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The Panzer IV's turret was removed and replaced with an open-top, nine-sided turret which housed a quadruple 20mm Flak 38 . A closed-top design would have been preferrable, but this was not possible due to the heavy smoke generation of the 4 flak guns. Production of the tank was carried out by Ostbau Werke in Sagan , Silesia.
By the time the Wirbelwind was introduced to service, 20mm shells were not that effective any more against aircraft; the Wirbelwind was soon replaced by the Ostwind which was equipped with a single 37mm Flak 43 .
It is believed that either 87 or 105 Wirbelwinds were produced during the war, but due to discrepancies between the recorded production numbers at Ostbau Werke and Wehrmacht service records, the exact number will probably never be known. In any case, there were too few of them to have any major influence on the war.
| German armored fighting vehicles of World War II |
| Tanks |
| Panzer I | Panzer II | Panzer III | Panzer IV | Panzer V - Panther | Panzer VI - Tiger, Tiger II | Panzer 35(t) | Panzer 38(t) |
| Self-propelled artillery |
| Hummel | Bison I | Bison II | Wespe | Brummbär | Sturmtiger |
| Assault guns |
| Sturmgeschütz III | Sturmgeschütz IV |
| Tank destroyers |
| Panzerjäger I | Hetzer | Jagdpanzer IV | Jagdpanther | Marder I | Marder II | Marder III | Nashorn | Jagdtiger | Elefant |
| Armored cars |
| SdKfz 221 | SdKfz 222 | SdKfz 223 | SdKfz 232 |
| Self propelled anti-aircraft |
| Möbelwagen | Wirbelwind | Ostwind |
| Experimental vehicles |
| Maus | Ratte |
| German armored fighting vehicle production during World War II |