The WWII GERMAN 2cm Flakvierling 38

AusArmour Assistant Manager, Jason Belgrave, shows us the Museum's Wehrmacht 2cm Flakvierling 38
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[@Blackcloud_Garage]

As a former military helicopter pilot I always get chills thinking about seeing something like this on the ground near my flight path. Even at 80 years old this thing could be devastating to modern rotary wing aircraft.

[@kristoffermangila]

It can be a threat to modern light armored vehicles - not the armor per se, but it can punch through the vision slits and/or the sensors on an RWS, for example.

[@jw451]

worked in the Yugoslav civil war against massed infantry formations. Think about it

[@SofaKingShit]

I suppose the projectiles would have ended stopping somewhere, at least eventually.

[@paulorchard7960]

A meat grinder at whatever its pointed at!😕

[@Butterbrotdiesel]

@@kristoffermangila shooting and hiting with this gun a modern fighter jet whold down them pretty sure

[@Mirkon177]

"...hoyah raid of foyah" I just love hearing the aussie accent! Sounds totally awesome! Greetings from Germany!

[@cultguide8437]

Literally stopped the video after he said that to repeat it myself whilst laughing, just to stumble over your comment. Fun and unique accent indeed! Greetings, fellow germany-man.

[@harpoonhunter1683]

Thanks for sharing this my nyga

[@Ghostmaxi1337]

For those interested in the ammo: There was Prewar ammo, 115g, flat bottom, Hef-T (Sd.), tho they aparently had a tendicy to explode in the barrles after a while, so the ammo was reworked and changed to 120g, different Sd. Instead of burning through, the heat detonates. And the ammo recived a boat tail. Ammo types were Sprgr.L'Spur Hef-T (6,2g Pent), Sprgr.Erd HeF (11g Pent), Br.Sprgr.L'Spur Hefi-T (6,6g H.5 and Alu), Br.Sprgr. o.L'Spur Hefi (20g H.5 and Zink), Br.Sprgr. vk L'Spur Hefi-T(short tracer) (19g H.5 and Zink) For Ap ammo: Pzgr. L'Spur ApI-T (148g with 3g Ph core), Pzgr. L'Spur. "0" Ap-T (143g empty carvity), Pzgr. L'Spur Zerl. (Aphe-T Sd. (Fuzeless)3,7gPent), Pzgr.40 (Hvap, 62g Tungsten core) and some Navy ammo but anyway.

[@paoloviti6156]

Thanks for sharing this very interesting info regarding the 20 mm ammo! 1st time I'm reading that the early variants had the tendency to explode in the barrel as I didn't know that. I only know that those guns were very good but lacked the "oomph" against enemy fighters hence the reason the crews preferred the 3.7 cm Flak 36 that that could reach over 4.000 mt

[@jackhammer7776]

You forgot about the HE GTS.W five niner g s model ammo😂

[@DominusMaximo]

Also GJ bri vkgf hg gk couyhhd vgdfj fj f f6wvj c d 853389

[@Rudi-Mhz]

My Father was a Loader on such a Vierling ! He was a Truckdriver since 1943. 1945 he was captured in a Lazaret and joined the United States Army two Month after his Illness as a Driver and a Lumber . Such is Life....

[@MGB-learning]

Another Outstanding video and presentation by Jason.

[@cheongkitvong7449]

agreed

[@lordvetinari6057]

Those Vierlings were devastating. In the morning of the 19th September 1944 the 1st Para Brigade at Arnheim tried to get to the Bridge by an attack along the river. Then the fog lifted at 6.00 a.m. and the brigade were in full sight of the Aufklärungsabteilung of the 9. SS Polizeidivision and their 2cm and 3,7cm Flak on the other side of the Niederrhein that immediately opened up fire. Two batallions were completely ripped to pieces and annihilated.

[@riccardoagostini4168]

No polizeidivision… 9.panzer SS is Hohenstaufen

[@shoofly529]

Was this the type of weapon used in 'Saving Private Ryan' in the scene where the soldiers are shot up on the side of the tank? I think someone yells out '20mm.'

