21 cm Skoda

[jopaerya]

Hello All

Here a theory on the 21 Skoda guns , please feel free to correct or add information .

This is for the 21 cm K 39 , this gun has the four legs , the open winches in front of the gun ,
and the backpart of the carriage is small and has two rings on top .

This gun was used in M.K.B. Cavallas ( Sudwall with 5 x 21 cm K 39 , also the gun was used in
the s.A.A. 768 with 3 batteries 21 cm guns in the Leningrad front ( Tessin ) till 1943 .

Regards Jos

[jopaerya]

Hello

Here for the 21 cm K 39/40 , most of these guns I found in Norway

3 x 21 cm K 39/40 H.K.B. 9./978 ( Stavanger ) first a M.K.B. Engeloy II before the 40.6 cm guns came
3 x 21 cm K 39/40 M.K.B. 7./511 Andsfjord first M.K.B. Trondenes II before the 40.6 guns came
4 x 21 cm K 39/40 H.K.B. 2./773 and 3./773 first one batterie also split in the 2 pairs .

For the gun the 4 four legs as the 21 cm K 39 but the end of the carriage is different , looks like 6 boxes
were added and the rings for the bar are now places underneath , please see the picture from the book
Festung Stavanger from the A.R.N.

Regards Jos

[jopaerya]

The 21 cm K 39/41 what I know for sure that the were used in France in the Atlantikwall

M.K.B. Marcouf with 4 x 21 cm K 39/41
M.K.B. Gravelines with 4 x 21 cm K 39/41

The gun has the same back of the carriage as the 39/40 but was added with a kind on turneble with rollers
( see the picture's of Sturm 78 ) the gun has no legs anymore and the winches in front of the gun were half
covered with a steel protection also the gearwheels of the winch is placed opposite as the K 39 , I don't know
if this is also on the 39/40 ( maybe Erik E. has a photo ?? )

More info on the numbers of the guns please see here , i don't know the source ( end of the page )
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Waf ... chutze.htm

Regards Jos

[jopaerya]

Hello

Beside the 21 cm guns that were delibered or should be delibered to Turkey ,
there were also guns build in licence in Russia knowed as 210 mm Br 17 .
http://svsm.org/gallery/210mm-Br-17_and_305mm-Br-18
http://images.google.nl/imgres?imgurl=h ... N%26um%3D1

Also the neutral Sweden recieved 9 x 21 cm guns , from what I saw from photo's it must be the 21 cm K 39/41.
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/5829074
http://images.google.nl/imgres?imgurl=h ... 8%26um%3D1

Regards Jos

[jopaerya]

Here a drawing of the 21 cm K. 39/41 in a Regelbau 683

Regards Jos

[Sturm78]

Thank you very much for your information and images/drawings.

I think you're right about the differences between the various models of guns: 21cm K39, 21cm K39/40 and 21cm K39/41.

These three photos show the Swedish guns (8 or 9 received in 1944 called m/42). I think the model is clearly 21cm K39/41: winches in front of the gun were half covered with a steel protection, box base smaller and without arms, new turntable and especially a lenghtned rear carriage.

Regards Sturm78

[Asbjørn]

Finally some good information about the K39/40/41/42/52, it's not easy to find! Those assembly pictures on page one are really helpfull!

I'm in the process of finding information and parts to prepare for the restoration of one of these cannons. It would be really helpfull if you could post all the information you have or come across in this thread. A manual would be nice, but thats probably impossible to find.

Please let me know if anybody has a spare 10 meter long 13 ton barrel laying in their shed, it's missing on our cannon.

Here's a picture of the base, can you see which model it is?

[jopaerya]

Hi Asbjorn

I know that the parts are from the 21 cm K. 39/40 ( Erik E. ) , also the undercarriage has the four legs .
Could you please help me with a photo of the winches in front of the uppercarriage from the guns
from Soma . If I understand you right there are no barrels , but on photo's in the book Festung
Stavanger I could see 3 retrievers .

Regards Jos

[Sturm78]

Hi Asbjorn and Jopaerya,

If your base box (undercarriage) have four arms I think your gun is a 21cm K39 or a 21cm K39/40. Not a K39/41: See my last three photos of a 21cm K39/41and this other of one of Swedish guns (21cm K39/41 or m42): base box without arms or legs

Sturm78

[jopaerya]

Sorry I made a typo the gun from Asbjorn is a 21 cm K. 39/40

Regards Jos

[Asbjørn]

Thanks guys, it's nice to know exactly what I'm working on.

Sturm78: The undercarriage has the four legs, cut in half unfortunately, we'll have to fabricate the missing parts. You can see them in the pic i posted earlier, they are in transport position, they should be rotated 180 degrees.

Jos: That's right, no barrels. The pic in Festung Stavanger shows three retrievers or recoil dampeners, one upper and two lower of different type. Each cannon should have one under the barrel and one on top.

Unfortunately the winches are missing, in this pic of the upper carriage you can see one of the pulleys for the winch wire and you can barely make out the lower recoil dampener under the "barrel holder"

[jopaerya]

Thanks Asbjorn

It's a pity that the barrel is lost and the legs and some other parts are cut off , but still
a great gun for the collection . Typical is that also the 8.8.cm Flak carriage legs were cut off .

Regards Jos

[Asbjørn]

The barrels might not be lost, some of them were used to build a dock not far from here, I'm going to go out there and see if I can find them.

We actually have the ends that were cut off the upper carriage, they're still bolted to the wheels used for transport.

[jopaerya]

Hello

The only problem we have is the 21 cm K. 52 according to Hahn, Fritz Waffen und Geheimwaffen des deutschen Heeres 1933-1945 there were 6 build in 1944 and 6 build in 1945 , the only 2 x 21cm K. 52 that I found were used in Batterie Meisenbühl in the Westwall . Who has more info about this gun ???

Photo = Herring

Regards Jos

[ludvig]

Hello Jos + Sturm78 + others
* thank you for great photos + info on the elusive 21 cm Skoda gun .
* most of the Western sources containes a lot of errors due to lack of
access to orginal Skoda / Czech files .
* tries to get some order in the chaos :
V = Skoda own factory code system
Vzor = Czech military system="heritaged" by the Germans
* short layout of the 5 x subvariants :
V = vzor 39 = Kanone 39 L 45,4
VX = vzor 40 = export to Russia L 45,4
V1 = vzor 39/40 = Kanone 39/40 L 45,4 25 to 33 x guns
V2 = Vzor 39/41 = Kanone 39/41 L 45,4 20 x guns
V3/K52 = Vzor 43 = Kanone 43 L 51,2 15 x guns

* about 30 + guns were in production at the Skoda pr 1945

* Jos , V3/K52 have longer gun barrel + long tail + muzzle brake + Karlicky have a factory photo

* Of the 20 x V2/vzor 39/41 , 9 x guns were exported to Sweden ( exchanged with raw materiels in 1944 )
and Germany got remaining 11 x guns .

* Sources :
1) Vladimir Karlicky : 21 cm kanon Skoda 1934 - 1951 in ATM
2) Michal Prasil : Skoda heavy guns , page 139

regards
ludvig