Greek artillery ID, Balkan Wars

[veviloss]

Greek artillery ID
Any ideas? I'm preparing an article for my webpage and I I would appreciate your help

oo1.jpg
Shelling the forts of Bizani, March 4–6, 1913
10.5cm Krupp ringkanone? L/35? C91? Looks like the Bucharest Museum 105 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/massimofot ... 4595717860) or the Elverdinge (http://canonspgmww1guns.canalblog.com/a ... 09120.html) or the Saint Eloi (http://canonspgmww1guns.canalblog.com/a ... 85515.html) 120mm sample...

002.jpg & 003.jpg
Those two look heavier, 15cm? Crown Prince Constantine in front of both guns

Thanks in advance
Dimitris Lampaditis
Athens, Hellas

[xristar]

I have no idea about artillery pieces, but eith a look through my sources (tertiary popular histories) I found the first picture with the legend: "heavy gun Krupp 105mm". In another source there is a photo with guns that look like the 2nd and 3rd pic and indeed they are described as positional (τοπομαχικά) 150mm guns.
No further clues. Hope this helped.

[ltcolonel]

by the appearance of breach mechanism It is certainly one of the older version perhaps some of 10,5 or 12 cm type schwere Kanone 79. Certainly is a model from the period 1871 to 1878 not from around 1890.

[xristar]

Regarding the 150mm guns, the "Bulgarian artillery" website has an entry of Krupp 150mm siege guns, taken from Greece with the capture of Rupel fort in 1916. They may have been of the ones possesed by Greece prior of the Balkan wars or may have been war booty from the Turks. Anyway:
http://www.bulgarianartillery.it/Bulgar ... _Greek.htm

EDIT:
The Bulgaria Artillery website also has a very intersting inofrmation under the "captured Turkish guns" section of the website. According to that, with the fall of Adrianople fortress to the Bulgarians during the Balkan war, the Bulgarians captured a number of 105mm siege guns which originally belonged to Greece and had been captured by Turkey in the 1897 war! Link: http://www.bulgarianartillery.it/Bulgar ... Turkey.htm
also a photo: http://www.bulgarianartillery.it/Bulgar ... urkish.jpg

Both the 150mm and the 105mm cases mentioned above are given as Krupp fortress guns M.1880

[dimi_labada]

Gentlemen thanks for your answers!

The 10.5cm M1880 was my initial choice but, according to the bulgarianartillery.it site BW photo (http://www.bulgarianartillery.it/Bulgar ... Turkey.htm), it has a the typical Krupp-style reinforcing ring around the chamber and more rounded chamber edges.

To add to my confusion, the Sofia Military History Museum exhibit looks different, more like the gun in picture 001.jpg... Then I stumbled into Massimo Foti's photo of the Bucharest Museum's "105 mm Krupp 1891/1916" There is also the '105mm L/35 gun' (http://www.bulgarianartillery.it/Bulgar ... urkish.jpg) Is that a M.1880?

It would be very convenient to have a M.1880 'family' of 10.5cm L/35, 15cm L/25 and/or -maybe- 12cm L/12 guns.

Also the 3 'steps' (2 jackets?) of the (15cm?) gun in picture 002.jpg give me another headache. The ex-Greek 15cm (http://www.bulgarianartillery.it/Bulgar ... _Greek.htm) looks more 'conical' in this area

Have a nice day!

Dimitris Lampaditis
Athens, Hellas

[xristar]

There is also the '105mm L/35 gun' (http://www.bulgarianartillery.it/Bulgar ... urkish.jpg) Is that a M.1880?

Yes.

It would be very convenient to have a M.1880 'family' of 10.5cm L/35, 15cm L/25 and/or -maybe- 12cm L/12 guns.

I think the same. Possibly a single purchase by Greece made at around that point in time. Greek defense expenditure rised considerably after the Russo-Turkish war of 1878.

Look around the Bulgarian Artillery website. Lot's of interesting information. Look at this list: http://www.bulgarianartillery.it/Bulgar ... export.htm[/quote]

[Vic2014]

Resurecting an old thread with new info...

I believe the second and third pictures depict a Krupp 125mm siege gun Model 1880.
This type of gun was in widespread use in Holland until WW2, see:
http://www.waroverholland.nl/index.php? ... o&pid=8852
In the Balkans such guns are preserved in the Military Museum in Sofia (1 piece serial 40) - check Massimo Foti's flickr page
Two guns (serials 21 and 23) are guarding a WW1 memorial in Drobeta Turnu Severin, Romania - see photo attached, taken by me last summer.