Wirbelwind
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The Flakpanzer IV Wirbelwind (Whirlwind in German) was an anti-aircraft vehicle based on the Panzer IV. It was developed in 1944 as a successor to the earlier AA tank Möbelwagen.
In the first years of the war, the Wehrmacht was not as interested in developing a good AA vehicle, as the Luftwaffe had total air superiority. But, as the allies developed and began to use more powerful aircraft, the Germans realised that they must not only have stationary Flak guns, but also mobile AA guns to protect vehicle convoys etc.
The Panzer IV's turret was removed and replaced with an open-top, nine-sided turret which housed a quadruple 20 mm Flakvierling 38. A closed-top design would have been preferable, but this was not possible due to the heavy smoke generation of the four flak guns. Production of the tank was carried out by Ostbau Werke in Sagan, Silesia.
By the time the Wirbelwind was introduced to service, 20 mm shells were no longer very effective against aircraft; the Wirbelwind was soon replaced by the Ostwind which was equipped with a single 3.7 cm FlaK 43.
The armor and rapid fire from the four guns of the Wirbelwind was also very effective against infantry. One Wirbelwind was sufficient to take out large numbers of enemy infantry.
It is believed that either 87 or 105 Wirbelwinds were produced during the war, but due to discrepancies between the recorded production numbers at Ostbau Werke and Wehrmacht service records, the exact number will probably never be known. In any case, there were too few of them to have any major influence on the war.
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