The 7.5 cm Feldkanone 38 (7.5 cm FK 38) was a field gun used by Germany and Brazil in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. 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 ...

to satisfy an order by the Brazilian Army some 64 were delivered before the war began. In 1942 the remainder of the order was completed and 80 were delivered to the Heer.

Design

The FK 38 had a longer barrel than the

7.5 cm FK 18 The 7.5 cm Feldkanone 18 (7.5 cm FK 18) was a field gun used by Germany in World War II. It was designed to replace the 7.5 cm FK 16 nA, which was a World War I-era 7.7 cm FK 16 rebarreled in 75 mm du ...

that was fitted with a cylindrical

muzzle brake A muzzle brake or recoil compensator is a device connected to, or a feature integral to the construction of, the muzzle or barrel of a firearm or cannon that is intended to redirect a portion of propellant gases to counter recoil and unwanted ...

. Originally this was an unusual 6 slot design, but it was later replaced by a standard German four port design. Early versions had wood-spoked wheels, but later models had pressed steel wheels with solid rubber tires and had sprung axles for motor transport. It used a semi-automatic version of the original breech mechanism and fixed ammunition instead of the original separate-loading rounds. These changes likely boosted its rate of fire over the FK 18 considerably.

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 * Hogg, Ian V. ''German Artillery of World War Two''. 2nd corrected edition. Mechanicsville, PA: Stackpole Books, 1997 {{WWIIGermanGuns World War II field artillery World War II artillery of Germany 75 mm artillery Military equipment introduced in the 1930s