 30 mm cannons, with the 20 mm cannons used as targeting guns. Tests of radar and even infra-red equipment were conducted. In November 1944 a proposed plan to combine a Hetzer hull with the Kugeblitz turret was accepted, but never produced. Two of the turrets were to be used as anti-aircraft guns in Berlin but it is unknown if they saw any action.
Survivors
Today, one complete Kugelblitz turret is exhibited at the Lehrsammlung der Heeresflugabwehrschule (collection of the German army anti-aircraft school), Rendsburg.
Comparable vehicles
Notes
Sources
- Chamberlain, Peter & Doyle, Hilary (1999) "Encyclopedia Of German Tanks Of World War Two"
- "Vor 60 Jahren: Die Kämpfe um Horchen, Spichra und Creuzburg - Teil 2" (in German). Milan.de. Retrieved 2011-07-17.
- Spielberger, Walter J., and Uwe Feist. Sturmartillerie. Fallbrook, CA: Aero, 1967.
- German Tanks of World War II: The Complete Illustrated history of German Armoured Fighting Vehicles 1926-1945, F. M. von Senger und Etterlin, translated by J. Lucas, Galahad Books, New York, 1969,
- Karl R. Pawlas: The 3 cm Flak 103/38 and 103/Pz part 1-5, in "Waffen Revue Volume 93-96", Journal Verlag Schwend GmbH, Schwäbisch Hall 1994-1995