In second half of WWII, due to superiority of Allies in the air, Germany faced an urgent need in armoured Anti-Aircraft vehicles. In May-September of 1943 Hitler headed a few meetings dedicated to this matter, and the ‘Inspection 6’, responsible for developing of AA Panzers, was established.
That was the beginning of numerous projects of the anti-aircraft guns (Flak) utilizing any suitable chassis. The shortage of linear tanks had influenced manufacturing of AA-Panzers by mid 1944; The cheap and reliable chassis of Pz.Kpfw.III were demanded for StuG Assault Guns production, so the Pz.Kpfw IV chassis was used for Flakpanzers construction, and several hundreds machines of different types were built until the end of the war.
At the same time attempts were made to find any substitution of chassis for AA-guns. One of the projects was developed as result of deep modernization of chassis of reconnaissance tank Pz.Kpfw.II Ausf. L “Luchs”.
It was supposed to carry a 37mm Flak 43 anti-aircraft gun. To reduce the height of the construction, AA-gun was mounted in armoured round barbette, which was swamped into upper hull.
The chassis had to be lengthened. The weight of the machine had grown, so the suspension was rearranged more dense, and two additional brackets were added each side. The engine remained the same as at Pz.Kpfw.II L, so the speed of the vehicle dropped down, but it was not so essential in the defense war situation.
The construction became compact, and it’s height was lower than of Pz.Kpfw.IV-based Flakpanzers, but it was still quite complex in production, so by the end of the was only a wooden mockup was built.
War-time wooden mockup.
Reconstruction drawing.
