Limber
The Protze (from Italian birazzo = two-wheeled cart from late Lat . Birotium or birotus = two-wheeled) is a single-axle cart that is connected to the carriage to transport a gun . The horses are harnessed in front of the limber. With the introduction of the limber, the unstable single-axis gun becomes a stable transport unit that no longer loads the draft horses with their weight and only requires tractive power. At the same time, a limited supply of ammunition could be carried on the Protze or, later, part of the gun crew could sit on the mobile artillery . Protzen were then used as front parts for other military vehicles, u. a. for goulash cannons .
Furthermore, fire extinguishers, especially fire engines , were mounted on such carts. These were called Abprotzspritzen.
To make a gun ready for action, it must be cleared off before it is brought into the firing position, i. H. the limber is removed and placed in the isolated limber position. In order to be ready to march, it has to be revamped .
For the first time, Protzen were used by Emperor Charles V in the Battle of Renty (1554) in the fifth Habsburg-French War in Flanders. The first motorized limbs were also used since the First World War . In the 1930s were of Reichswehr and Wehrmacht , the " Krupp Protzen procures" and in the Second World War alongside the usual horse-drawn limbers for transporting lighter Pak and Flak used. Also Kettenkrads and motorcycle sidecars as the Zündapp KS 750 sidecar had this with unit swank hook equipped.
Protzen are only used for larger guns from 130 mm caliber .
literature
- High Command of the Wehrmacht : Regulation D 162 - Instructions for the repair of the Protze (Jtf 14) and its variants - 1939 - ISBN 978-3751918176
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Historical fire brigade lexicon. Munich volunteer fire department Sendling, accessed on January 5, 2014 .