High-speed gun
Steep fire guns are guns that are primarily designed to attack targets using indirect fire with an elevation above 45 ° (and below 90 °). The projectiles of these guns reach their targets on a more curved trajectory than flat-fire guns ( steep fire ). In this way, goals can be achieved to which there is no direct visual contact, whereby the fire can also be guided from a covered position. In the case of indirect shooting, the position of the opponent and the hit location may have to be clarified by forward observers. The initial speedsthe projectiles are adjusted so that the trajectory has the required curvature. In the case of cartridge ammunition, the amount of propellant charge is matched to the deployment distance before the shot.
technology
The classic high-angle firearm is the mortar . In addition to the heavy mortars, lighter deep-fire guns remained in service for infantry support in the fortress war in the 19th century. After the experience of the Russo-Japanese War , modern and powerful weapon systems were put into service for this purpose with the mortar . They were used by the pioneer troops and were intended for the fortress warfare, but during the First World War they were also suitable for trench warfare . This form of combat led to an unprecedented need for support weapons by the infantry, not least because the artillery often proved unable to adequately support its own infantry. As a result, improvised fire means of various technical characteristics were created on a large scale , especially on the side of the Entente . These included, in addition to compressed air and wing mine launchers and weapons with a shooting stick, the mortar designed by Wilfred Stokes in 1915 , the structure of which still forms the basis for the majority of the support weapons known as mortars. The type used in the Bundeswehr , for example, has an effective range of 6,350 meters with a caliber of 120 mm.
Another important type of steep fire gun is the howitzer , which can also target visible targets with flat fire . The self-propelled howitzer 2000 is mainly used in the Bundeswehr . Furthermore, many countries still use motorized hoods such as the FH155-1 , which are mounted on mounts and pulled by tractors .
Example of a historic steep-fire gun
There is the following data on an information board about the gun in the picture opposite:
- Year of casting and location: 1783 in Dresden
- Gun founder: AS Weinhold
- Initials: FA = Friedrich August III. (1750-1827)
- Weight: 730 kg
- Cast metal: bronze
- Caliber: 32 pounder or 10 inch, with 25.5 cm inner diameter of the throwing cone
- Ammunition: cast iron hollow spheres ( mortar bombs ), which after their explosion had a devastating fragmentation effect shortly before they hit
- Ignition device: Conical ignition tube made of hardwood, which can be shortened with distance marking
- Powder filling of the hollow sphere: approx. 1.9 kg black powder
- Powder load of the mortar: approx. 2 kg black powder
- Carriage: Original block carriage with heavy iron fittings and adjustment device, approx. 500 kg
- Firing angle: 45 to 80 degrees
- Max. Firing range: 1,560 m at 45 degrees elevation
- Gun operation: 12 men, 1 officer, 2 NCOs and 9 soldiers
- Main area of application: Defense or storming of a fortress
literature
- Christopher F. Foss / David Miller: Modern combat weapons . Verlag Stocker Schmid, Dietikon, 1989, ISBN 3-7276-7092-4
- Hans Linnenkohl: From single shot to fire roller , Bernard & Graefe Verlag Bonn 1996, p. 188ff.
- Dieter Zeigert, Thuringian State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology (ed.): Military buildings in Thuringia. A catalog of the barracks with a detailed description of the military-historical circumstances in Thuringia since the German military constitution of 1821. Verlag Bildung + Wissen, Bad Homburg / Leipzig 1997, ISBN 3-927879-94-0 .