15 cm sFH 18
Encyclopedia
The 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze 18 or sFH 18 (German
: "heavy field howitzer, model 18"), nicknamed Immergrün ("Evergreen
"), was the basic German division-level heavy howitzer
during the Second World War, serving alongside the smaller but more numerous 10.5 cm leFH 18
. It was based on the earlier, First World War-era design of the 15 cm sFH 13
, and while improved over that weapon, it was generally outdated compared to the weapons it faced. It was, however, the first artillery weapon equipped with rocket-assisted ammunition
to increase range. The sFH 18 was also used in the self-propelled artillery piece schwere Panzerhaubitze 18/1 (more commonly known as Hummel
).
The sFH 18 was one of Germany's three main 15 cm calibre weapons, the others being the 15 cm Kanone 18
, a corps
-level heavy gun, and the 15 cm sIG 33, a short-barreled infantry gun.
and Krupp
, both of whom entered several designs that were all considered unsatisfactory for one reason or another. In the end the army decided the solution was to combine the best features of both designs, using the Rheinmetall gun on a Krupp carriage.
The carriage was a relatively standard split-trail design with box legs. Spades were carried on the sides of the legs that could be mounted onto the ends for added stability. The carriage also saw use on the 10 cm schwere Kanone 18 gun. As the howitzer was designed for horse towing, it used an unsprung axle and hard rubber tires. A two-wheel bogie was introduced to allow it to be towed, but the lack of suspension made it unsuitable for towing at high speed. The inability of heavy artillery like the sFH 18 to keep up with the fast-moving tank forces was one of the reasons that the Luftwaffe
invested so heavily in dive bombing
, in order to provide a sort of "flying artillery" for reducing strongpoints.
The gun was officially introduced into service on 23 May 1935, and by the outbreak of war the Wehrmacht
had about 1,353 of these guns in service. Production continued throughout the war, reaching a peak of 2,295 guns in 1944.
Several other versions of the basic 15 cm were produced. The 15 cm sFH 36 was a version with a greatly reduced 3450 kilograms (7,605.9 lb) weight that was an attempt to improve mobility, but as it used various light alloy
s to achieve this savings it was considered too costly to put into production. The 15 cm sFH 40 was another improved version, featuring a slightly longer barrel and a new carriage that was suitable for vehicle towing and allowed the barrel to have wider firing angles and thereby improve range up to 15,400 m. However this version was even heavier than the sFH 18 (at 5680 kilograms (12,522.3 lb)) and was found to be too difficult to use in the field. Some of these barrels were later fitted to existing sFH 18 carriages, creating the sFH 18/40. A further modification was the FH 18/43, which changed to a split breech that allowed for the use of bagged charges instead of requiring the gunners to first put the charges into shells. Two further attempts to introduce a newer 15 cm piece followed, but neither the 15 cm sFH 43 or 15 cm sFH 44 progressed past the stage of wooden mock-ups.
and Type 4 15 cm howitzer
, forcing the Japanese to introduce the Type 96 15 cm Howitzer
.
Against the Soviet Union however, the sFH 18 proved to be greatly inferior to the Red Army
corps artillery 122 mm howitzer and 152 mm ML-20 gun-howitzer, whose maximum range of 20.4 kilometres (22,309.7 yd) and 17.3 kilometres (18,919.5 yd) allowed it to fire counter-battery against the sFH 18 with a 7 kilometres (7,655.3 yd) and 4 kilometres (4,374.5 yd) advantage. This led to numerous efforts to introduce new guns with even better performance than the ML-20, while various experiments were also carried out on the sFH 18 to improve its range. These led to the 15 cm sFH 18M version with a removable barrel liner and a muzzle brake
that allowed a larger "special 7" or 8 charge to be used. The 18M increased range to 15100 metres (16,513.6 yd), but it was found that the liners suffered increased wear and the recoil system could not handle the increased loads in spite of the brake. This led to a more interesting modification, the introduction of the 15 cm R. Gr. 19 FES ammunition, which used a rocket-assisted round that could reach 18200 metres (19,903.8 yd) and give it some level of parity with the A-19 and ML-20.
Several countries continued fielding the sFH 18 after the war in large numbers including Czechoslovakia
, Portugal
and many South American and Central American countries. Finland
bought 48 sFH 18 howitzers from Germany in 1940 and designated them 150 H/40. These guns were modernized in 1988 as the 152 H 88
, and they are still used by Finnish army.
