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The Nemesis of the USAAF in WWII

B-Man2

B-Man2

Well-Known Member
Hey guys .
I spent the day at a military show today. While I was walking around I saw an eye opening display on a vendors table. They were probably one of the most effective weapons the German military utilized against the USAAF in the Second World War . It was the German 88 Flak Gun or Cannon. It brought down more Allied aircraft than just about any other weapon the Germans used during the air war. However, I don’t think that anyone who was a crew member on an 88 would have ever guessed the value of just one of its shells today. Check it out !o_O
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Pa12

Pa12

Well-Known Member
Crazy. Worked with a guy who’s father ran one in Berlin. Worked with another guy who’s father was on a u-boat. He was pretty much unhinged his whole life and eventually shot him self in the head.
 
Otter

Otter

Well-Known Member
On exercise in Germany I noticed an older gentleman peering very intently at my C/P. My bombardier spoke excellent German so I invited him to have a seat with us and a coffee. Turned out he had been Luftwaffe, stationed with his 88 near where we were. After the war he came back and married the girl he had met and settled down. Quite appropriate as we were RA A/D and in the same trade.
 
Smithy

Smithy

Well-Known Member
Easily the best and most versatile gun of the war. We have a bunker about 300 metres from our house which had an 88 mounted on top of it to protect the harbour approaches from the south here. The gun is gone but I can take some snaps of the bunker if anyone is interested.

On a different note not terribly far from us in the woods is an abandoned 88 still where it stood in 1945. It's in bad condition but it's still there. If anyone is interested I can take the kids for a trip next weekend and take some photos of it.
 
B-Man2

B-Man2

Well-Known Member
Smithy said:
Easily the best and most versatile gun of the war. We have a bunker about 300 metres from our house which had an 88 mounted on top of it to protect the harbour approaches from the south here. The gun is gone but I can take some snaps of the bunker if anyone is interested.

On a different note not terribly far from us in the woods is an abandoned 88 still where it stood in 1945. It's in bad condition but it's still there. If anyone is interested I can take the kids for a trip next weekend and take some photos of it.
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Tim
Wouldn’t you just like to take a metal detector and see what you can find around both of those places?
 
Micawber

Micawber

Well-Known Member
Smithy said:
Easily the best and most versatile gun of the war. We have a bunker about 300 metres from our house which had an 88 mounted on top of it to protect the harbour approaches from the south here. The gun is gone but I can take some snaps of the bunker if anyone is interested.

On a different note not terribly far from us in the woods is an abandoned 88 still where it stood in 1945. It's in bad condition but it's still there. If anyone is interested I can take the kids for a trip next weekend and take some photos of it.
Click to expand...

I would be interested to see some photos Tim
 
Smithy

Smithy

Well-Known Member
Micawber said:
I would be interested to see some photos Tim
Click to expand...

No worries Steve. The bunker up from us is easy - it's right beside our local store. The 88 in the forest is close though as well, so if the weather is good over the weekend I'll take the kids for a stroll and take a few snaps of the 88.
 
Enigma1938

Enigma1938

Well-Known Member
Smithy said:
It's terribly rusted and in poor condition but it's still there!
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It's pretty rare today that such big ww2 stuff is still there where it was left. Even the plane and tank findings in Russia are getting rarer and rarer. I remember seeing a reportage about some battle grounds in the former "Kurland Kessel" in Latvia which were untouched until discovery in the late 2000s. Bunkers, shelters, trenches everything still there filled with rusted weapons, equipment and skeletons of german and russian Soldiers still on the places were they died, mostly unburied.
That was strange, creepy and terribly fascinating.
 
Smithy

Smithy

Well-Known Member
Enigma1938 said:
It's pretty rare today that such big ww2 stuff is still there where it was left. Even the plane and tank findings in Russia are getting rarer and rarer. I remember seeing a reportage about some battle grounds in the former "Kurland Kessel" in Latvia which were untouched until discovery in the late 2000s. Bunkers, shelters, trenches everything still there filled with rusted weapons, equipment and skeletons of german and russian Soldiers still on the places were they died, mostly unburied.
That was strange, creepy and terribly fascinating.
Click to expand...

The 88 in the woods isn't actually well known. It's quite a way off a public walkway and in a now densely wooded area. The last time I saw it, it was overgrown with weeds and undergrowth. It's in very poor condition and I imagine that is why it hasn't been flagged for historical protection from our Kommune (local council/government) here.

As you may or may not know Enigma, Kurland/Courland was one of the largest actions for the Scandinavian volunteers in the Waffen-SS and specifically "Nordland". Quite a significant number of Norwegians fought in Kurland against the Red Army and so it's an historically important battle in the history of "Frontkjempere".
 
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