[@TheBabolas]

@@shoofly529 Almost, but the version with 1 gun only ;-)

[@wanderschlosser1857]

​@@shoofly529Yes, as a single barrel version. Imagine 4 of them.

[@theblytonian3906]

I think you may have your units confused? "9. SS Polizeidivision" (sic) SS-Polizei Regiment 9?... was a Regiment, which was completely destroyed on the Eastern Front in Jul '44 & remnants incorporated into 16 SS-Polizei Regiment. *4.* SS-Polizei Panzergrenadier Division was nowhere near Arnhem in Sept 1944. 9. SS "Hohenstaufen" & 10. SS "Frundsberg" were the two Waffen SS-Panzer Divisions encountered & engaged by the Paras around Arnhem. Choose one.

[@lloydgoldston3620]

❤ this! An incredibly effective weapons platform during the war. Few solid examples survive today and the museums example is incredibly well preserved. Thank you Jason for a brilliant breakdown on the Flak38 Flakvierling

[@gvdschoot]

Last time you said that you want some ideas. Here is one. The Jagdpanzer Kanone outside, I can talk about that for hours, and I think that you can too.

[@highlander147]

Thanks Jason, awesome brief: crisp, succinct and packed with information.

[@tylerkimble715]

I really wish these videos were longer but I can't think of anything that could have been added.

[@copperlemon1]

A little bit about the mechanical operation and the magazine size handicap.

[@ChevySS1968]

I can think of something - IT COULD HAVE BEEN FIRED!

[@americanpatriot2422]

Please continue to make these types of great videos. Thank you

[@irahwebster1088]

Exquisite exhibit and gun! No one does guns like the Germans! Bravo!

[@daejavue69]

Great weapon for air defence reworked & modernized belt fed ammo , modern targeting , radar etc vehicle mounted .

[@StuSaville]

Plonk it onto the hull of one of the museums Panzer IV's and you've got yourself a super rare Flakpanzer Wirbelwind 🙂

[@kristoffermangila]

Now that's a good idea. Now all they need is to find another one and fabricate a Wirbelwind turret.

[@obsidianjane4413]

Nein. That would be a terrible thing to do to a historical artifact to create a replica.

[@alekjanowski9847]

@@obsidianjane4413 Ye - better to make a replica from the scratch...

[@jerryjeromehawkins1712]

Built that model in my youth... it was a Monogram kit, I believe.

[@jamestiberiuskirk5994]

One of the first Tamiya kits I built as a young lad. Great video, I like them.

[@MichaelCuthbertson-xv6ig]

Thanks Jason. I look forward to Workshop Wednesday every week, you guys are amazing. Planning to visit the museum mid August. Last time I was in Cairns the museum was still being built so quite excited to finally get there. Regards Michael from Hobart

[@hermannjoseph]

You'll love it Michael. I spent three hours there on my own a couple of weeks back and wanted to stay even longer. Highly recommend the museum and staff.

[@wekker090]

Frequent used against personnel very effective weapon.

[@kimjanek646]

I have my doubts. Unless your aiming at buildings or vehicles, there’s just no real effective way to aim at targets on the ground. Particularly since it fires one top and one bottom gun on the opposite site. Unless your firing at targets on a hill or mountain.

[@wekker090]

@@kimjanek646 no doubts the frag rounds were devastating.

[@edkrzywdzinski9121]

​​@@kimjanek646Considering the Germans used their 8.8 Flaks against troops and armour as well as aircraft, they would have used the flakvierling in such a way also. A quick look up Wikipedia for one thing describes such use.

[@kimjanek646]

@@edkrzywdzinski9121 I don't know what you expect, but yeah the 88mm is in fact an 88mm cannon that can target ground targets, even when it's not ideal in a direct fire role against soft targets, due to the high velocity. The British 25pdr artillery is in fact a 88mm caliber howitzer. Ideally you want your shells to come down from above and at low velocity for ideal fragmentation dispersion. So while possible to use the 88mm against soft ground targets, it's not ideal. The same way it's not ideal to use 20mm quad guns against soldiers, since the chance of landing a direct or indirect hit is very small, particular when the gun is not specialized for targeting ground targets. So saying the 20mm quad AA was frequently used and effective against personal is somewhat debatable. A mounted machine gun is generally going to be the more effective weapon. Only when you're shooting at ranges above 1km the larger caliber guns are going to be more effective, simply because the MG stops being effective.