– post war use – 48 pieces, known as 150 H/40 Nazi Germany
– known as Cannone da 149/28 – post war use - post war use – post war use - post war use
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
: "heavy field howitzer, model 18"), nicknamed Immergrün ("Evergreen
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
"), was the basic German division-level heavy howitzer
Howitzer
A howitzer is a type of artillery piece characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small propellant charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories, with a steep angle of descent...
during the Second World War, serving alongside the smaller but more numerous 10.5 cm leFH 18
10.5 cm leFH 18
-History:The 10.5 cm leFH 18 was the standard divisional field howitzer used by the Wehrmacht during the Second World War. It was designed and developed by Rheinmetall in 1929-30 and entered service with the Wehrmacht in 1935. Generally it did not equip independent artillery battalions until...
. It was based on the earlier, First World War-era design of the 15 cm sFH 13
15 cm sFH 13
The 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze 13 was a heavy field howitzer used by Germany in World War I and World War II.-History:...
, and while improved over that weapon, it was generally outdated compared to the weapons it faced. It was, however, the first artillery weapon equipped with rocket-assisted ammunition
Rocket Assisted Projectile
A Rocket Assisted Projectile is an artillery or cannon round incorporating a rocket motor for independent propulsion. This grants the projectile both greater speed and range than an ordinary shell, which is propelled only by the ballistic force of the gun's exploding charge...
to increase range. The sFH 18 was also used in the self-propelled artillery piece schwere Panzerhaubitze 18/1 (more commonly known as Hummel
Hummel (artillery)
The Hummel was a self-propelled artillery gun based on the Geschützwagen III/IV chassis, armed with a 15 cm howitzer. It was used by the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War from late 1942 until the end of the war....
).
The sFH 18 was one of Germany's three main 15 cm calibre weapons, the others being the 15 cm Kanone 18
15 cm Kanone 18
The 15 cm Kanone 18 was a German heavy gun used in the Second World War.-Design & History:In 1933 Rheinmetall began development of a new artillery piece to fulfill a German Army requirement for a replacement of the aged 15 cm Kanone 16, with the first production units received in 1938...
, a corps
Corps
A corps is either a large formation, or an administrative grouping of troops within an armed force with a common function such as Artillery or Signals representing an arm of service...
-level heavy gun, and the 15 cm sIG 33, a short-barreled infantry gun.
Design and development
The gun originated with a contest between RheinmetallRheinmetall
Rheinmetall AG is a German automotive and defence company with factories in Düsseldorf, Kassel and Unterlüß. The company has a long tradition of making guns and artillery pieces...
and Krupp
Krupp
The Krupp family , a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th...
, both of whom entered several designs that were all considered unsatisfactory for one reason or another. In the end the army decided the solution was to combine the best features of both designs, using the Rheinmetall gun on a Krupp carriage.
The carriage was a relatively standard split-trail design with box legs. Spades were carried on the sides of the legs that could be mounted onto the ends for added stability. The carriage also saw use on the 10 cm schwere Kanone 18 gun. As the howitzer was designed for horse towing, it used an unsprung axle and hard rubber tires. A two-wheel bogie was introduced to allow it to be towed, but the lack of suspension made it unsuitable for towing at high speed. The inability of heavy artillery like the sFH 18 to keep up with the fast-moving tank forces was one of the reasons that the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
invested so heavily in dive bombing
Dive bomber
A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target reduces the distance the bomb has to fall, which is the primary factor in determining the accuracy of the drop...
, in order to provide a sort of "flying artillery" for reducing strongpoints.
The gun was officially introduced into service on 23 May 1935, and by the outbreak of war the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
had about 1,353 of these guns in service. Production continued throughout the war, reaching a peak of 2,295 guns in 1944.
Several other versions of the basic 15 cm were produced. The 15 cm sFH 36 was a version with a greatly reduced 3450 kilograms (7,605.9 lb) weight that was an attempt to improve mobility, but as it used various light alloy
Duralumin
Duralumin is the trade name of one of the earliest types of age-hardenable aluminium alloys. The main alloying constituents are copper, manganese, and magnesium. A commonly used modern equivalent of this alloy type is AA2024, which contains 4.4% copper, 1.5% magnesium, 0.6% manganese and 93.5%...
s to achieve this savings it was considered too costly to put into production. The 15 cm sFH 40 was another improved version, featuring a slightly longer barrel and a new carriage that was suitable for vehicle towing and allowed the barrel to have wider firing angles and thereby improve range up to 15,400 m. However this version was even heavier than the sFH 18 (at 5680 kilograms (12,522.3 lb)) and was found to be too difficult to use in the field. Some of these barrels were later fitted to existing sFH 18 carriages, creating the sFH 18/40. A further modification was the FH 18/43, which changed to a split breech that allowed for the use of bagged charges instead of requiring the gunners to first put the charges into shells. Two further attempts to introduce a newer 15 cm piece followed, but neither the 15 cm sFH 43 or 15 cm sFH 44 progressed past the stage of wooden mock-ups.
