The crew of an 8.8cm K-Flak (K stands for Kraftwagen) battery pose beside their tractor and gun.
I asked Dr. Hannes Täger to give me his expert opinion on this photograph. Alfred Krupp could not have provided a more detailed response.
One cannot see a lot of the features of the lorry but I am convinced that we are looking at a so-called Artillerie-Kraftzugmaschine KD1 manufactured by Krupp-Daimler with 100 horse powers, four cylinders, Mercedes "basket carburetor" and four-wheel drive. The lorry had 8 speeds for driving forward and 2 for driving backward. The wooden wheels had iron tyres (You know the lack or raw material caused by the blockade). Note the camouflage pattern of the tarpaulin.
The Geschützwagen (cannon vehicle) is without any doubt made by Krupp (and not by Rheinmetall). There were three different calibres of schwere (heavy) K-Flak existing: 8.0, 8.8 and 10.5 cm. The "8.8" was the best and most often used (160 pieces) before 8.0 (78 pieces) and some 10.5. The highest K-Flakbatterie number I am aware of is 216. To my knowledge the Batterien (German: plural of Batterie) number 105 and 107-141 were 8.0´s (makes 35 Batterien with 70 of 78 guns). So, we have probably a an 8.8 in the picture [in-spite of my first impression pointing to an 8.0]. The identification is not easy because both types were nearly identical and differed more in size or dimension than in anything else.
Some data for the 8.8: The gun vehicle without lorry had a weight of 3010 kg. The lorry had a weight of 7300 kg. Velocity at the barrel was 765 meters per second. Weight of the grenade was 9.6 kg with only 0.6 kg explosive. The fuse S/26 of the German Navy´s artillery was used, late in the war also new mechanical double fuses. Greatest distance was 10800 meters and greatest altitude of the grenades 6850 meters. Maximum elevation of the gun was 70°.
Concerning the remark "rest" on the black board: A German heavy Flak battery had (in general) only two guns but required 3 officers and 50 NCO and soldiers as personnel. The correct strength (per schedule) are listed for K-Flakbatterie 216 in Soederbaum/Taeger: "German Flak in World War One" in "Over the Front", vol. 17, number 4, Winter 2002, pages 314-333. Today I know there are some little mistakes in the article but in general it is one of the few longer contributions about WWI Flak.
Wow, what a photo... Picking up info for scratchbuilding K-Flack was a real nightmare , just a last minute valuable asisstance from a good friend saved me. I wish I had this photo in those times...thank you for sharing the photo and for illustrating us. Eduardo
That is very interesting. I'll be trying my hand at scratchbuilding a K-Flak out of a soviet 8.5cm flak made by Ace models, apart from wheels, (Which I'll use some left over Morser road wheels in place of the rubber ones) I would think it looks the same. I'd probbably have to switch the barrel, but other than that, could you guys give me any other pointers?
Greetings, Josh
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"General, you have nobly protected your forts. Keep your sword...to have crossed swords with you has been an honor, sir." General der Infantrie, Otto von Emmich