Sd.Kfz. 6/2
Contents
Description
The 3.7-cm Flak 36 auf Selbstfahrlafette Sd.Kfz. 6/2 is a rank I German self-propelled anti-aircraft gun
with a battle rating of 2.3 (AB) and 1.7 (RB/SB). It was introduced during the Closed Beta Test for Ground Forces before Update 1.41.
The 3.7-cm Flak 36 auf Selbstfahrlafette Sd.Kfz 6/2 is a half-track-based anti-aircraft vehicle. With its 3.7 cm cannon, it can easily dispatch any aircraft given the circumstances. However, its gun (with APHE ammo) can also make it a very good improvised anti-tank vehicle. It has enough penetration to go through front armour of most tanks at its rank and reliably cuts through side/rear armour and weak spots (even at some range), causing impressive damage.
Because it is based on a simple truck, it has no armour anywhere, and even machine guns can knock out the driver inside, and crew manning the turret is completely exposed. However, it can be surprisingly durable at times, mostly because of inexperienced players attacking it with AP/APCR ammo, and often targeting all the wrong places, like the Engine, Driver sitting inside, or edges of the turret armour. It has mobility comparable to a lighter medium tank, and very good cross-country performance, because of its combined wheel/track chassis.
Being an SPAA, this vehicle is designed to shoot down aeroplanes. It was originally designed to follow alongside convoys, so to be used with other vehicles of the type. Its gun has a relatively low rate of fire for an SPAA, however, its shells pack quite the punch. Being a 37mm cannon, should it get a good hit, it will likely down the plane. It also gets access to AP belts, which can be used against tanks. It can penetrate any medium or light tank of its rank (from the side/rear usually), but will struggle against heavier opponents like the KV-1. However, hunting tanks are not its job which is why it is not the best at that.
General info
Survivability and armour
Armour type:
- Structural Steel
- Rolled homogeneous armour (Gun shield)
| Armour | Front | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 3 mm (3-9°) Grille 3 mm (83-84°) Front hood |
3 mm | 3 mm | 3 mm |
| Gun Shield | 7 mm (25-33°) | 10 mm | N/A | N/A |
Notes:
- There is simply no armour anywhere, as it is basically a simple truck with AA gun mounted on its back
- Only "armour" is on the front of the turret, which can protect from some light machine gun fire and shrapnel from nearby explosions
Mobility
| Mobility characteristic | ||
|---|---|---|
| Weight (tons) | Add-on Armor weight (tons) |
Max speed (km/h) |
| 11.1 | N/A | 54 (AB) |
| 50 (RB/SB) | ||
| Engine power (horsepower) | ||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded |
| Arcade | 163 | 201 |
| Realistic/Simulator | 102 | 115 |
| Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | ||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded |
| Arcade | 14.68 | 18.11 |
| Realistic/Simulator | 9.19 | 10.36 |
Armaments
Main armament
| 37 mm FlaK 36 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity (Belt capacity each) | Fire rate (shots/minute) |
Vertical guidance |
Horizontal guidance | ||
| 318 (6) | 160 | -8°/+85° | ±180° | ||
| Turret rotation speed (°/s) | |||||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded | Prior + Full crew | Prior + Expert qualif. | Prior + Ace qualif. |
| Arcade | 20.8 | 28.8 | __.__ | __.__ | __.__ |
| Realistic | 20.8 | 24.5 | __.__ | __.__ | __.__ |
| Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||
| Stock | Prior + Full crew | Prior + Expert qualif. | Prior + Ace qualif. | ||
| 0.3 | __.__ | __.__ | __.__ | ||
Ammunition
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration in mm @ 0° Angle of Attack | |||||
| 10m | 100m | 500m | 1000m | 1500m | 2000m | ||
| PzGr | APHE | 46 | 43 | 31 | 20 | 12 | 9 |
| Sprgr. 18 | FI-T | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| M.Gr.18 | FI-T | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity in m/s |
Projectile Mass in kg |
Fuse delay
in m: |
Fuse sensitivity
in mm: |
Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent): |
Normalization At 30° from horizontal: |
Ricochet: | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||
| PzGr | APHE | 740 | 0.69 | 1.3 | 15 | 22.1 | -1° | 47° | 60° | 65° |
| Sprgr. 18 | FI-T | 820 | 0.62 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 49.3 | +0° | 79° | 80° | 81° |
| M.Gr.18 | FI-T | 914 | 0.55 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 108 | +0° | 79° | 80° | 81° |
Belt types
| Belts | Shell composition | Combat usage |
| Default | APHE / FI-T (Armour Piercing High Explosive –Fragmentation Incendiary tracer) shell |
This belt is useful against lightly armoured open-topped tank destroyers, or bombers. Against other SPAA this belt can reliably take out crew, armament, ammo and engine. |
