10.5 Cm SK 18
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The 10 cm schwere Kanone 18 (10 cm sK 18) was a field gun used by Germany in World War II. The German army wanted a new 10.5 cm gun as well as 15 cm howitzer which were to share the same carriage. Guns are heavier than howitzers due to the longer barrel. This also led to the
15 cm sFH 18 The 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze 18 or sFH 18 (German: "heavy field howitzer, model 18"), nicknamed ''Immergrün'' ("Evergreen"), was the basic German division-level heavy howitzer of 149mm during the Second World War, serving alongside the sma ...
. As such both weapons had a similar weight and could be carried by a similar carriage. By 1926 Krupp and Rheinmetall had specimen designs, and prototypes were ready by 1930, but was not fielded until 1933–34. Both
Krupp The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krup ...
and
Rheinmetall Rheinmetall AG is a German automotive and arms manufacturer, headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. Its shares are traded on the Frankfurt stock exchange. History Rheinmetall was founded in 1889. Banker and investor Lorenz Zuckermandel L ...
competed for the development contract, but the Wehrmacht compromised and selected Krupp's carriage to be mated with Rheinmetall's gun. It sometimes equipped the medium artillery battalion (with the
15 cm sFH 18 The 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze 18 or sFH 18 (German: "heavy field howitzer, model 18"), nicknamed ''Immergrün'' ("Evergreen"), was the basic German division-level heavy howitzer of 149mm during the Second World War, serving alongside the sma ...
) of German divisions, but generally was used by independent artillery battalions and on coast defense duties. Some were used as anti-tank guns during the early stages of war on the Eastern Front, as well as on the prototype self propelled gun "Dicker Max". Around 1,500 guns were produced until 1945. After the war it served with the Albanian and Bulgarian armies.


Gallery

File:National Museum of Military History, Bulgaria, Sofia 2012 PD 126.jpg, Front of 10 cm schwere Kanone 18 at National Museum of Military History, Bulgaria, Sofia. File:National Museum of Military History, Bulgaria, Sofia 2012 PD 127.jpg, Side of 10 cm schwere Kanone 18 at National Museum of Military History, Bulgaria, Sofia. File:National Museum of Military History, Bulgaria, Sofia 2012 PD 129.jpg, Back of 10 cm schwere Kanone 18 at National Museum of Military History, Bulgaria, Sofia. File:German 10,5 cm squeeze bore.png, 10 cm schwere Kanone 18 fitted with an 8,8 cm
squeeze-bore A squeeze bore, alternatively taper-bore, cone barrel or conical barrel, is a weapon where the internal gun barrel, barrel diameter progressively decreases towards the muzzle (firearms), muzzle resulting in a reduced final internal diameter. These ...
adapter attached to the muzzle.


References


Sources

* Engelmann, Joachim and Scheibert, Horst. ''Deutsche Artillerie 1934–1945: Eine Dokumentation in Text, Skizzen und Bildern: Ausrüstung, Gliederung, Ausbildung, Führung, Einsatz''. Limburg/Lahn, Germany: C. A. Starke, 1974 * Gander, Terry and Chamberlain, Peter. ''Weapons of the Third Reich: An Encyclopedic Survey of All Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the German Land Forces 1939–1945''. New York: Doubleday, 1979 * Hogg, Ian V. ''German Artillery of World War Two''. 2nd corrected edition. Mechanicsville, Stackpole Books, 1997


External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20170726164134/http://historywarsweapons.com/10-5-cm-kanone-18/
"Notes on German Divisional Artillery"
''Tactical and Technical Trends''. 27 August 1942. Retrieved 21 July 2010 World War II artillery of Germany 105 mm artillery Krupp Rheinmetall Military equipment introduced in the 1930s {{Germany-WWII-stub