[@edkrzywdzinski9121]

@@kimjanek646 The way you phrased your opening line gives the impression you didn't believe the flakvierling was used as an anti personnel gun at times. I was pointing out that this weapon and other guns, dedicated flak guns, were found to be very effective as artillery pieces and retasksd to either target both vehicles or troops. Many examples of this. That was all.

[@paulday-lh5mx]

Another fantastic Aus Armour video. Can't wait for maintenance Monday, and then onto workshop Wednesday. Enjoy the weekend.

[@markogronfors3204]

Simply the straight truth and how the gun works. Including scope operation. Thanks, I'll go buy a miniature model.

[@yeildo1492]

Lots of info for me in this 2:30 video. I did not know that they fired obliquely and thank you for the good explanation of how the sight works.👍👍👍

[@schwabrichard9829]

Thank you Jason always look forward to your reports. The Le IG 18 75mm field gun would make a great subject for a video!

[@user-di4kv9yk3g]

a very nice piece to have in the collection when i used to go to various military shows here in the UK i often thought how nice it be to have something like this and something equally interesting to tow it with like some light armor Sd Kfz or a Horch - not just very valuable but well worth having for film sets etc which today i think is very worth while for authenticity

[@Gneeznow]

I remember playing Silent Hunter 3 back in the day and having my uBoat kitted out with 3 of these for AA and getting into totally unrealistic battles with dozens of planes

[@luvtruckin]

As usual well done Jason.

[@cheesenoodles8316]

Excellent

[@54mgtf22]

Thanks Jason. 👍

[@Ghostmaxi1337]

The elevation limits sound a bit off, even in German documents the elevations are listed as following: 2 cm Flak 30 -12° to +90° 2 cm Flak 38 -20° to +90° 2 cm Flakvierling 38 -10° to +100°

[@lukefriesenhahn8186]

Which German Documents did you use?

[@Ghostmaxi1337]

@@lukefriesenhahn8186 W127 Dokumentation der Heeres Waffen, Fahrzeuge und Gerät (or something along the lines, i cant remember the exact name)

[@lukefriesenhahn8186]

@@Ghostmaxi1337 Thanks. 👍

[@lukefriesenhahn8186]

@@Ghostmaxi1337 Would you be willing to provide a link? I have found a multitude of various sites on the documents.

[@Ghostmaxi1337]

@@lukefriesenhahn8186 You cant post links on YT, im pretty shure they get blocked. Also, to my knowlege there exists only 1 version of W127, so it doesnt matter from where you get it?

[@gerhardwuhrer6764]

Hello Ausarmour lads, you have a big fan on the other side of the world. You do a great job restoring, I admire your craftsmanship. Keep on working and sincere greetings from Gerhard in Austria

[@timisfree1768]

Excellent video!

[@peterlinau1034]

Amazing how many cool weapons you get.

[@lewcrowley3710]

Some interesting bits... The Dieppe raid, had capturing one of these, as one of the mission objectives It was certainly used against ground troops and even tanks. One platoon of 6 haltracks mounting these drove back a sherman formation. The US paras also suffered from these in ground role. The fuses were very sensitive and even grain fields set them off. EOD are very wary of them to this day Aircraft could be driven off from the shear number of tracers 20mm ammunition had home versions (self destruct) and front ammo I believe they had quick change barrels

[@yattaran1484]

Always my pleasure to watch this channel !.

[@russwoodward8251]

Thank Jason and Aus Armour.

[@mabbrey]

great stuff

[@andrewsteele7663]

Thanks Jason, just wondering if I could borrow it on weekends, as the rabbits are getting bad. Cheers

[@drmarkintexas-400]

🏆🎖️🙏🤗 Thank you for sharing this

[@charliemyres5450]

Very interesting, keep them coming.

