A challenge to received ideas
On the British side, the only gun that was comparable to the 88 was the 25-pounder which, by a strange coincidence, had a caliber of 87 mm. It was no more intended to be an anti-tank gun than the German 88 was, as it was a field gun, but it was better suited for firing against tanks in many respects. Its anti-tank projectile was a 9.8 kg steel shell which lacked the explosive charge of the '88's 20 kg shell and due to the lighter gun construction and smaller cartridge could not reach only a speed of 630 m/s, giving it an 80 mm punching capacity at 900 m.
By the time the desert campaign had proven the 88's worth, the Russian campaign had just begun and the unexpected appearance of the Soviet T34 tank seemed to render many of the German anti-tank guns ineffective. The only possible counterattacks were either a gun heavier than the 50mm Pak 38 or the unrestricted use of tungsten-core ammunition. These could withstand high impact velocities and provide penetration where the steel shell might fail, but Germany's supply of tungsten from its scarce Eastern European sources was precarious and reserved primarily for manufacture of machine tools. A 75 mm gun was rushed into service, but the 88, too, took on new importance. Krupp was ordered to release a purely anti-tank version, designated the 88mm Pak 43.
This canon challenged conventional wisdom and departed completely from it. Instead of the two-wheeled, splitting-boom gun carriage then considered necessary for rapid battery-mounting, the Krupp-designed model featured a tetrapod platform modeled on that of the anti-aircraft gun, but allowing the tube pull on its wheels in an emergency. This was sensible because anti-tank guns were mostly set up for defense and quick battery on the move was rarely possible. The cruciform platform gave the new 88 all-round fire capability, which was desirable for an anti-tank. And since this model was not intended for anti-aircraft fire, the barrel was not very high, barely 1.75 m at the top of the shield.
The performance of the gun was improved by enlarging the chamber and the development of a larger cartridge. But the design of an improved mount gave rise to construction problems and delays, and to allow for quick battery up a two-wheeled mount was improvised, using spare parts for other weapons. The gun thus obtained, which was an unsightly and heavy weapon, received the official name of Pak 43/41 of 88 mm. The soldiers who had pushed it through the mud of Russia had nicknamed it "Barn Door". But even as it was, its performance was nothing to sneeze at:it could pierce 168 mm of armor at an angle of 300 to 1,000 meters, and even at 3,000 meters the shell retained even more power than that of the original 88. at 1,000 meters.
Reports from the Eastern Front were unanimous in their praise:“Accuracy is very good up to 2,000 m. Tanks were knocked out at ranges between 160 and 3,000 m”. Another report stated:“As they were hit, the tanks let out a straight flame three meters high and burned entirely. A T34 was hit in the rear at a distance of 410 meters and its engine block was thrown almost 6 meters. A platoon leader reported that he had knocked out six T34s at a distance of 3,600m.
But there was a flip side to this coin.
The new cartridge released an intense cloud of smoke which, in calm weather, tended to hang around the muzzle for some 20 seconds making aiming impossible. Another, more serious flaw was that the long tube tended to vibrate when the rate of fire was high, and thus accuracy was severely compromised. But provided the rate of fire was maintained at 15 rounds per minute or less =and with a shell which weighed 23 kg the rate could hardly be maintained for long at its maximum - the result was, according to the report of a Panzer Division "...splendid;...a marvelous gun." With four of them, 12 out of 20 tanks were destroyed. »
Normandy:the 88 was waiting
When in 1944 the Allies landed in Normandy, the 88s were waiting for them:not only the Flak 18 and the Pak 43, but a third version, the 88mm Schiffskanone C/35 — Unterseebootlafette C/35. This 88, a naval gun used for coastal defense, had no connection with the other two weapons and its performance was very inferior; but it testifies to the diversity of shape and size of the 88.
At this time the 88 was also a standard tank gun. The threat it represented as such was greater than that of the 88 anti-tank since it could therefore move to meet the enemy.
But at this time the Allies were in a better position; their tank armor was thicker—although it couldn't withstand a close range encounter with an 88. And their tank guns were of equal or greater power.
The 88 anti-tank no longer had the intrinsic advantage of range; at ranges at which the gun could damage an Allied tank, the tank could—and often did—fire first and destroy the 88. And when the 88 itself was mounted on a tank, the superior penetration of the tungsten-core ammunition of the British 17 pounder and the American 90 mm brought the antagonists evenly matched. The 88 still had a powerful punch, as many Allied tank commanders learned the hard way, but it was no longer a "super-gun" although this myth still partly persisted until the end of the war.
In summary, the power of the 88 lay in the fact that it was available in quantity, when it was needed. "They" had it, "we" didn't. And anything that only the enemy has and makes your life difficult tends to earn a reputation that goes beyond reality.
The 88 gradually disappeared. At the end of the war a very large number were still in working order, and many countries of Eastern Europe acquired them at low cost to form the core of their post-war anti-aircraft defence. They remained in service there until the early 1960s when missiles supplied by the Soviets replaced them.
88mm Pak 43
user :Germany
Total production :2,098 units (from 1943 to 1945)
Fire mode :semi-automatic by breech with horizontal sliding block
Calibre :88 mm
Maximum range :15,300 m
Maximum rate of fire :6-10 strokes/min
Mass :3,650 kg
Length (with hide):9.20 m
Width :2.20 m
Height :1.73m
Race :360°
Rise :- 8° to + 40°