The 8 cm kanon vz. 28 (Cannon model 1928) was a Czech

field gun A field gun is a field artillery piece. Originally the term referred to smaller guns that could accompany a field army on the march, that when in combat could be moved about the battlefield in response to changing circumstances ( field artille ...

used during

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 ...

Design & history

The origins of the 8 cm kanon vz. 28 began in 1928 at the

Škoda Works The Škoda Works ( cs, Škodovy závody, ) was one of the largest European industrial conglomerates of the 20th century, founded by Czech engineer Emil Škoda in 1859 in Plzeň, then in the Kingdom of Bohemia, Austrian Empire. It is the predece ...

in Pilsen. The design attempted to combine the field gun,

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 ...

, and

anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

roles into one weapon. The vz. 28 combined a two-wheeled box trail carriage, horizontal sliding wedge breech, hydro-pneumatic recoil system, muzzle brake, high angle elevation and a firing table for 360° degree traverse. For the mountain gun role it could be broken down into three pieces for transport, a feature also shared by the contemporary 10 cm houfnice vz. 28 and the later 8 cm kanon vz. 30 and 10 cm houfnice vz. 30 guns. The vz. 28 proved to be fairly successful as a field and mountain gun, but was a failure as an anti-aircraft gun due to very quick developments in aviation during the following decade. The

Czech Army The Army of the Czech Republic ( cs, Armáda České republiky, AČR), also known as the Czech Army, is the military service responsible for the defence of the Czech Republic in compliance with international obligations and treaties on collectiv ...

used the vz. 28 in limited numbers, but ordered its successor the vz. 30 in larger numbers. The vz. 30 lacked the vz. 28's firing table, otherwise their configuration, dimensions, and performance were largely the same. The

Yugoslav Army The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska a ...

ordered the vz. 28 who referred to it as the 80 mm M.28. The

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces ( ro, Forțele Terestre Române) is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. In recent years, full professionalisation and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Lan ...

also ordered a 75 mm version the 75 mm Skoda Model 1928 which it used during World War II. Guns captured from Yugoslavia by the Germans were given the designation 7.65 cm FK 304(j).

Notes

References

* Peter Chamberlain and Terry Gander: Light and Medium field Artillery. New York. Arco Publishing. 1977.

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20071202052427/http://warandgame.wordpress.com/2007/11/21/skoda-765-mm-kanon-vz-30-and-100-mm-houfnice-vz-30/ * http://www.worldwar2.ro/arr/?article=305 * http://www.quarryhs.co.uk/ammotable9.html World War II artillery of Germany World War II field artillery Artillery of Czechoslovakia 76 mm artillery Military equipment introduced in the 1920s {{artillery-stub