[@damiandighton5199]

Thanks Jason another awesome tech talk Friday. Can you please do a talk on the LP2 carrier.

[@richardgreen7811]

It's only after 79 years and many human generations that WWII can be discussed in its true context. The German soldier had better equipment along with the nuances of science leading to dramatic engagement effect. This was true in virtually every aspect of their equipment, although the US fighter aircraft improved significantly. Their equipment was better than ours (US), their soldiers were equal to ours (in 1941), and their forward planning for equipment development was better than ours. How did we win the WAR ? Two reasons ... Hitler lost his ability to lead effectively (partly due to assassination attempts on his life), and the industrial might of the US. We could simply replace the ships being sunk, the planes being shot down, and the manpower to operate our War Machine. With our relentless B17 and bomb supply, Germany's ability to wage War simply dwindled. It wasn't so much that we out-fought the Germans, we simply out-lasted them. Attrition warfare is expensive, but quite effective. The same thing happened in our Civil War.

[@geoland09]

"One German soldier was equivalent to 4 Allied soldiers," said British Army Captain Sir Basile Liddel Hart years after the war. Even during the end of the war and even with little training, the German soldier was more determined than the English or American soldier.

[@adamesd3699]

There’s also having the advantage of millions of Red Army soldiers and all their weapons on the Allied side.

[@davecopp9356]

The german soldier was able to inflict a kill to loss ratio of around 2,5 to 1 during their attacking years and equally during their defending last years of the war. Overall they were great soldiers who fought with determination and bravery. But of course the propaganda of the Alllies will not tell you this. What is history than a fable agreed upon? Napoleon

[@krazhuk]

@@adamesd3699 Exaclty this, mister US forgot to mention the third and most important reason we did win the war: the Wehrmacht was broken on the Red Army, more than half its army was lost in the east, thats more than all other theatres combined!

[@entropyachieved750]

Nice exhibit

[@michaelb6729]

As a kid, i had one of these as my first Tamiya model kit.

[@user-rl5nd3ys8p]

TAMIYA make an excellent model of this.

[@phil3114]

My grandfather commanded 4 of those guns during ww2. Was stationed in Africa and Italy and had quite some stories to tell about aircraft that got shot down. Once they shot a B24 over the Adriatic. He told how the plane came down in a slow spiral with ppl having time to bail out. Thing is...these folks landed in the water before the plane did, and it crashed right ontop of them. He clearly was not happy about this outcome.

[@bluemouse5039]

I'm thinking when a enemy aircraft appeared overhead to attack German ground forces it probably showed up with very little warning and the flak crews didnt even bother turning any sighting dials or things to estimate speed or altitude or anything , they just went to their crew positions and the gunner just used whatever sight was in place and started blasting away especially later in the war when the quality of replacement German soldiers began to slip especially using young boys for front line troops

[@Bill53AD]

Nice job Jason. Beautiful piece of kit.

[@robertkarp2070]

2 CM is more commonly known as the 20 MM. Weapon bore is more commonly referred in MM instead of CM, such as the 88 MM, 105 MM, 8 MM, 9 MM, 155 MM, 40 MM, 35 MM.

[@PhansiKhongoloza]

Agreed. 20mil. 88mil. 12,7mil. 14five. Etc etc.

[@wazwulf2698]

short n sweet as always ty

[@BlastedBilly]

I wonder how many planes that thing shredded?

[@lewcrowley3710]

Since the barrels wear out, I believe they painted kills on the shield (if they had one)

[@ltcajh]

More specifically, two men, not, "Two people" operated the gun. Really nice gun and presentation!

[@peterv1436]

you mustn't assume their gender, bigot!

[@Hope-lm3zg]

German Engineering is awesome❤

[@andrewtomlinson18]

With the increasing use of cheap/cheerful drones I can see the return of this type weapon,

[@robertsmart4628]

Definitely wouldn't like to be on the receiving end .

