Zerstörer 45: A New Wind

Official News, Development Blogs and Updates
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Meet the Zerstörer 45! This is an experimental German SPAA armed with 30 mm autocannons, capable of inflicting deadly strikes into enemy vehicles, and is coming in the next major update.

Zerstörer 45: An SPAA for Germany at Rank IV

Features:

  • Quadruple 30 mm turret!
  • Excellent ballistic properties.
  • Open fighting compartment.
Vehicle History

In parallel to the development of the Flakpanzer IV ‘Wirbelwind’, equipped with a quadruple 20 mm turret, the Ostbau Werke company also produced a second variant in November 1944. This version was then outfitted with the same quadruple mount but armed with modified 30 mm MK 103 cannons instead. Initially, firing tests of the turret were conducted on a Flakpanzer IV ‘Möbelwagen’ chassis. In December however, two dedicated prototypes were constructed using the chassis of the existing Panzer IV Ausf. H medium tanks.

Despite the work done however, the Zerstörer 45 never made it past the prototype stage as the factories of the Ostbau Werke got destroyed in the final months of the war and thus a full-scale production became impossible.

Meet the Zerstörer 45!

The Zerstörer 45, is in fact in many aspects quite similar to its close relative — the Wirbelwind — but is distinctly different from it in terms of firepower and layout. Keen to find out more about what this vehicle entails when it arrives in the Alpha Strike major update? Let’s take a look at all of the details!

You may already be familiar with the no less infamous Wirbelwind, which is an outstanding SPAA that the Zerstörer 45 is quite close to. There are some differences though, as instead this vehicle is not equipped with 20 mm cannons, but rather 30 mm cannons. These new cannons, which are modified Mauser MK 103 guns, possess practically the same ballistic properties as their aerial counterparts. As a result, the Zerstörer 45 can not only down enemy aircraft with greater ease than the Wirbelwind, but can also pose a significant threat to ground targets as well!

Download Wallpaper:

Thanks to the availability of subcaliber rounds, you’ll also be able to effectively engage even more heavily armored targets without necessarily needing to outflank opponents and hitting them in the sides or rear. This substantially increases the Zerstörer 45’s versatility in battle and allows it to support allies in more ways when hostile aircraft are currently not present above the battlefield.

You may have noticed some changes in the layout of the fighting compartment of the Zerstörer 45 compared to something like the Wirbelwind. Unlike a regular turret, the quadruple guns were covered by side skirts that provided anti-fragmentation protection at best. In the combat position, these skirts would open to allow for the guns to traverse horizontally. This is the position that we’ve decided to model the Zerstörer 45 in War Thunder, which provides better aiming angles, but also means the crew inside are extremely vulnerable to all types of fire. Bear this in mind!

In your matches by Egor, Ground Forces Game Designer: “If spawning this as the first vehicle, take cover behind rocks to remain hidden, keep close to your teammates to provide support. Only fire at enemy tanks if you know you can kill them fast, if you can’t, support your allies by covering and shooting at enemy tracks, barrels and anything to block the enemy’s view. When playing its intended role of an AA, make sure to prioritize and pick your targets, especially aircraft with larger bomb loads that can pose a bigger threat to your team. Fire in short bursts and stay near capture points, as they typically attract enemy aircraft.”

With that, we’ve reached the end of today’s blog. Coming in the next major update, the Zerstörer 45 is going to provide the German SPAA line with another excellent windbreaker — make sure you give it a try once it arrives. Until that happens though, keep an eye on our website for other dev blogs, and happy hunting!

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On the dev server it looked like the covers on the side were folded up. In the devblog, they are open. Can this be controlled?

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Yes (I think)

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Yes but it can’t be done in battle unfortunately, it’s a modification.

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It’s as a modification like on the VersuchesFlakWagen.

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Find it interesting that this was in prototyping, and never truly built, but we get the “floor mounted” or “ground sitting” gun mount on a Pz IV chassis, but we can’t have the wooden mock up of the Flakpanzer 314?

Edit: Nice silencing SWMG, very funny.

7 Likes
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All of these AA’s, their existence debatable, to replace a vehicle that was already in game, fully modelled, and fit nicely in a lineup. Just add the Coelian, Panther 2 and KT 105 back in for pete’s sake. if you want to have a precedent where you dont add vehicles that never existed, thats all well and good, but removing vehicles already in game is just wrong, because it means that any players who pick up the game now or any time after they were removed, will simply have worse lineups than players who have existed for linger, through no fault of their own.It isnt fair, and these vehicles, though they never existed, fit the game well and help bolster lineups. Just make them available to research for everyone and carry on the precedent from now onwards.

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Interesting, I thought Zerstörer 45 is this vehicle:

PanzerFlakIV
PanzerFlakIV1025×603 516 KB

Also it should be 5.7

2 Likes
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Shouldn’t it have a bigger gun shield like the 20mm version

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The “prototype” envisioned by Germany, that was never built, at lease the FlaKpanzer 314 was mocked up, and the gun system existed. Yes, 5.7 is good spot, because it’s too open and vulnerable to be 6.0 BR.

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What about the gun system doesn’t exist?

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That’s a fictitious design based on a sum total of 0 documents.

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Unless you count a hypothetical napkin doodle by Doyle in 1975.

All Gaijin have done is put the real and existing guns on the real and existing hull.

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The source makes this clear. https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/flakpanzer-iv-3-cm-flakvierling-zerstorer-45/

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Never said the 4x 30mm didn’t exist, I literally just said it did in an earlier post! I meant that, by definition, the Flakpanzer 314 was closer to production than the Zerstörer 45, because, although the “system” existed, it was never mocked up to a chassis, and almost purely speculatory.

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Well yeah because there’s a huge difference between putting two existing things together. Like say E-100 Hull and Maus turret.

Flakpanzer 341 is making something from thin air.

Turning a small wood mockup into full steel is quite different.

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Yet nothing for America between the the M42 and M113 with the 20mm. Seems like they needed the resources more than Germany at this BR.

3 Likes
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Not really, the wood turns to steel and components, and the glue turns to welds.

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What? That’s like saying that putting an existing magazine design into an existing rifle is less real than a wooden mockup of a magazine…

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Just putting two objects together doesn’t make a new thing, it just makes a combination, and still, the Zestörer 45, yet again, is purely speculative. The guns of the Flakpanzer 314 existed, so who’s not to say they threw it on a panther chassis like they have portrayed the Zestörer.

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Out of curiousity. Do you think any documentation or plans were made for this? Or did soldiers just take an existing gun, an existing hull and simply do 2+2?

Things like these don’t generally have any plans or documents because they are ad-hoc, also likely technically unsanctioned, field modifications with likely 0 input from centralised organisations.

1 Like