Air defense units were usually deployed with either a Kommandogerät ("command device") fire control computer or a portable Würzburg radar, which were responsible for its high level of accuracy against aircraft.

The versatile carriage allowed the 8.8 cm Flak to be fired in a limited anti-tank mode when still on its wheels;[5] it could be completely emplaced in only two and a half minutes.

In addition to these Krupp designs, Rheinmetall later created a more powerful anti-aircraft gun, the 8.8 cm Flak 41,[N 2] which was produced in relatively small numbers.

Initially, anti-aircraft artillery guns of World War I were adaptations of existing medium-caliber weapons, mounted to allow fire at higher angles.

[14] With the increase of aircraft performance, many armies developed dedicated AA guns with a high muzzle velocity – allowing the projectiles to reach greater altitudes.

It was this muzzle velocity, combined with a projectile of high weight, that made the 8.8 cm Flak one of the great World War II anti-tank guns.

Widespread production started with the Nazi rise to power in 1933, and the Flak 18 was available in small numbers when Germany intervened in the Spanish Civil War.

[17] The flak detachment with 88s proved accurate and versatile in combat against mainly land targets, the high muzzle velocity and large caliber making it an excellent long-range anti-vehicle and anti-bunker weapon.

The later model was the Flak 37, which included updated instrumentation to allow the gun layers to follow directions from the single director more easily.

Production was cancelled after approximately only 13 units were built as the resources required to build these were similar to those needed to produce a true Flak 41 and those were simply no longer available at the time.

The Allies had nothing as good, despite one of them designating itself the world's greatest industrial power.The 88 mm was used in two main roles: as a mobile heavy anti-aircraft and as an anti-tank gun.

[25] Its success was due to its versatility: the standard anti-aircraft platform allowed gunners to depress the muzzle below the horizontal, unlike most of its contemporaries.

The 8.8 cm Flak was powerful enough to penetrate over 84 mm of armor at a range of 2 km, making it an unparalleled anti-tank weapon during the early days of the war and still formidable against all but the heaviest tanks at the end.

During the North African campaign, Rommel made the most effective use of the weapon, as he lured tanks of the British Eighth Army into traps by baiting them with apparently retreating German panzers.

For Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, Germany deployed the 8.8 cm Flak in 51 mixed AA battalions.

[29] The 8.8 cm Flak in the anti-tank role was arguably most effective in the flat and open terrain of Libya, Egypt and the eastern front.

[30] On July 18 and 19 1944 a Luftwaffe 8.8 cm anti-aircraft battery was re-purposed by then Major Hans von Luck to attack British tanks near Cagny taking part in Operation Goodwood.

I./43 (Major Wegener) employed these guns against a commando landing raid called Operation Agreement by the British Royal Navy near Tobruk.

The batteries began arriving in Italy a few days after Italy entered the war, and were initially assigned in part to the Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale (Voluntary Militia for National Security, MACA), for the protection of the Italian main cities and partly sent in Libya, for the protection of ports.

However it was immediately evident that the Regio Esercito (Italian Royal Army) did not have at its disposal a tractor with characteristics suitable for towing this piece, given that the task was entrusted to Lancia 3Ro, without all-wheel drive.

[34] In addition to the cannons that arrived for the canals established in 1940, in 1943, 24 pieces and their tractors were transferred to Italy intended for equipping the 1ª Divisione corazzata "M" (1st Armored Division "M").

[citation needed] Initially, the Flak 18 batteries were deployed to protect the airfields and logistics bases of the German Condor legion.

[37] The war in Spain, with its wildly fluctuating front lines and the presence of Russian tanks, forced the Germans to employ the Flak 18 guns in a direct fire mode against ground targets.

[citation needed] In early 1937 in the fighting around Malaga, a battery of 88 mm guns was assigned to support an infantry brigade.

[citation needed] The Flak 36 guns were briefly issued in late 1944 to the American Seventh Army as captured weapons.

[5] While this was potent against US daylight raids, which generally flew at altitudes of 6,400 to 7,600 m (21,000 to 24,900 ft), some aircraft were able to fly higher than the gun's effective ceiling.

Some flak batteries used guns worn out from firing beyond their operational lives, which typically limited their effective ceiling to 7,470 m (24,510 ft).

The KwK 36 (abbreviation of Kampfwagenkanone 36) was a tank gun developed and built by Krupp in parallel to the Flak 36, with which it shared ammunition and ballistics.

At the time that Rheinmetall developed the Flak 41, Krupp tried to compete with their 8.8 cm Gerät 42 proposal, which was not accepted for production as an anti-aircraft gun.

The PaK 43 (an abbreviation of Panzerjägerkanone 43[45][46]) used a new cruciform mount with the gun much closer to the ground, making it far easier to hide and harder to hit.