[@johncooke9655]

Great video thanks Jason

[@dirkhoegen4620]

My grandfather was gunner at the Vierlingsflak at the eastern front and he says the result on umarmed vehicels and people was horrable, so i didn't have to ask him anything more about 2 WW.

[@user-zn5fl5du4s]

Как они работают, читал в воспоминаниях ветерана Г. Бидермана, не хотел бы попасть под её огонь😮

[@robertstonebreaker8394]

Thanks for showing very interesting piece of weaponry.

[@cheongkitvong7449]

Nice Video 👍👍

[@ianbell5611]

Great video. Thank You Cheers

[@evilfingers4302]

One of the most devastating weapons platform of WW2 and it wouldn't surprise me, somewhere in Ukraine, a similar weapons platform is being refurbished and used again against the Russians and it wouldn't be the first one, because in a recent uploaded YT video from United24, the Ukrainians brought back an 80 yrs old 100mm Anti-Aircraft Gun to be used as a Howitzer mounted on a 6x6 truck.

[@edl617]

Guess that’s where the ZSU 23/4 came from

[@ChevySS1968]

Krauts built good stuff. We were lucky they had such a lunatic for a leader.

[@paulmurgatroyd6372]

I always wondered why the German army stuck with those small magazines for so long.

[@wingtip76]

Thank you now I learned something new, always wondered what the difference was between a flak 30 and a flak 38

[@BrianWMay]

Fearsome weapon. ZSU 23-4 is the Russian equivalent and it still applies. Put crudely we used to say 'it throws a lot of shit in a short time' . . .

[@michaelguerin56]

Thank you Jason et al. Good weapon video BUT … the Heer (Army), Kriegsmarine (Navy) and Luftwaffe (Air Force) were the three (3) components of the Wehrmacht.

[@mrcarlo1966]

Thank you.

[@54mgtf22]

Video idea. The half track ‘motorcycle’ with the single front wheel.

[@dbeerewout]

The Kettengrad?, yes please

[@level98bearhuntingarmor]

While with Kamikazes the US Navy started to have less confidence in 20mm but give it a quad mount thats powered for quick traverse and that will rip apart anything that flies into effective range (at the time anyways)

[@speedster29]

That was great, but where's Workshop Wednesday? 🥺

[@ray.shoesmith]

It has controls for elevation and Travis.

[@michaelfrank2266]

Interesting. I knew very little about the Quad 20.

[@mickypd1]

Wonder what the markings stand for on the spent rounds door ?

[@katzelag8536]

Division symbol and which formation this system was attached to. Here it is 5 s.s panzer division 2nd armored car platoon.

[@geofschofield7963]

I've got several examples in my 1:35 model stash 😁

[@sinvaldotelesdasilvatelesd7790]

Uma máquina maravilhosa! 🤔🤔

[@bwilliams463]

I guess I thought they just peered through the ring sight and took a swing; interesting how complex targeting actually was.

[@HailHydra27]

This is a Flakvierling, it vierlings flak

[@TheGixernutter]

Beast

[@tedmac8049]

Deadly on the horizontal against infantry. Take that ya helmets 😅

[@Henning_S.]

The pronounciation of "Vier" in Vierling is like the word "fear"

[@edkrzywdzinski9121]

Might as well correct his pronunciation of "traverse".

[@---rz5th]

Well done.

[@TallDude73]

I would have asked for something belt-fed. That's a lot of magazine changing.

[@ericfg806]

Yep. My question is how would magazines be reloaded on the spot during a firefight. Either there were a TON of mags very close , or a buncha gefreiters were feverishly reloading on site.

[@marcusbraun8889]

​@@ericfg806- I guess a lot of firefights didn't last that long. If you're in a gaggle of ground attack planes and one (or more) of these opened up I think you wouldn't want to hang around for an entire minute - that's a very long time when under fire.

[@Mrtophat-mt8zk]

Do the m26 pershing

[@joachim.charleshogg4728]

The photograph series you show in your video, shows a group of soldiers with cuff bands - any chance of naming the regiment or battalion?

