The 10 cm houfnice vz. 30 (howitzer model 30) was a Czechoslovak

howitzer A howitzer () is a long- ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like ot ...

used in the Second World War. The 158 weapons captured after the German invasion of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 were taken into Wehrmacht service as the 10 cm leFH 30(t). It was used by a variety of German units during World War II, including II. and III./SS-Artillerie-Abteilung 3 between 1939 and 1940 and SS-Artillerie-Abteilung 51 during 1941. 30 served with the Slovak Army.Kliment and Nakládal, p. 122

Design and history

It was modified from an earlier Skoda design, the

10 cm houfnice vz. 28 The 10 cm houfnice vz. 28 (howitzer model 28) was a Czech howitzer used in limited numbers by the Yugoslav Army during World War II. The Yugoslavians ordered twenty houfnice vz. 28 guns which they referred to as the 100 mm M.28. Guns ...

, that attempted to combine the field and mountain gun roles into one weapon. The Czechoslovak army decided to adopt it to replace their plethora of aged

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

field guns. They replaced the wheels with modern rubber-tired wheels, but curiously chose to retain the crewman's seat on the

gun shield A U.S. Marine manning an M240 machine gun equipped with a gun shield A gun shield is a flat (or sometimes curved) piece of armor designed to be mounted on a crew-served weapon such as a machine gun, automatic grenade launcher, or artillery piece ...

. It used the same carriage as the

8 cm kanon vz. 30 The 8 cm kanon vz. 30 (Cannon model 30) was a Czech field gun used in World War II. Guns captured after the German invasion of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 were taken into Wehrmacht service as the 8 cm FK 30(t). It was used by a vari ...

that could break down into three pieces for transport. It fired a shell.

Notes

References

* 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 * Kliment, Charles K. and Nakládal, Bretislav. ''Germany's First Ally: Armed Forces of the Slovak State 1939-1945''. Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 1997

External links

page on the two vz. 30 weapons
World War II artillery of Germany World War II field artillery Artillery of Czechoslovakia 100 mm artillery {{artillery-stub