15 cm sFH 02

15 cm sFH 02

A German 15 cm sFH 02 howitzer from 1917
Type Heavy field howitzer
Place of origin German Empire
Service history
In service 1903 - 1918
Used by German Empire
Wars World War I
Production history
Designer Krupp
Designed 1902
Manufacturer Krupp
Specifications
Weight 2,035 kg (4,486 lb)
Barrel length 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in)
Height 1.23 m (4 ft)

Shell 40.5 kg (89 lb)
Caliber 149.1 mm (5.87 in)
Recoil hydro-spring
Elevation 0° to +45°
Traverse
Muzzle velocity 325 m/s (1,070 ft/s)
Maximum firing range 7,450 m (8,150 yd)

The 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze 1902 was a German heavy field howitzer introduced in 1903 and which served in World War I.

Design and history

It was the first artillery piece to use a modern recoil system in the German Army. Some 416 were in service at the beginning of the war.[1] Its mobility, which allowed it to be deployed as medium artillery, and fairly heavy shell gave the German army a firepower advantage in the early battles in Belgium and France in 1914[2] as the French and British armies lacked an equivalent.

See also

Weapons of comparable role, performance and era

Notes

  1. Jäger, p. 29
  2. Farndale 1986, page 59

References

External links

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