| Sprgr. 18 | FI-T (Fragmentation Incendiary Tracer) shell |
Versus planes and open combat compartment vehicles. Lighter aircraft will often go down by a single hit. |
| PzGr | APHE (Armour Piercing High Explosive) shell |
Ammo against tanks. It has comparable power to regular Rank I tanks, but combined with the Insane RoF, can be very deadly. It even has the HE filler, 3-4 well aimed penetrating hits can disable any tank. |
| M.Gr.18 | FI-T (Fragmentation Incendiary Tracer) shell |
Versus planes and open combat compartment vehicles. Lighter aircraft will often go down by a single hit. |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|
| 53 | 53 (+0) | Yes |
Usage in battles
To use this machine to its fullest capabilities it is recommended to stay from areas of heavy combat, as you can be taken out very easily, especially by machine gun fire and HE shells. You should always stay behind friendly troops, but don't stay at spawn as it is most likely the first place enemy planes will go to drop bombs.
If you want to fight with the tanks, you'll definitely need to research APHE-only belts. Go forward with your teammates, but ALWAYS stay some distance behind them, avoid any open terrain, watch the battlefield situation carefully and wait. Use your speed to get out of any unfavourable battle condition. When you find a suitable target (No KV-1...), one good idea is to reverse around the corner turned sideways, with your gun aiming at the expected enemy direction. This manoeuvre exposes only half of your turret and makes it possible to very quickly hide again behind the corner when needed. Your driver, engine and more than half of the vehicle remain hidden the whole time, significantly shortening the exposure time and lowering the chance of being immobilised. Aim at sides of the turret, hull, or any other weak areas.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- 37 mm capable of dealing heavy damage to both planes and tanks (if aimed at weak spots)
- Deadly against light tanks and tank destroyers
- Can penetrate T-34s (Pre T-34-85) if you aim at the turret cheeks
- Will destroy most planes in one or two hits, doing more damage than the 20 mm on previous SPAA
- Decently fast (50 km/h top speed)
- Insane reloading rate
- Loosing 1 or 2 crew members have no noticeable effect on vehicle performance (Apart from temporal immobilisation for example)
- Having no armour is also an advantage - AP/APCR Rounds that most players use often just harmlessly pass through the vehicle without doing any damage
- Difficult to destroy in one shot unless using pure HE rounds as APHE rounds will often just pass through without detonation
- Some players don't recognize this vehicle as any kind of threat, and carelessly show their sides or entire tanks, only to be easily destroyed afterwards
- Friendly tanks around you often have higher priority for all enemies, meaning you can often escape from combat unharmed, or surprise unsuspecting enemies with your powerful gun
Cons:
- Slow rate of fire can make shooting down faster planes difficult
- No armour - single HE shell from anything will usually knock out the vehicle
- Very vulnerable to Artillery calls; Even being 20 m away from it does not prevent the crew from being injured, or even incapacitated
- Gun goes up when it is traversing over the driver, preventing you from firing ahead of your vehicle
- Entire crew vulnerable to being strafed by planes and tank machine gun fire
- Ammo can run out if not careful
- Knocked out easily if rammed by an aeroplane
- Hull break can happen from with a well-placed shot
- Less penetration than predecessors
History
The gun
The 3.7 cm FlaK cannon was an anti-aircraft gun capable of fully automatic fire at a rate of 150 rounds per minute and is able to fire onto Allied aircraft up to four kilometres away. Multiple variants were made for the FlaK cannon from the 3.7 cm FlaK 18/36/37/43. The FlaK 18 was the initial variant with a dual-axle mount. The Flak 36 was a simplified variant with a lighter single-axle mount, the FlaK 37 has a simplified sighting system, and the FlaK 42 was the variant made for the German Kriegsmarine for their surface ships and U-boats. Of the variants, the FlaK 36 and 37 were the most produced guns
The vehicle
The Sd.Kfz.6 was a half-track designed in 1934 for the purpose of towing the 10.5 cm leFH 18 howitzer or 11 men in the back of the half-track, which could be covered by a canvas structure to protect the crew from the elements of nature. The vehicle was powered by a Maybach HL 54TUKRM 6-cylinder engine with 115 hp. Along with its use as a tractor for the 10.5 leFH 18 howitzer and other artillery pieces, the vehicle was to be used to tow heavy equipment for engineer units. Production was carried out by both Büssing-NAG and Daimler-Benz corporations. About 750 units were made during its production life until 1942.
