SS Recruits in Anti-Aircraft Training

SS recruits undergoing anti-aircraft training on a four-barrelled rapid fire gun (2 cm Flakvierling 38). Even as the Flak 30 was entering service, the Luftwaffe and Heer (Army} branches of the Wehrmacht had doubts about its effectiveness, given the ever-increasing speeds of low-altitude fighter-bombers and attack aircraft. The Army in particular felt the proper solution was the introduction of the 37 mm caliber weapons they had been developing since the 1920s, which had a rate of fire about the same as the Flak 38, but fired a round with almost eight times the weight. This not only made the rounds deadlier on impact, but their higher energy and ballistic coefficient allowed them to travel to much longer distances, allowing the gun to engage targets at longer ranges. This meant it could keep enemy aircraft under fire over longer time spans.