One of several anti-aircraft vehicles to utilise the reliable and ubiquitous Pz IV chassis, the Wirbelwind (Whirlwind) mounted a quad-barreled Flakvierling 38 on an open-topped turret.
Around 100 Wirbelwinds were produced in the latter half of 1944, fulfilling the German requirement for a self-propelled, multi-barrel flak gun capable of engaging targets under 2,000 metres. They became known by their crews as the Keksdode (biscuit tin) due to the unique shape of the turret.
Capable of a punishing 800 rounds per minute in combat, the 2cm guns were relatively ineffective against aircraft but devastating against ground targets such as infantry, soft-skinned or lightly-armoured vehicles. In our BA games, we called them Infantry Slayer!
The Wirbelwind takes a tank slot in the reinforced platoon. Which means we are going to sacrifice Amour Penetration capabilities from a normal tank. We can mitigate this with…
- Infantry Squads with Panzerfaust / Panzerschrek load out
- AT Gun Squad (Fixed Emplacement)
When will fielding the Wirbelwind be a good move?
- You know the layout beforehand… This is to assess the best place for the AT Gun. Preferably a spot overlooking a distance with minimal obstruction. Your sqauds with the Panzerschrek or Panzerfaust should be able to cover the areas not overlooked by the AT Gun.
- You know your opponent is playing infantry heavy list, Russian Lists. It is highly probable that he will be fielding ‘hordes’ of infantry especially with thier free inexperience squad.
However,
- As an open topped vehicle, it is still susceptible to small arms and taking pins.
- Not going to do much damage against enemy tanks.. but with the 8 shots… at least it should give it Pin marker. Target Units suffer 1 D2 Pins from the HE shells
- Veteran vehicle will ignore the pins if it can’t damage it.
And it has front hull mounted MMG for another shot to same or another target! Potentially, thats a squad eliminated every round.
