The Ostwind was a
German anti-aircraft tank designed during
World War II. It consisted of a 37mm Flak 43
gun mounted in a hexagonal
armored turret on the chassis of a PzKpfw IV. The
turret was open-topped but intended to give the
crew better protection from ground
fire than previous self-propelled anti-aircraft units.
Developed late in 1943, few were produced due to growing resource shortages in the German economy. This was unfortunate for the AAA crews of the Wehrmacht at the time, as the Ostwind was quite a bit more effective than the other weapons available at the time.