The Type 88 75-millimeter anti-aircraft guns entered service with the Japanese Army in 1928, which was the year 2588 in the Japanese imperial calendar, thus the designation. Because of this, in the early phases of World War II, Allied military intelligence initially assumed that the Japanese Type 88 was a copy of the formidable German Flak 36/37 88 mm gun due to its name. However, despite some superficial resemblance (the German 88 is three times heavier), there is no connection between the two weapons, except both were used in AA and AT role equally.
Type 88's had an effective ceiling of 7,250 meters and a maximum range of 8,850 meters. They first saw action in Manchuria in northeastern China in 1931, and remained in the area for actions in the Second Sino-Japanese War starting in 1937 and then in the brief Japanese-Soviet border wars of the late 1930s. These 75-millimeters guns were also effective against tanks when firing armor-piercing rounds (and ingame even AA shells can destroy Sherman from sides); later during the Battle of Okinawa, many American M4 Sherman tanks were lost to Type 88 76-millimeter guns used in this mode. In the final months of the Pacific War, most of the remaining Type 88 guns were withdrawn to the Japanese home islands to defend against the increasing American air attacks. Over 2,000 examples were built during the design's production life.
