Heavy 10 cm field cannon 18
| Heavy 10 cm field cannon 18 | |
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| General Information | |
| Military designation: | 10 cm heavy cannon 18 |
| Manufacturer country: | German Empire |
| Developer / Manufacturer: | Krupp (gun carriage), Rheinmetall (weapon) / Spreewerke Berlin |
| Development year: | 1926-1929 |
| Production time: | 1933 to 1943 |
| Number of pieces: | <2000 |
| Technical specifications | |
| Pipe length: | 5.173 m |
| Caliber : |
105 mm |
| Caliber length : | L / 52 |
| Cadence : | 6 rounds / min |
| Elevation range: | 0 ° - +45 degrees |
| Side straightening area: | 60 ° |
The heavy 10 cm field cannon (also see 10 cm FK ) was a German field cannon in caliber 105 mm from the Second World War .
Development and production
The gun was developed by Rheinmetall in the years 1926 to 1929 from the 10 cm cannon 17 , which originated from the First World War . The two-wheeled carriage came from Krupp and shared it with the 15 cm field howitzer 18 . The heavy 10 cm cannon 18 was the most produced field cannon on the German side during the war. A total of over 2000 pieces were produced in the Spreewerk Berlin-Spandau , 702 of them with 821,000 grenades before the outbreak of war . The weapon cost 37,500 RM at the time . Field cannons are used in flat fire and, in contrast to howitzers, achieve longer firing ranges. The disadvantage here is the almost horizontally directed recoil of the weapon and the sub-optimal splinter distribution on impact. The barrel held 6,000 to 10,000 rounds before it wore out.
commitment
The field cannon 18 was used due to its long range in the heavy (III.) Divisions of the artillery regiments of the armored divisions. Each tank division had a battery of four guns in place of the heavy field howitzer 18 in order to be able to provide fire support to the tank heads over long distances without changing position. It was also available in the army artillery departments, each with a battery for focusing.
The gun was driven in a load in the motorized train behind the Zgkw. 12 t ( Sd.Kfz. 8 ).
The number of cannons in the ranks of the Wehrmacht remained relatively constant over the war years. While 702 cannons were available on September 1, 1939, this figure increased slightly to 760 cannons until the attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941. On January 1, 1945, there were hardly fewer than 714.
Further development
From 1940 a further development of the cannon 18, the heavy 10 cm cannon 18/40 (later renamed to heavy 10 cm cannon 42), in which the barrel was lengthened. However, this did not go into production because it was even heavier with hardly any greater output. Small production only began in 1942, but this included a modified, heavy 10 cm K-40 mount. The gun was now called the 10.5 cm heavy K 18/40, later 10.5 cm s K 42. It was also manufactured at the Spreewerk in Berlin-Spandau.
Two cannons were used on the chassis of the Panzer IV as the IV A self-propelled gun . These did not prove themselves and the prototype status of the two vehicles remained.
See also
swell
- Fritz Hahn: Weapons and Secret Weapons of the German Army 1939–1945. 2nd edition, Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1992, ISBN 3-7637-5915-8 .
- Terry Gander, Peter Chamberlain: Encyclopedia of German Weapons 1939-1945. Special edition, 2nd edition. Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-613-02481-0 , ( Motorbuch-Verlag special ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chris Bishop (ed.): Weapons of the Second World War . Weltbild, Augsburg 2000, p. 145 .