It was used by the Wehrmacht in the European Theatre of World War II.
In 1943, due to the waning ability of the Luftwaffe to combat enemy ground-attack aircraft, ground-based anti-aircraft weaponry was becoming increasingly important to the Wehrmacht.
In early 1943, the idea of creating a gun platform on the chassis of the Panzer IV was first proposed. The prototype displayed to Hitler on December 7, 1943, used the 2 cm Flakvierling 38, which was deemed too weak for the latest aircraft, which were constantly being improved to fly higher and faster. Only a single prototype with this gun was produced before the design was rejected. A second design with an upgraded single 3.7 cm Flak 43 L/89 was approved as a temporary stopgap until better Flakpanzers could be created. 240 Mobelwagens were built, and the first production models were put into service on the Western Front in April 1944.