88 PaK

I know this was used by the "other side", but it is a rare gun. This piece sits in Kingston, on the RMC campus.

[zemsi]

... hmm, it doesn't look to me like a German 88,m Gun to. Do you mean this one on wikipedia?

The gun you are referring to is a Flak gun, anti-aircraft, although it was often used for anti-tank work. This gun in Kingston is a purpose built PaK gun for anti-tank use. The breech bears the Nazi proof stamps and serial numbers.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Perry,

You're right, this is a 8.8-cm PaK 43 AT gun - an awesome and rare beast. Thanks for sharing the pics!

I snapped a 8.8-cm PaK 43/41 last summer here in Holland. It is on display in the town of Susteren, Holland, where it was knocked out of action.

Hanno

I believe this version is Krupp built, PaK 43, on the 4 legged platform, similar to the Flak mounts. The information I have states that production of guns out stripped production of mounts, so as a stop gap measure, some guns were mounted on a conventional 2 wheeled, split trail mount ( PaK 43/41 ). Notice the absence of a recuperator over the barrel, and the vertical sliding breech block as opposed to the horizontal breech.

[John McGillivray]

Panzerjäger-Abteilung 200 of 21st Panzer Division had 24 8.8cm Pak 43 anti-tank guns in Normandy. There are some photos of them in Jean-Claude Perrigault’s book “21. Panzer Division”. In addition Flak-Abteilung 305, also from 21st Panzer Division had 8 8.8cm Flak guns.

Panzerjäger-Abteilung 716 of 716 Infanterie-Division had two 8.8cm Pak 43/41 along with nine towed 7.5cm Pak 40s and 10 7.5cm Pak 40s on tracked chassis.

The Canadian 3rd Division encountered troops from these two divisions on D-Day and the days following.

Note that the 8.8cm Flak guns were similar to the 8.8cm KwK36 L/56 mounted in the Tiger I while the 8.8cm Pak 43 and 43/41 guns were similar to the 8.8cm KwK43 L/71 of the Tiger II.