The 38 cm Belagerungshaubitze M 16 ( Siege

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 ...

Model 16) was a super-heavy siege howitzer used by

Austria-Hungary 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 ...

during

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, ...

History and Design

Two howitzers were initially ordered and both 'Barbara' and 'Gudrun', as they were nicknamed, were delivered in time to participate in the South Tyrol offensive of May 1916. They were very successful and the Austro-Hungarians ordered another fourteen howitzers and two spare barrels, although only eight of these were delivered before the end of the war. The design was based on a scaled-up Škoda 30.5 cm Mörser M. 16 design, which sped things up considerably. The howitzer was transported in four loads, the barrel, mount and one for each half of the firing, or bedding, platform. Each load was carried by an eight-wheeled electric-powered trailer with the electricity provided by a Daimler Artillerie-Generatorzugwagen (Artillery Generator truck) M. 16, designed by

Ferdinand Porsche Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was an Austrian-German automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche AG. He is best known for creating the first gasoline–electric hybrid vehicle (Lohner–Porsche), the Volksw ...

. The 6-cylinder, , 20.32 liter gasoline engine powered two electric generators which fed electric motors in each wheel of the trailer and the rear wheels of the truck. Top speed was 14 kilometers per hour. The solid rubber tires could be removed and the trucks could tow their trailers on the rails. For longer distances they could be towed by ordinary locomotives.

Combat use

A 52 cubic meter pit had to be excavated to hold the firing platform which took eight to twenty hours, depending on soil conditions. The bedding halves then were winched into position on rails and jacked down into the pit. The carriage was then mounted on the bedding and the barrel mated to it. All this took six to eight hours to prepare for firing. A small tilting crane was mounted on the left side of the turntable to move shells from their transport carts to the loading tray. It was also used to assemble the loading tray and to change the breech. The howitzer could only be loaded at 11° elevation because the shells had to be rammed by a hand-powered winch with pushrod. The eight later weapons used the same carriage as the 24 cm Kanone M. 16; it had trunnion mounts for both types and the gun used the forward mounts while the howitzer used the rear ones. Eight guns were handed over to the Italians after the Great War. During the Second World War, five of these were used by the

Guardia alla Frontiera The Guardia alla Frontiera (GaF), was an Italian Army Border guard created in 1937 who defended the 1,851 km of northern Italian frontiers with the so-called "Vallo Alpino Occidentale" (487 km with France), "Vallo Alpino Settentrionale" ...

but none were ever used in combat. The fate of the other weapons is unclear. None were put into service by the Nazis after the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germa ...

, possibly because of a lack of ammunition, and it is not certain that Romania actually used their weapon 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Howitzer No. 6 survives in the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria, while 'Gudrun', Howitzer No. 2 is in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north o ...

, in the

National Military Museum, Romania The King Ferdinand I National Military Museum ( ro, Muzeul Militar Național "Regele Ferdinand I"), located at 125-127 Mircea Vulcănescu St., Bucharest, Romania, was established on 18 December 1923 by King Ferdinand I. It has been at its present ...

References

* Christian M. Ortner. ''The Austro-Hungarian Artillery From 1867 to 1918: Technology, Organization, and Tactics''. Vienna, Verlag Militaria, 2007 * Michal Prášil. ''Škoda Heavy Guns''. Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 1997 *

Herbert Gantschacher Herbert Gantschacher (born December 2, 1956, at Waiern in Feldkirchen in Kärnten, Carinthia, Austria) is an Austrian director and producer and writer. Education 1976 Gantschacher graduated on the second school in Klagenfurt. From 1977 to 198 ...

. ''Viktor Ullmann - the Skoda 38cm Howitzer'' in "VIKTOR ULLMANN ZEUGE UND OPFER DER APOKALYPSE - WITNESS AND VICTIM OF THE APOCALYPSE - Testimone e vittima dell'Apocalisse - Prič in žrtev apokalipse - Svědek a oběť apokalypsy" - Complete original authorized edition in German and English language with summaries in Italian, Slovenian and Czech language, ARBOS-Edition , Arnoldstein-Klagenfurt-Salzburg-Vienna-Prora-Prague 2015.

External links

the 38 cm M 16 on Landships

* Pictures of Gudrun's transport four wagon convoy in Bucharest

(the wagons in the far right belong to the 42 cm Haubitze M. 16 though)
Shells
{{Austro-Hungarian artillery of World War I World War I howitzers Siege artillery 380 mm artillery World War I artillery of Austria-Hungary

History and Design

Combat use

See also

Weapons of comparable role, performance and era

References

External links