re: Vader’s Model Desk: Sd.kfz 164 Panzerjäger “Nashorn”

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The famous 88mm talked about in Saving Private Ryan. The "88".

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There were actually several versions of the “88”. The Imperial German Navy had a version going back to the pre-dreadnaught days at the turn of the 20th century. During WWI the Germans first developed an anti-aircraft version of the “88”. This WWI era anti-aircraft version, the 8.8 CM Flak 18, was the one developed into the “88” most associate with WWII.

When WWII started the “88” was used exclusively as a high altitude anti-aircraft gun. This was the 8.8 Flak 36 or 8.8 Flak 37. But, starting during the French Campaign, the Wehrmacht quickly realized how effective this gun was against armor. You see, the French actually had really good tanks. German tanks were outclassed by French tanks and struggled to knock them out. This was especially true of the French Char B tank. It was impervious the the 5 Cm gun the the Pzkpfw III and especially the short barrel, low velocity 7.5 Cm gun on the Pzkpfw IV. But the “88” could cut though their armor like warm butter. Later, during Operation Barbarossa, when the Wehrmacht was first confronted with Soviet KV-1 and T-34 tanks, the Germans once again found their panzers struggled against enemy armor. But the “88”, still primarily serving with AA units, could knock them out at great distance. This was when the “88” came into its own.

The Germans quickly developed platforms to mount the “88”, staring with the Pzkpfw IV “Tiger”. This panzer mounted the 8.8 cm KwK 36, pretty much the standard AA version of the AA version of the “88”. But the Germans were not done. In 1943 they introduced the 8.8 cm KwK 43,which had a higher velocity than previous versions, and mounted it on various vehicles, including the Sd.kfz 164 Nashorn. The 8.8 cm KaK 43 was the final and ultimate version of the “88”. It was the premiere tank killing gun of WWII.