105VH and some translation help please

[John T]

Hi
Now I got to the four 105VH in my research of Swedish aid to Finland.

The Order to send them to Finland was made 2 december,
A4 Regiment in Östersund should load them on 4 & 5 December.
Confirmation that the guns were sent on d 6 December.

I see an entry about the guns in 6. Battery Artillery regiment 9
were the guns intended for Kemijävi?

Simon Liikanens "Pansarjägare till fronten" (page 58) say's that a "105mm fieldgun battery" to Kemijärvi 16 dec - but that's in the Swedish translation.


Kind Regards
/John T

[John T]

Had some bad luck when searching before posting
Found this post viewtopic.php?t=95527&start=45#p896086

Now I got interested in the 105 mm Howitzers you mention. They were in fact not m/1910 but m/1924. You write that one was bought back for the Finnish Artillery Museum. But did they get a m/24 or a m/10? Only an expert can see the difference between a m/10 and a m/24.
There were only four (4) 10,5 cm bergshaubits m/24 in the Swedish Army, i e 105 mm Mountain Howitzer m/1924. These four were used in Finland on the Petsamo front. Back to Sweden 1944. Last used by Swedish Army 1961.
Basically a Howitzer m/24 is a m/10 altered to be possible to divide in parts. Two (No 147-148) were assembled from spare parts.

These guns were designated in Finland as 105 VH/10 (also 105 VH/22 and 105 VH/10/22 has been used) in which VH means "mountain cannon". According to "Field Guns in Finland 1918 - 1995" by J. Paulaharju these Bofors made guns were originally called as "10,5 cm materiel M/10" and accepted in use in Sweden on 6.6.1912. Guns although had a designation M/22 (not 24) when delivered to Finland. German designation for these guns was 10,5 cm Gebirgshaubitze L/12.

During the Winter War these four guns delivered on 9.1.1940 at Tornio were in 6th Battery / Field Artillery Regiment 9 (6./KTR 9) which although in February replaced them with captured Soviet regiment cannons (76 RK/27) probably because they had shot 3.787 of the 4.000 shots. As far as I know battery operated indepently at Salla front led by Lt. I. Heimo. On 8.2.1940 battery was attached to a newly formed (24.1.1940) I Artillery Battalion / Field Artillery Regiment 22 (I/KTR 22) which was moved to Bay of Viborg by 5.3.1940 without its 2nd Battery (my records don't tell if it was the former 6./KTR 9 which remained at Salla but it is possible).

During the Continuation War guns were in depot and were sold back to Sweden in 1944.

Techical data:
Calibre: 105 mm
Length of barrel: 1.680 mm / 12 cal.
Weight of a shot: 14 kg
Muzzle velocity: 304 m/s
Range: 7.6 km
Combat weight: 1.080 kg

The proper Swedish designation was "10,5 cm haubits m/10-24"
( or 10,5 cm haubits m/10 in mount m/24 )

So that explains why Talvisodan historia 3, calls it I/ KTR 22 already in January.
And I can assume the 105mm "cannons"s in Kemijärvi on the 19:th December was Kenttätykistörykmentti 9. 6. patteri

As a general rule, Paulaharju and many with him used the final contract date between Sweden and Finland as the date of delivery.
while in reality the paperwork was completed much later than actual delivery.

Cheers
/John T

[Seppo Koivisto]

This is what the war diary entry says about the guns: "At the Rovaniemi station we saw first time our guns - Bofors factory mountain howitzers m/10 caliber 10,5 cm. The howitzers followed behind us to Kemijärvi in a separate train, that arrived during small hours."

Rovaniemen asemallä näimme ensi kerran tykkimme - Boforsin tehtaan vuoristohaupitsit m/10 kaliberi 10,5 cm. Haupitsit seurasivat jälessämme Kemijärvelle eri junalla, joka saapui aamuyöstä.

[John T]

Thank you, Seppo.