Anti-aircraft mount
As World War II progressed, the need for a mobile air defence capable of engaging low flying targets became urgent. German engineers attempted to fill this need by modifying vehicles to fit an anti-aircraft gun. The Sd.kfz.6 half-track was modified with a new superstructure on the back, removing the backseats where the passengers would be. The superstructure allows the installation of a traversable anti-aircraft gun. The gun of choice for the Sd.kfz.6 was the 3.7 cm FlaK 36, the conversion for the vehicle was designated the 3.7 cm Flak 36 auf Selbstfahrlafette Sd.Kfz.6/2.
The Sd.Kfz.6/2 has the FlaK cannon mounted on the back, however, there is no gun shield for the crew to provide small arms protection from the ground. Thus, the ground support role for the vehicle was not a recommended role and is more best against flying targets. However, a modification on the vehicle by the crew to give protection against small arms and shrapnel. Ammunition for the gun was towed on a separate trailer towed by the half-track.
Modifications on the Sd.Kfz.6 into the Sd.Kfz.6/2 was carried out from 1941 to 1943, whereof the 750 of the Sd.Kfz.6, 339 were converted into the anti-aircraft variant. As the war progressed, the Sd.Kfz.6/2 were supplemented with the more numerous Sd.Kfz.7 half-track.
In-game description
"To fight against enemy aircraft, German designers developed a new AA gun based on the 5-ton Sd.Kfz. 6 produced by the company Bussing-NAG. The new AA vehicle had a 37 mm 3,7 cm FlaK 36 L/98 anti-aircraft gun with a 98-caliber long barrel placed on a rotating carriage. The vehicle carried 120 shells, towed by a Sonderanhanger Sd.Ah. 57 trailer. The anti-aircraft gun traveled with spare barrels. The 10.4 ton setup supported a crew of 5 to calculate the gun's trajectory.
The anti-aircraft gun's effective rate of fire was 120 rounds per minute. The gun could fire at targets up to an altitude of 4,800 meters. In stowed position, the sides of the towing vehicle were raised, and in combat situations they were reclined to facilitate a circular range of fire. The vehicle could reach a speed of 50 kph and had a maximum range of 317 km.
The AA vehicle was produced by the companies Bussing-Nag, Daimler Benz, Böhmisch-Mährischen Maschinenfabrik, and Praga from 1941 to 1943. A total of 339 were built. During production, the gun was fitted with a shield to protect those performing the calculations from bullets and shrapnel. Shield construction varied.
At least 200 Sd.Kfz. 6/2 anti-aircraft guns entered the service of the Luftwaffe, and the rest joined the Wehrmacht's anti-aircraft divisions. An anti-aircraft division consisted of 9 AA vehicles. This vehicle was used in combat on all fronts."
Media
See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the series of the vehicles;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- encyclopedia page on the tank;
- other literature.
| Germany anti-aircraft vehicles | |
|---|---|
| Wheeled | Sd.Kfz.222 |
| Half-track | Sd.Kfz.251/21 · Sd.Kfz. 6/2 |
| Flakpanzer IV | Wirbelwind · Ostwind · Ostwind II · Kugelblitz · Zerstörer 45 |
| Other Flakpanzers | Flakpanzer I · Flakpanzer 38 · Flakpanzer 341 |
| Wiesel AWC | Wiesel 1A4 · Ozelot |
| Radar SPAAG | Gepard · Gepard 1A2 |
| Missile SPAA | FlaRakPz 1 · FlaRakRad |