Combat record
The first field combat for the 15 cm sFH 18 was with the Chinese National Revolutionary Army in the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Chinese were desperately short on artillery guns and other heavy weapons, but the few 15 cm sFH 18 units the Chinese did have hopelessly outclassed their Japanese counterparts which were mainly the Type 38 15 cm howitzerType 38 15 cm howitzer
The was a 1905 German design that was purchased by the Empire of Japan as the standard heavy howitzer of the Imperial Japanese Army at the end of the Russo-Japanese War.-History and development:...
and Type 4 15 cm howitzer
Type 4 15 cm howitzer
The was a heavy howitzer used by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II.-History and development:The Type 4 15 cm Howitzer was designed by the Army’s Osaka Armory to rectify the shortcomings of the Type 38 15 cm howitzer – namely its lack of portability...
, forcing the Japanese to introduce the Type 96 15 cm Howitzer
Type 96 15 cm Howitzer
The was a 149.1 mm calibre howitzer used by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. It was intended to replace the Type 4 15 cm howitzer in front line combat units from 1937, although it fired the same ammunition.-History and development:...
.
Against the Soviet Union however, the sFH 18 proved to be greatly inferior to the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
corps artillery 122 mm howitzer and 152 mm ML-20 gun-howitzer, whose maximum range of 20.4 kilometres (22,309.7 yd) and 17.3 kilometres (18,919.5 yd) allowed it to fire counter-battery against the sFH 18 with a 7 kilometres (7,655.3 yd) and 4 kilometres (4,374.5 yd) advantage. This led to numerous efforts to introduce new guns with even better performance than the ML-20, while various experiments were also carried out on the sFH 18 to improve its range. These led to the 15 cm sFH 18M version with a removable barrel liner and a muzzle brake
Muzzle brake
Muzzle brakes and recoil compensators are devices that are fitted to the muzzle of a firearm or cannon to redirect propellant gases with the effect of countering both recoil of the gun and unwanted rising of the barrel during rapid fire...
that allowed a larger "special 7" or 8 charge to be used. The 18M increased range to 15100 metres (16,513.6 yd), but it was found that the liners suffered increased wear and the recoil system could not handle the increased loads in spite of the brake. This led to a more interesting modification, the introduction of the 15 cm R. Gr. 19 FES ammunition, which used a rocket-assisted round that could reach 18200 metres (19,903.8 yd) and give it some level of parity with the A-19 and ML-20.
Several countries continued fielding the sFH 18 after the war in large numbers including Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
and many South American and Central American countries. Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
bought 48 sFH 18 howitzers from Germany in 1940 and designated them 150 H/40. These guns were modernized in 1988 as the 152 H 88
152 H 88
152 H 88 is the name of a series of modernized 152 mm towed heavy howitzers with 32 caliber barrels. The guns of the series share the same barrel as well as other similar qualities, but differ slightly in appearance, since they consist of three different, older versions. The modernization...
, and they are still used by Finnish army.
Versions
- 15 cm sFH 18 – standard version
- 15 cm sFH 18M – modification of sFH-18 with muzzle brake and replaceable barrel liner
- 15 cm sFH 18/40 – sFH 40 barrels on sFH 18 carriages
- 15 cm sFH 18/43 – a sFH 18 development to accept bag charge with sliding-block breech
Operators
– post war use – post war use, known as D-30 "Krup" 150mm CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
– post war use – 48 pieces, known as 150 H/40 Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
– known as Cannone da 149/28 – post war use - post war use – post war use - post war use
See also
- 152 mm howitzer-gun M1937 (ML-20) – Soviet 152 mm howitzer
- BL 5.5 inch Medium GunBL 5.5 inch Medium GunThe BL 5.5 inch Gun was a British artillery gun introduced during the middle of the Second World War to equip medium batteries.-History:In January 1939 a specification was issued for a gun to replace the 6 inch 26 cwt howitzers in use with most medium batteries...
– British gun of similar size