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German AA in the ground support role


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I was just woundering what the effect of firing 20mm and 37mm shells at infantry would be like. I would think from the shell size and reasonably high rof these weapons would be quite devestating agianst infantry and soft units (AT guns, halftracks etc) in the open.

Can't wait to lower the barrels of my whirblewinds and ostwinds and watch those allied squads scatter smile.gif

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Guest Big Time Software

They are very effective. However, not as much as you might think at first. The reason is that the RoF is quite low (box fed instead of belt) so they can't spray a large area with fire. But basically any squad not in great cover has a lot to fear from these suckers. Generally a few casualties and then the unit is either pinned or panicked soon there after.

Against thinly armored vehicles like the M3 HT they are pretty darned deadly. No spraying required wink.gif

Steve

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Guest Username:

The lethality of these weapons comes from the sensitive fuzes. To give an example, if infantry are in a house and a flak weapon or a MG is firing at them , the main difference is in the fact that MG bullets that 'miss' and travel into the room dont explode. The flak weapons had fuzes that would explode on an aircrafts skin. So in a house thay would detonate on the wall surface.

If you were in dense foilage you can imagine the 'airbursts' playing hell. The noise and impacts really set them apart from MG fire.

But the ROF is low but automatic nonetheless. The range of these weapons was pretty good and on solid mounts. Indirect fire like MGs practiced could be achieved with added precision.

Lewis

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