| Škoda 30.5 cm Mörser M. 11 | |
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Škoda 30.5 cm Mörser M. 11 |
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| Type | Siege howitzer |
| Place of origin | Austria-Hungary |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1911-1945 |
| Used by | Austria-Hungary Czechoslovakia German Empire Nazi Germany Hungary Romania Yugoslavia |
| Wars | World War I, World War II |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Škoda Works |
| Designed | 1906-1911 |
| Manufacturer | Škoda Works |
| Produced | 1911-1918? |
| Number built | 79 |
| Variants | M. 11/16, M. 16 |
| Specifications (M. 11) | |
| Weight | 20,830 kg (45,922 lb) |
| Barrel length | 3.05 m (10 ft) L/10 |
| Crew | 15-17 |
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| Shell | 287 kg (630 lb) (light) 384 kg (850 lb) (heavy) |
| Caliber | 305 mm (12 in) |
| Breech | horizontal sliding block |
| Carriage | box trail |
| Elevation | +40° to 70° |
| Traverse | 120° |
| Rate of fire | 10 rounds/hour |
| Muzzle velocity | 340 m/s (1,115 ft/s) |
| Effective range | 9,600 m (10,500 yd) |
| Maximum range | 11,300 m (12,400 yd) |
The Škoda 30.5 cm Mörser M. 11 was a siege howitzer produced by Škoda Works and used by the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I.
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Development began in 1906 with a development contract being placed by the Austro-Hungarian high command with Skoda-Werke in Pilsen to develop a weapon capable of penetrating the concrete fortresses being built in Belgium and Italy. Development work continued until 1909 when the first prototype was finished and in 1910 fired secretly in Hungary.
The weapon was able to penetrate 2 m (6 ft 7 in) of reinforced concrete with its special armour piercing shell weighing 384 kg (850 lb). There were a few technical problems with the first piece, but after few reconstructions in 1911 the upgraded piece made another round of testing in Felixdorf and in the mountains of Tyrol. After that Moritz von Auffenberg, the Minister of War, placed an order for 24 of the new weapons.
The weapon was transported in 3 sections by a 100-horsepower 15 ton Austro-Daimler road tractor M. 12. It broke down into barrel, carriage and firing platform loads, each of which had its own trailer. It could be assembled and readied to fire in around 50 minutes.
The mortar could fire two types of shell, a heavy armour piercing shell with a delayed action fuse weighing 384 kg, and a lighter 287 kg shell fitted with an impact fuze. The light shell was capable of creating a crater 8 meters wide and 8 meters deep, as well as killing exposed infantry up to 400 m (440 yd) away.
The weapon required a crew of 15 - 17, and could fire 10 to 12 rounds an hour. After firing it automatically returned to the horizontal loading position.
In 1916, the M. 11 design was upgraded and the new M. 11/16 was produced, the difference was mainly that the firing platform had been modified to allow for a traverse of 360 degrees. Also in the same year the new model was released, the M. 16. It had longer barrel (L/12) and longer range 12,300 metres (13,500 yd) .
Eight Mörsers were loaned to the German Army and they were first fired in action on the Western Front at the start of World War I. They were used in concert with the German Krupp 42 cm howitzer ("Big Bertha") to destroy the rings of Belgian fortresses around Liege, Namur and Antwerp (Forts Koningshooikt, Kessel and Broechem). The weapon was used on the Western front only at the beginning of the war, but on the Eastern, Italian and Serbian fronts it was used from the beginning until the end.
In 1915, ten howitzers were used in support of the Austro-Hungarian-German invasion of Serbia under the German General August von Mackensen. One of these is restored in Belgrade Military Museum.
By the end of the war 79 of the weapons of all three types were in service. Only 24 were destroyed.
In the period between the world wars, large numbers of mortars were in service in Yugoslavia (4 M. 11 and 6 M. 16), Romania, Italy (23 M. 11, 16 M.11/16 and 16 M. 16), Czechoslovakia (17 M. 16) and Hungary (3 M. 11 and 2 M. 16). In Austria there were only 2, one in the Arsenal, Army Museum in Vienna, the second as a training weapon in Innsbruck.
In 1939 Germany seized all 17 pieces from Czechoslovakia and repaired the howitzer from the Arsenal Museum, designating them 30.5 cm Mörser (t), in 1941 they obtained 5 more weapons after the defeat of Yugoslavia and placed them into service as the 30.5 cm Mörser 638(j). They saw service against Poland, France and the Soviet Union in World War II where they served with Heavy Artillery Battalions (schwere Artillerie-Abteilungen) 624, 641 and 815 as well as two Heavy Static Artillery Batteries (schwere Artillerie-Batterie (bodenstandig) 230 and 779. It is unclear if the howitzers of the Romanian Army were employed on the Eastern Front and used against the Red Army. At least one M. 11 was seized from Yugoslavia and saw service on coastal defense in the Adriatic as the 30.5 cm Mörser 639(j). It may have been upgraded somehow as its Yugoslav designation was the 305 mm M 11/30. The Hungarian Army used this weapon against the Yugoslavians and the USSR. The five gun was served in the 101. and 102. artillery group from 1938.
Today 4 weapons survive; the first M. 11 is in Rovereto, Italy (Museo Storico Italiano della Guerra), the second M. 11 is displayed in Belgrade's Military Museum and a third M. 11 is in Bucharest, Romania along with the only surviving M. 16.
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