my Father is a Seargent major in the candian artillery so its always a interesting subject for me. i was wondering if someone could tell me the main arty pieces used by there germans are?
i really dont wanna hear someone say an 88
thanks
The backbone of field artillery units was the 10,5cm leFh18* (=light field howitzer, in German). It could throw a 15kg projectile up to 12km in distance. The main plus was that it was strong & durable, but that implied that it needed halftracks in order to move it properly on the battlefield. The other way was to use some 6 horses or towing .
Other shortcoming was that main russian pieces of arty, of 76,2cm calibre, had better range (cca 1,5km more).
The main self-propelled version was Wespe, using the chassis of the Pz-II. Too bad for germans they haven’t made a self-propelled variants earlier, since the howitzer needed a motor transport anyway.
*The “18”, or “Model 1918” was a hoax to make Allied truce commitins belive that some weapon was designed during the WWI. The Germans were not allowed to develop many types of weapons afterr the WWI.
The main heavy piece was the 15cm sFh18 (=heavy field howitzer, mod 1918), that could throw a 38kg projectile 13,3km away. It was towed by halftracks in most of the cases. The self-propelled version was Hummell, cahsis based on a Pz-III and a Pz-IV vehicle combo.
The main drawback was again that it was outranged by many of allied pieces of the similar weight and calibre. Even the ZiS-3 had the same range (with over 100 000 pieces produced, that surely mattered on the battlefield); Italian 149mm howitzer could’ve yielded a km or two more.
The other 15cm piece in regular usage by german artillery arm was 15cm sFh37(t) of Czech origin, but produced for German army. It had greater range, up to 15km.
The infantry arm of the Heer employed two main types of arty:
-the 7,5 cm IG18 (=infantry gun ) could throw a 6kg granate at some 5km. It was drawn by horses mostly. As most of the infantry guns, it was expensive regarding the performance.
-the 15cm sIG33 (=heavy infantry gun, although ‘mortar’ should be more accurate name) managed to reach 5km with a substantial granate of 38kg. It was an efficient way, only shortcoming Germans tought was it’s weight, so many self-propelled versions were manufactured. The vehicles used chassis of the Pz-I to IV, with Brummbaer being the best & most numerous. Also the Pz-38(t) chassis was used to a good result.
The towing of an ordinary wersion was done by halftracks and horses.
The pieces heavier then the 15cm sFH18 were rare in use & production, but I must say a word or two about those.
The 15cm K39 was a long range gun ordered by Turkey, but used by German army too beacause war broke out. It could’ve reach 25km.
The 17cm K18 was long range gun (almost 30km), shell weighted 60kg. It was actually produced in decent, but insuficient numbers.
The gun shared carriage with a 21cm M18 (=mortar, actually heavy howitzer); witha range of under the 17km it was discotinued in favour of the 17cm gun.
Germans used a number of sucessful rocket artillery pieces:
-15cm and 21cm Nebelwerfer; 15cm was also self-propelled
-28 & 32cm, both for dismounting & SP
-copied russian 82mm rocket deployed in SP form
The firing range was pretty short, most notably for 28 & 32cm (under 2km), but the weapons were easy & cheap to manufacture. Also the 15cm and 21cm were more accurate then the rockets of the main enemy, since the German rockets were spin-stabilised.
Geez, tomo pauk, you’re packing the info, aren’t you? Where did you find all that?
It’s not that hard to find the info.
Perhaps I just know how to present it :mrgreen:
Well, I was actually hoping for a book title or a weblink 
Or is all the info from Wiki?
Since I’ve done a lot of modding for the “Panzer general 3SE” strategy game, that meant a lot of research. So I have now plenty of books (both real and in PDF), but web sites can help to.
The e-books could be found at www.farrpost.ru, there is lika a kazillion of them. Don’t let site’s russian language scares you, just click the links and the books would be there for you.
Wow! hahah thanks for the info . do you think you could get me with some pictures aswell?
And i what would pul the main artillery ?
I also always wondered how they would off oad and set up there guns
Hi, Riceman,
If it’s not too much of trouble, I’d suggest you to visit Wikipedia about all of the stuff. There are some pictures, but also the useful links about artillery in general and specific.
Hmmm… any leads for the command and control methods of the German artillery. I’m interested in the specifics of the coordination of multi battery attacks, the equipment used, the messages formats, the duties of the specific individuals involved, the methods for computing the firing solution, the time required for executing missions. Any onfo for that? Thanks.
They did it all over radio. When coordinating fire support for armored unit they woud use code names.
The call for fire takes place, forexample, as follows:
1.(Establishing contact): “Badger, this is Wolf, over.
2.(After contact): Fire mission, over,”
3.(After Confirmation): “Direction:5-7-0-0, over.”
4.(After reapeting direction): “Coordinates 6840-5430; three enemy tanks in position; fire, fire, over.”
5.(After reapeting fire command and initial impact of rounds): Right 200; fire over."
6(After observing the impact): “Add 400; fire, over.”
7.(After observing the impact over): “Drop 100; fire, over.
8. (After rounds on target): Fire for effect(WirkungsschiBen), over!”
Some pictures and aditional information about the Light field howitzer 105mm.
