The 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze 1902 was a German heavy field
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 ...
cannon
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...
introduced in 1903 and served in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
.
Design and history
It was the first artillery piece to use a modern
recoil system in the
German Army
The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...
. Some 416 were in service at the beginning of the World War I. Its mobility, which allowed it to be deployed as medium artillery, and fairly heavy
shell gave the German army a firepower advantage in the early battles in Belgium and France in 1914 as the French and British armies lacked an equivalent. France had a
Canon de 65 M with a recoil system, but used it only as a mountain howitzer.
lovettartillery.com, Development of German Heavy Artillery, by CW2 Ralph Lovett
/ref>
File:SFH 02 Howitzer Kei Mouth.jpg, The remains of a German sFH 02 howitzer located in Kei Mouth
Kei Mouth (Afrikaans: ''Keimond'') is a resort town on the southeast coast of South Africa, situated in the Wild Coast region of the Eastern Cape Province, situated 94 kilometres from the city of East London. The town is situated on the Indian Oc ...
, South Africa. It was captured from German forces in South West Africa
South West Africa ( af, Suidwes-Afrika; german: Südwestafrika; nl, Zuidwest-Afrika) was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990, after which it became modern-day Namibia. It bordered Angola (Portuguese colony before 1 ...
during World War I. Like other such German weapons of the time, it was cast with the markings ''R II Ultima Ratio Regum'' ("last argument of kings").
File:1905 World War I Krupp Cannon 150mm SM CA.jpg, Another sFH 02 howitzer, this one confiscated by the US after World War I and now located in Sierra Madre Memorial Park.
File:15cm-sFH02-howitzer-001.jpg, A German 15 cm sFH 02 howitzer from 1917
See also
* 15 cm sFH 13
The 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze 13 (15 cm sFH 13), was a heavy field howitzer used by Germany in World War I and the beginning of World War II.
History
The gun was a development of the previous standard howitzer, the 15 cm sFH 02. ...
: German successor
Weapons of comparable role, performance and era
* 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze M 94
The 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze M 94 was a heavy howitzer used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. It had a bronze barrel and relied on wheel ramps to absorb its recoil. The barrel was modified in 1899 as the M 99 and can be identified by its ...
: Austro-Hungarian equivalent
* BL 6 inch 30 cwt howitzer
The Ordnance BL 6 inch 30cwt howitzer was a British medium howitzer used in the Second Boer War and early in World War I. The qualifier "30cwt" refers to the weight of the barrel and breech together which weighed 30 hundredweight (cwt) : 30 × ...
: British equivalent
* Rimailho Model 1904TR
The 155 mm Rimailho Howitzer Model 1904TR (or just the 155 CTR) was a medium howitzer used by France before and during World War I.
Background
The name Rimailho comes from the designer of the gun Captain Emile Rimailho a French artillery o ...
: French equivalent
* 152 mm howitzer M1910
The 152 mm howitzer Model 1910 Schneider or, more properly, ' as it was designated in Tsarist times, was a French howitzer designed by Schneider et Cie. It was used by the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union during World War I, the Polish– ...
: French/Russian equivalent
* 6 inch field howitzer M-1908
The M1908 6-inch howitzer, officially the 6-inch Howitzer, Model of 1908, was the principal heavy howitzer piece of the U.S. Army prior to World War I.
History
Forty of these weapons had been produced before 1917, and all were employed within ...
: approximate US equivalent
Notes
References
* General Sir Martin Farndale, ''History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. Western Front 1914–1918''. The Royal Artillery Institution, 1986. .
* Jäger, Herbert. ''German Artillery of World War One''. Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire: Crowood Press, 2001. .
External links
Lovett Artillery Collection
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:15 Cm Sfh 02
150 mm artillery
World War I artillery of Germany
World War I howitzers