GERMAN ANTI-AIRCRAFT FLAKPANZER 38 (T) AUSF.L

The Flakpanzer 38 (t) Gepard (Sd.Kfz.140) is a German mobile anti-aircraft gun from the Second World War. The first prototypes were built in 1943, and the serial production was carried out in 1943-1944. About 140 vehicles of this type were built in the course of it. The wagon was about 4.6 m long, 2.15 m wide and 2.25 m high. The drive was provided by a single Praga AC engine with a capacity of 147 HP. The armament consisted of a single 20mm FlaK38 L / 65 gun. The Flakpanzer 38 (t) Cheetah was developed for the needs of the German land forces, which from 1943 had to cope with the increasingly clear advantage of the Allied and Soviet air forces on the Eastern Front. The new vehicle was to provide its own troops with anti-aircraft defense over short and very short distances. The vehicle was developed as a modernization of the Pz.Kpfw 38 (t) light tank, and the main change was to mount an anti-aircraft gun on a special platform at the rear of the vehicle. The lion's share of the Flakpanzer 38 (t) Gepard was used on the Western Front during the 1944 campaign, where, unfortunately, the vehicle showed a limited combat value. The vehicle turned out to be very open to fire - even with small arms - and the armament used was inadequate to the goals set. First of all, it gave too little rate of fire.