Light Anti Aircraft Weapons

The initial response of the infantry to air attack in World War One was simply reflex; they turned whatever bolt action and automatic firepower they had skyward in an effort to dissuade determined assault. 

This same tactic was largely in use at the start of the Second World War, with a few light machine guns retained at Battalion HQ for deployment as required.  However, the far more potent threat posed by a new generation of dedicated ground attack aircraft called for a more sophisticated defence.  The introduction of specialist weapons however by no means meant that the usual Light Machine Guns and Heavy Machine Guns fell out of use.  The British Army recommended one LMG be kept to hand by Company HQ for use against surprise attack for example.  And, as ever, individual riflemen were still determined  they may get that 'one lucky shot' which would down a Stuka!

The great disadvantage to Light Anti Aircraft weapons was that they were not 'light' at all.  The weapons were of sufficient weight to require some form of motorisation to tow them, if not act as a firing platform.  These factors combined to limit their deployment in infantry formations.  They were usually to be found, still, at Battalion level, watching over the concentrations of supplies and transport guaranteed to take the eye of any roving fighter pilot.  It was against fighters the weapons were most useful.  They were no threat to the high flying bombers but low flying, relatively lightly armoured fighters, so small that any hit would cause some appreciable damage, were vulnerable.

In armoured formations the issue was understandably higher and those troops who rode to battle aboard halftracks could boast several per platoon, in addition to the normal light machine guns. 

When circumstances allowed, the weapons could be pushed to the frontline to thicken the firepower of the infantry, their larger calibre projectiles proving effective against fortified emplacements and even light armoured vehicles. 

Below are detailed some of the light anti aircraft weapons deployed at Battalion level by the major combatant nations.  A note on the ranges given for these weapons.  There is a great variety in the ranges quoted for several weapons.  In practice, it would seem the average effective range hovers around the 1000 m mark, which is therefore used below.  Shells would not drop out of the sky at 1001 metres, but the chances of scoring a hit against a small fighter would plummet appreciably.  

The British Army

The Polsten

British Air Landing troops towing a 20 mm Polsten into battle.  This is perhaps a weapon of the Divisional Anti Aircraft Regiment, though glider borne Battalions also seem to have fielded the piece

The use of light anti-aircraft guns in the British Army is particularly difficult to gauge.  A 1944 Infantry Division is quoted at 71 guns, but few of its sub-units own up to having fielded them.  This would appear to be due to the fact that the 20 mm gun was issued on a much lower scale than originally planned.  Rather than being deployed throughout the Division they were maintained solely by the Light Anti Aircraft Regiment instead, along with its 40 mm Bofors guns.  However, the 20 mm did survive in the Armoured Regiments, at least until August 1944.

The original British defence was a mounting which held twin Bren light machine guns, each fitted with a 100 round drum magazine and fired from either a tripod or the rear of a 15 cwt truck.  The Polsten did not appear until early 1944 and as such was available for the campaign in the West.  It was derived from the Swiss 20 mm Oerlikon which had debuted some 30 years earlier.  A team of Polish designers were working on a lightened, simplified version when the Germans invaded their homeland.  The team were able to reach Britain and continue the project, which was christened Polsten in honour of Poland and the Sten factory, who manufactured the weapon.

The Polsten could be deployed as a vehicle weapon or on a towed carriage, which weighed approximately 500 kg.  It served alongside the Oerlikon which inspired it, the original weighing in at around 67 kg for the gun alone and having a slightly higher rate of fire (465 to 480 rpm) by comparison.  The Oerlikon could be fed by either a 60 round drum or a 20 round box.  Both weapons could be found on the Anti Aircraft machines of an Armoured Regiment or Armoured Car Regiment and used the same ammunition.

The British also used the American Hispano-Suiza 20 mm which had higher rate of fire of some 650 rpm, but I've no other data for this weapon. 

The United States Army

Browning M2HB (Heavy Barrelled)

The M2HB on its ground mount.  The weapon is still in service today simply because there is not a thing wrong with it to necessitate a replacement

The US Army entered the war a step behind many other committed nations in several key weapons.  However, in the .50 cal M2 they already had a proven design in use.

The 13 mm round used in the German anti tank rifle of World War One provided the basis for the 12.7 mm round used in the M2.  The HB or heavy barrelled variant was introduced prior to World War Two and eliminated the necessity to pause between bursts of fire so as not to overheat the barrel.  

The M2 equipped Infantry and Armored Infantry Battalions, providing local air defence and some measure of anti tank support.  It was also the standard 'wing' armament for the fighters of the Army Air Force.  In the ground role, it could be deployed on a tripod weighing some 20 kg, or on the universal Jeep or M3A1 Halftrack.  There was also a specialised AA arrangement know as the Maxson Mount.  The Maxson took four M2s and zeroed them to fire in concert.  The weight of the guns and mount was over 1000 kg so it was preferable to deploy them on a vehicle, although a trailer version was also used.

The Red Army

DshK1938 (Degtyerev Shpagin Krupnocaliberniy)

A museum shot of the DShK on its ground mount.  Due to the weight it was more normally vehicle carried

The DShK was the Red Army equivalent of the M2HB.  It used the same calibre round and in action proved just as reliable.  It is somewhat misleading to include it in a site that concentrates on Battalion level formations, as the DShK was not widely issued to infantry units.  It was used by armoured units however both in the AA role and aboard the mammoth Iosef Stalin tank.

Its heavy weight made it necessary to mount it on a mobile platform, usually nothing more sophisticated than a flat bed truck.  This fact alone meant it was not likely to be found among the ranks of an average Rifle Battalion.  It could, however, be fitted on the two wheeled carriage used on the M1910 described on the Heavy Machine Guns page with the subsequent increase in weight.  Another defence against the Luftwaffe was a set of four M1910 Maxim HMGs placed on a single mount.  This could only be vehicle mounted in Infantry formations due to the incredible weight.

The German Army

Flak 38 (Fliegerabwehrkanone)

The single barrelled Flak 38 in its towed form.  The 2 cm shells still caused casualties among allied fighter pilots pressing home low level attacks to the end of the war

The German Army possessed the greatest concentration of anti aircraft artillery in the world.  Variously known as Flak, from the German abbreviation, or Ack-Ack, from the latterly redundant British phonetic alphabet, it was not surprising the weapons would seep down into Battalion units.

The Flak 38 was the principle AA weapon of the Panzer Grenadier Battalion.  It was mounted on a bewildering variety of vehicles; armoured and unarmoured halftracks, lorries, tank hulls, as well as deployed on the towed ground mount described above.  It served in either a single Platoon, six guns intended for a lorry borne Battalion, or at Company level for halftrack units.  One gun per Platoon, on the HQ vehicle, with a further three in an integral AA Section was the plan, though how many were actually fielded is another matter entirely (I think 9th Panzer Division reckoned they never even saw any, let alone had them).  In this form the halftrack became the SdKfz 251/17.

In order to improve the performance against more heavily armoured allied fighters and high flying bombers, four guns were placed on the Flakvierling 38, which massively increased weight to over 1500 kg.  Both weapons were particularly devastating in the ground role.

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