page_title: Flak tower
section_title: Design iterations
hierarchical_section_title: Flak tower / Design iterations
caption_attribution_description: English: Pair of Flaktürme in the Augarten, Vienna (AT) Deutsch: Flakturm-Paar im Wiener Augarten
context_page_description: Flak towers were eight complexes of large, above-ground, anti-aircraft gun blockhouse towers constructed by Nazi Germany in the cities of Berlin, Hamburg, and Vienna from 1940 onwards. Other cities that used flak towers included Stuttgart and Frankfurt. Smaller single-purpose flak towers were built at key outlying German strongpoints, such as at Angers in France, Helgoland in Germany.
  The towers were operated by the Luftwaffe to defend against Allied strategic air raids against these cities during World War II. They also served as air-raid shelters for tens of thousands of local civilians.
context_section_description: Each flak tower complex consisted of:
  a G-Tower (German: Gefechtsturm) "Combat Tower", also known as the Gun Tower, Battery Tower or Large Flak Tower, and
  an L-Tower (German: Leitturm) "Lead Tower" also known as the Fire-control tower, command tower, listening bunker or small flak tower.
  Generation 1
  The G-Towers were 70.5 m (231 ft) square and 39 m (128 ft) tall, usually armed with eight (four twin) 12.8 cm FlaK 40 and numerous 37 mm Flak and 32 (eight quadruple) 20mm Flakvierling guns.
  L-Towers were 50 m × 23 m × 39 m (164 ft × 75 ft × 128 ft), usually armed with four quadruple 20 mm guns.
  Generation 2
  G-Towers were 57 m × 57 m × 41.6 m (187 ft × 187 ft × 136 ft), usually armed with eight (four twin) 128 mm guns and sixteen (four quadruple) 20 mm guns.
  L-Towers were 50 m × 23 m × 44 m (164 ft × 75 ft × 144 ft), usually armed with forty (ten quadruple) 20 mm guns.
  Generation 3
  The G-Towers were 43 m × 43 m × 54 m (141 ft × 141 ft × 177 ft), usually armed with eight (four twin) 128 mm guns and thirty-two (eight quadruple) 20 mm guns.
  The evaluation of even larger Battery Towers was commissioned by Adolf Hitler. These would have been three times the size and firepower of flak towers.
caption: The L & G-Towers in Augarten, Vienna
exif: {"Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.10.0", "Image DateTime": "2018:05:17 16:59:02", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "256", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "79", "Thumbnail BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail PhotometricInterpretation": "6", "Thumbnail SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "230", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7260"}