10.5 cm schwere Kanone 18

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10.5 cm schwere Kanone 18
Type	field gun
Place of origin	Germany
Service history
Used by	Nazi Germany Albania Bulgaria
Wars	World War II
Production history
Produced	1934-1943
Specifications
Weight	5,642 kg
Barrel length	5.46 m L/52

Shell	separate-loading, cased charge (3 charges)
Caliber	105 mm
Breech	horizontal sliding block
Carriage	split trail
Elevation	0° to +48°
Traverse	64°
Rate of fire	6 rpm
Muzzle velocity	835 m/s
Effective range	19,075 m (20,860 yds)

The 10.5 cm schwere Kanone 18 (10.5 cm sK 18) was a field gun used by Germany in World War II. It was developed in the late Twenties, but wasn't fielded until 1933-34. Both Krupp and Rheinmetall competed for the development contract, but the Wehrmacht compromised and selected Krupp's carriage to be mated with Rheinmetall's gun. It wasn't popular in service as it was regarded as too much gun for too little shell. This caused its production to be terminated in August 1943.
It sometimes equipped the heavy artillery battalion of infantry and panzer divisions, but generally was used by independent artillery battalions and on coast defense duties. After the war it served with the Albanian and Bulgarian armies.

[edit] References

Englemann, Joachim and Scheibert, Horst. Deutsche Artillerie 1934-1945: Eine Dokumentation in Text, Skizzen und Bildern: Ausrüstung, Gliderung, 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 ISBN 0-385-15090-3
Hogg, Ian V. German Artillery of World War Two. 2nd corrected edition. Mechanicsville, PA: Stackpole Books, 1997 ISBN 1-85367-480-X

German artillery of World War II

Tank & anti-tank guns