7.7 cm FlaK L/35

The origins of the 7.7 cm FlaK L/35 go back to the French Canon de 75 modèle 1897 field gun which was captured in large numbers during the first two years of World War I. A combination of factors led the Germans to issue M1897's to their troops as replacements.

These included:

• An underestimation of light field artillery losses during the first two years of the war and an inadequate number of replacement guns being produced.
• An underestimation of ammunition consumption, inadequate production capacity, and resulting shortages.
• The superior ballistic performance of the M1897 compared to German designs.[1]

Once adequate numbers of new field guns such as the 7.7 cm FK 16 were being produced obsolete types such as the 9 cm Kanone C/73 and captured guns such as the M1897 and 76 mm divisional gun M1902 were withdrawn from front-line service and issued to anti-aircraft units. At first, all of the combatants employed field guns on improvised anti-aircraft mounts, which were typically earthen embankments or scaffolds to get the muzzle pointed skyward. Later in the war, specialized anti-aircraft mounts were developed.[1]

The 7.7 cm Flak L/35 was a conversion of captured M1897's that were bored out to fire German 7.7 cm ammunition and placed on high angle mounts for the anti-aircraft role. When the barrels became worn out they were replaced with German made ones of the same length without the distinctive muzzle roller guides of the French gun.[2] The first of these conversions were from Krupp. It consisted of mounting bored out barrels on modified de Bange 120 or 155 carriages to allow up to 60° of elevation. In the field, the guns were anchored to a firing ring to allow 360° of traverse. By Spring of 1916, every division had a two gun platoon for AA defense and 394 guns were converted.[1]

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  An improvised anti-aircraft mount with a mle 1897.
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  A damaged FlaK L/35 with replacement barrel captured by the allies on display.
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  A FlaK L/35 with original barrel on its firing ring.
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  A FlaK L/35 battery in Palestine.