7.5 cm GebirgsKanone 06
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The 7.5 cm GebirgsKanone 06 was a
mountain gun Mountain guns are artillery pieces designed for use in mountain warfare and areas where usual wheeled transport is not possible. They are generally capable of being taken apart to make smaller loads for transport by horses, humans, mules, tractor ...
built by
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 ...
that was used by several countries during the 1900s.


Background

During the late 1800s, Krupp became a major arms supplier and one of their better-selling product lines was mountain guns and Krupp sold 688 mountain guns to its customers before World War I. Many of its customers had mountainous borders which were sometimes ill-defined and often were in dispute. The problem that Krupp's engineers had to solve was there was often a lack of roads and rail lines in mountainous regions and only narrow rocky footpaths existed. The field artillery of the time was designed to be towed by horse teams over gravel roads and then manhandled into firing position. Which was hard enough to do on flat muddy ground but became even more difficult when there was a lack of roads. Traditional field artillery could usually be broken down into separate wagon loads with the barrel on one wagon towed by a horse team while a second horse team towed the carriage. However, there was the issue of the gun crew being unable to reassemble the guns due to a lack of oxygen, cold temperatures, and weighed down with thick clothing. What was needed was a gun that was light and could be broken down into multiple loads for transport by the gun crew and pack animals. Horses could carry more weight but were large and not always sure-footed. Mules were smaller, sure-footed, but were stubborn and carried less weight. After experimentation, it was found that if a gun could be broken down into multiple loads a mule was capable of carrying a load and the gun crews were able to reassemble and manhandle the guns into position. However, the trade-off was mountain guns didn't stand up well to being towed when assembled due to their jointed designs. Also to keep weight down the guns were often small caliber with reduced propellant loads to reduce recoil and lacked range because their barrels were short to keep them light and portable.


Design

The 7.5 cm GebirgsKanone 06 was a breech-loaded mountain gun built from steel with a box trail carriage, and two wooden-spoked steel-rimmed wheels. It also had a
hydro-spring This article explains terms used for the British Armed Forces' ordnance (i.e.: weapons) and also ammunition. The terms may have slightly different meanings in the military of other countries. BD Between decks: applies to a naval gun mounting in w ...
recoil mechanism, horizontal sliding-wedge breech, optional
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 ...
, and it fired separate loading cased charges and projectiles. It was the first Krupp mountain gun to have a recoil mechanism and its predecessor the 7.5 cm Gebirgskanone L/13 C/80 did not have one. For transport, the gun could be dismantled into four mule loads or towed when assembled. Since the gun was short the barrel sat on a dual-height cradle that gave -10° to +15° of elevation in its low setting and -10° to +25° in its high setting. Due to its limited elevation, it was a direct fire weapon meant to fire on troops in the open and the most common shell types were high-explosive, and
shrapnel Shrapnel may refer to: Military * Shrapnel shell, explosive artillery munitions, generally for anti-personnel use * Shrapnel (fragment), a hard loose material Popular culture * ''Shrapnel'' (Radical Comics) * ''Shrapnel'', a game by Adam ...
.


Users and conflicts

* - Bulgaria bought 56 guns and captured another 11 Turkish guns during the
Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...
. These were also used during World War I. In Bulgarian service they were known as ''75-мм скорострелно планинско оръдие “Круп”''. * - Nationalist Chinese forces used them during the Warlord Era, Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II, and Chinese Civil War. The Chinese also built variants of the Type 41 mountain gun that was a Krupp M1908 built under license in Japan. The M1908 mixed Krupp features with a tubular pole trail similar to the type used by the Ehrhardt 7.5 cm Model 1904. An advantage of the M1908 was its tuning fork shaped carriage allowed higher angles of elevation. * - The Ottoman Empire bought 146 guns and these may have been used during the Italo-Turkish War, as well as the Balkan Wars, and World War I. In Ottoman service, they were known as ''7,5/14 sm. Krup seri ateşli dağ top''. * - Serbia operated an unknown number of captured guns on the
Macedonian front The Macedonian front, also known as the Salonica front (after Thessaloniki), was a military theatre of World War I formed as a result of an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia, in the autumn of 1915, against the combined attack of German ...
during World War I. They could fire the same ammunition as the Schneider-Danglis 06/09 but had to use a different firing table because the two projectiles had different ballistics. * - Switzerland operated 54 guns until replaced by the
Bofors 75 mm Model 1934 The Bofors 75 mm Model 1934 was a mountain gun produced in Sweden by Bofors and sold abroad widely. The Model 1934 was used by Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and China in World War II. Germany bought a small number of guns (12) for eval ...
during the 1940s. The surviving guns were then used in Swiss fortifications until retired.


Gallery

File:7.5 cm GebirgsKanone 06.jpg, A side view of a GebirgsKanone 06 with barrel elevated. File:7.5 cm GebirgsKanone 06 (1).jpg, GebirgsKanone 06 guns captured by the French being delivered to Serb artillerymen. File:7.5 cm GebirgsKanone 06-2.jpg, GebirgsKanone 06 in use with Serbian troops. File:7.5 cm GebirgsKanone 06 (3).jpg, A damaged Bulgarian GebirgsKanone 06. File:Zhili-Lu allied army artillery.jpg, A GebirgsKanone 06 in use with the Fengtian clique. File:Artillerie nationaliste du général Chiang (...)Central News btv1b53187193t 1.jpg, A GebirgsKanone 06 in Nationalist Chinese service during the Second Sino-Japanese War. File:Schiessübung der Gebirgsartillerie - CH-BAR - 3236847.tif, Swiss gunners with 06s.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:7.5 cm GebirgsKanone 06 75 mm artillery Artillery of Bulgaria Artillery of China Artillery of the Ottoman Empire Artillery of Switzerland Mountain artillery World War I mountain artillery