[@jaydeister9305]

[@billyponsonby]

Interesting

[@Gnurftl]

Just one word on the pronounciation: Vier sounds like "fear" - the 'v' is a sharp 'f'

[@kristoffermangila]

In Call of Duty: WW2, there are two missions where you get to fire this gun: one during the Operation Cobra arc of the game (forgot which mission number it is), the last is the penultimate mission (the bridge mission), all against Stukas.

[@cameronnewton7053]

Also featured in the first COD, used tondefend the airfield from stukas as you steal a get away plane, also featured several times on pzIV chassis' which you have to blow up.

[@James_T_Quirk]

Well also Sub-Sims late war Uboats had them available, it also appeared long before in Table Top War-gaming, in things like Squad Leader Series by Avalon Hill, but getting 1 of these were it could actually fire @ Infantry was Difficult without Not doing its main job, Anti-Air.. But "White Death: Velikiye Luki, The Stalingrad of the North (1979)" had Quads defended a flank of town, they worked well against Infantry, attacking up slope into Town, as in real life at actual battle apparently.. I wonder how they would work on Back of Toyota ute ...

[@Ronaldl2350]

Thanks Jason. Can the gun be fired? Or is it demilled?

[@mikem9331]

Seems like a system that Ukraine could use to good effect against orc drones and missiles.

[@user-sy9yu4sf7u]

20×151mm.

[@bobstacey9311]

Nine thumbs up & t views in less than a minute

[@ptonpc]

You would not want to be on the wrong end of that.

[@torharaldfedog9444]

Did he say 40.000 produced ? Or did I hear wrong

[@jackgraves5121]

40,000: 40 thousand: forty thousand

[@torharaldfedog9444]

@@jackgraves5121 I see. But the quad version was rare. I guess he refered to each individual gun

[@jackgraves5121]

@@torharaldfedog9444 D-Day Overload says 144,000 (one hundred and forty-four) of the quads were made.

[@torharaldfedog9444]

@@jackgraves5121 No. built more than 144,000[1] (Flakvierling count per barrel) Flak 30: 8,000+ Flak 38: 40,000+

[@torharaldfedog9444]

I somehow always thought the quads were rare 😁

[@user-sv9zx5pl7t]

Is this Cannon functionable,or is it deactivated?

[@davor3219]

is it possible to know the origin of that flak?

[@michaelpielorz9283]

If Selenskij watches this video he instantly demands it for his Ukraine!

[@july9566]

How many poor souls did this thing take out ?

[@dougcostello9064]

Would like to see that gun in action.

[@bebo4807]

My uncle brought one of these back from Europe after the war. He disassembled it and brought it back in several duffle bags. As kids we would take it out to the woods and shoot at empty beer cans.

[@JohnSmith-un9jm]

Ya okay

[@jackgraves5121]

So what, my grandmother, French Resistance, got a job in a tank factory and smuggled a King Tiger Tank out by simply shoving it into her bra and walking out right under the eyes of the guards. She was a brave and big-breasted patriot, fer sure.🫡

[@afre3398]

How come your museum do have so much German items?

[@johnnewman366]

Why not? The museum is privately owned (no government grants or assistance), the owner clearly likes German military vehicles and can collect whatever he wishes to procure. We are all lucky that he shares his personal collection with the public, a lot of personal collections aren’t always able to be viewed, they are kept private. Win win, yes?

[@afre3398]

@@johnnewman366 Don't get your knickers in a twist and keep your hair on;) It is more that I am surprised because Australia is a very long way from Europe. I would perhaps expected more Japanese WW2 items in an Australian museum, because of the proximity to that theater. But that said I do not condemn any museum collecting any items, because it is not about any sort of ism, it is about preserving history

[@edkrzywdzinski9121]

​@@afre3398more like _you_ got _your_ panties in a bunch. John here was answering your question and nothing about it was rude or terse to deserve such a witless reply. Exemplified by your snarky comment. Feel better for it! Perhaps you should avoid comment sections if you have difficulty coping or discerning when people offer information intending to be helpful when you ask obtuse questions. You certainly owe John an apology! No doubt you are now enraged and that wad has firmly wedged itself up there. I'll do you a favour and not bother reading any follow up.