As the war progressed, Allied airpower advanced and the Stuka squadrons could no longer operate unmolested.
Even so, German forces needed help in fighting the ever-increasing amounts of Soviet tanks.
A 37mm gun was hung under each wing in a specially constructed pod.
The Ju 87G tank buster was featured on the cover of the Nazi propaganda magazine “Der Adler” in April 1944.
Hull top armor for aSoviet T-34was 20mm thick, while the turret top had 16mm of protection.
Targets ranged from Soviet tanks and self-propelled artillery to trucks and barges, to artillery emplacements and bunkers.
General Ferdinand Schorner praised the tank-busting Stukas and said:Rudel alone replaces a whole division.
German Junkers Ju 87G tank buster with a pair of Bord Kanone 3.7cm guns under each wing. This Ju 87G-1 was Hans-Ulrich Rudel’s aircraft in May 1944. Image: Polish State Archives
As for Rudel, his combat record is almost beyond belief.
He also accounted for the destruction of 150 artillery pieces as well as four armored trains.
Along the way, he received credit for nine aerial victories over Soviet aircraft.
Shown here is a Ju 87G-2. The 37mm guns were massive and made the Stuka a particularly ungainly bird. Image: Author’s collection
He was shot down multiple times and wounded five times.
In February 1945 he had his lower right leg amputated but soon returned to flying.
At the wars end he flew to the West and surrendered to American forces.
A crew maintains a Ju 87G on a rough strip on the Eastern Front. The tank-busting Stukas flew multiple missions per day. Image: Author’s collection
Despite intense Soviet demands to send Rudel to Russia for imprisonment, U.S. officials refused to turn him over.
I think our first reaction was that he was exaggerating.
There was also another unit that was equipped with Hs-129s.
A six-round ammunition magazine of a 37mm Bordkanone cannon on the Junkers Ju 87G. Image: Polish National Archives
It carried 30 rounds of 30-millimeter ammunition.
All of these used a tungsten carbide penetrator.
So, he favors tactical formations of no more than five to six.
A Luftwaffe armorer loads the 37mm guns of the Ju 87G. He carries a six-round clip of Armor Piercing Composite Rigid (APCR) Tungsten-core ammunition. Image: Author’s collection
He is talking here about the cannon-equipped aircraft, which you should realize was an extraordinarily un-maneuverable airplane.
It was really a marginal war plane.
It was a very heavily overloaded Ju-87.
A Ju 87G-2 executes a quick dive, then jinking its way to the target before momentarily leveling its wings for a quick shot at the top of a Soviet tank. Image: Author’s collection
It was right at the maximum limit.
In general, I think, they were limited to maneuvers of less than three gs with this airplane.
They were willing to take all these disadvantages plus a very poor handling aircraft just to have the gun.
Seen here is a German Ju 87G “tank busting” Stuka. It was captured by the Allies. Image: NARA
This was invaluable information.
A lot of this was derived from these first flights of the morning, which he called meteorological flights.
Experience:He says that the real reason that he got to be good was experience.
Loading one of the two six-round magazines on the 3.7cm Bordkanone gun pod. Image: Author’s collection
Experience with sortie after sortie after sortie.
They could not have operated in the west because the air superiority of the Allies was simply too overwhelming.
Sherman tanks:He said the Sherman tank burned much more beautifully than the T-34.
Details of the 37mm Bordkanone gun pod on a Ju 87G captured by U.S. troops at the end of the war. Image: NARA
The T-34 was one of the finest armored tanks of its time.
Aiming points on tanks:For specific tanks did they aim for specific points that were vulnerable?
To make it quick I will just give you the gist of the discussion at lunch.
A few of the “Kanonenvogel” escaped to the West to surrender to American forces. This example was captured by U.S. forces at Pilsen, Czechoslovakia. Image: NARA
They were talking about tiny vulnerable spots because of the difficulty of getting a visible kill.
Remember, they only got credit for kills that could be seen burning or exploding.
Firing range:200 meters for Rudel, and less experienced pilots would shoot at 400 meters.
That is all there was to it.
If you jinked hard and were good at it, then you could survive.
They preferred to attack from the rear.
Each hit might not be that dangerous; he came home often with 50 hits in the airplane.
But certainly, ordinary machine guns could bring down Stukas, particularly with these hits in the radiator.
That is what they were most afraid of.
When they fired with tracer, it was great.
It was very dangerous.
There is an interesting point for tactics of anti-aircraft.
Since everybody shoots with tracer, tracer is the right way to do it.
The following is the U.S. report on the aerial anti-tank gun that killed so many Soviet tanks in WWII.
General:Two 37 mm Aircraft cannon were found on a German plane, key in JU 87.
The cannon were suspended one under each wing and each in a streamlined metal casing.
The workmanship on the casing offers every indication that this mounting is experimental.
The gun is heated and recoil operated with pneumatic and electrical controls.
The point of balance is located at the front hanger.
Firing Mechanism:
a.
The air valve is controlled by an electric solenoid.
There is no provision to charge the cannon or place it in battery other than by manual operation.
c. There are two extended chutes, one on each side of the cannon.
The one on the right side contains the loading tray and the one on the left the ejection tray.
When fully loaded the cannon has 12-round in the loading tray.
This ammunition is loaded in 6 round clips.
The clips are constructed in such a manner that they can easily be attached to each other.
It is easily removed.
In fact, it clearly heralded the future mission of the A-10 Thunderbolt.
