What is this gun?

[peeved]

Re: Erla this might well provide the explanation for the abbreviation (from http://www.superborg.com/hdv398.htm ): H.Dv. 398 A 10 from 1934; A. Gerätverzeichnis (gleichzeitig Preisverzeichnis) Artillerie-Gerät (G.Verz. A.); Teil 10: leichte Feldhaubitze 16 in Ersatzlafette.

Markus

[schwarzermai]

Hi Markus, thanks! great! Uwe

[peeved]

Thanks Uwe,

But it was your giving the howitzer's full designation abbreviation that got me thinking of Erla as a military abbrev. Luckily enough Ersatzlafette was a first try hit; Gotta play Lotto this week.

IMO this minor discovery again illustrates why this forum is insanely great: We pick each others' brains and every so often the pick hits a nerve.

Markus

[Alexander Taper-Bore]

Excellent work gentlemen, for me this is not "minor"

So we know there were 6 of this weapons systems in service, with which unit and we know how they were called....
Maybe there is still more info out there about the origins of the design.
Since post Versailles Germany was allowed to only replace their small artillery numbers in service very, very slowly, Ersatzlafette may be a discreet name for "newly designed" or "experimental".
But there is more. It's not just the Lafette that is different, also the weapon itself. The barrel may be the lFH16 10,5cm L22, but the recoil arrangement is different and in line with other Rheinmetall designs from the late 1910s and 1920s.
Greetings

[Alexander Taper-Bore]

BTW I googled the Erla and found a good reference in the Tribunal records: https://www.scribd.com/doc/118313470/Nu ... n-Series-9
Search for Erla. It was designed and built shortly after WW1.
Some other interesting info there about early weapons development too.

[peeved]

Excellent find Alexander,

Here's a screenshot from page 290 for the benefit of us non-de-Scribd members with bad connection.

Markus

[Alexander Taper-Bore]

Thanks, troublesome site indeed. Do you have any idea what this 10,5cm leFH Krupp M/2 Z.A. might have looked like? Built in 1919 and then pursued in the 1930s as a forerunner of the leFH 18. Might this be the one that later popped up in Turk service, ie more or less a leFH 18 with box trail?

[peeved]

Sorry,

Hadn't even heard of that one.

Re: Ersatzlafette and Erla just to keep things clear on the 12.4.1945 data of Gerätliste, D 97/1+ at least, the Gerät-Nr. was 5-1014, Benennung des Geräts leichte Feldhaubitze 16 Ers Laf and Kurzbenennung le FH 16 EL.

Markus

[Manuferey]

This reminds me of the gun # 1 similar to the 10,5 cm leFH18 but with vertical shock absorbers we discussed in December 2014 in this thread. Could it be the 10,5cm leFH Krupp M/2 Z.A or a relative?

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... &start=645

Emmanuel

[schwarzermai]

source: ebay

uwe

[Alexander Taper-Bore]

This reminds me of the gun # 1 similar to the 10,5 cm leFH18 but with vertical shock absorbers we discussed in December 2014 in this thread. Could it be the 10,5cm leFH Krupp M/2 Z.A or a relative?

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... &start=645

Emmanuel

Thanks!
It could be the same as the Turkish 10,5cm leFh variant! We have only a couple of vague picture of that one:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/330333/t ... +1900-1945

[Alanmccoubrey]

source: ebay

uwe

Uwe, could that be a 10,5 cm leFH18 on the carriage of the 10,5 cm leFH16 ?

[schwarzermai]

source: ebay

uwe

Uwe, could that be a 10,5 cm leFH18 on the carriage of the 10,5 cm leFH16 ?

Alan, no, i think it's just a le.FH. 16 "Erla" (in Ersatzlafette)

uwe

[Alanmccoubrey]

But if it is aleFH16 why is there a cylinder above the barrel ?

[Alexander Taper-Bore]

But if it is aleFH16 why is there a cylinder above the barrel ?

pls read the earlier posts, ther Erla came with just that