Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Horch PKW 2cm FLAKwagen | Ostfront 1941





Horch PKW transporter with 2cm FLAK30 gun, Operation Barbarossa, June 1941

Horch nach Ost (Horch onward to the East)
German PKW transport with 2cm FLAK30 anti-aircraft gun of Luftwaffe's Hermann Goering Regiment during commencement of Operation Barbarossa : German invasion of Soviet Union, June 1941.




Hermann Goering Regiment was under Luftwaffe (German Air Force) jurisdiction, hence carried honorific title of its commander Reichsmarshal Hermann Goering.








Lessons from 1939-1940 campaigns in Poland, Low Countries, France, Denmark, and Norway shown that self-propelled anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns were more effective since it was already deployed for action (contrasted with towed gun versions which had to be unhitched for action).





Thus Germans either mounted guns onto existing vehicle chassis in the field or produced modified variants in assembly lines. Initial 1941 German offensive into Soviet Union was a staggering success, with massive pincers and encirclements, resulting in nearly one million Soviet causalities (killed, wounded, POW).




Unbeknown to Germans, Soviets had about 14 million men in reserves versus 3 million men deployed by Germans and her Axis allies. Germans would face chronic manpower shortage throughout the war, especially in Ostfront.




0 comments: