76mm Bofors !?!

Erik E · Post by **Erik E** » 31 Aug 2003 21:59

Hallo!

During my latest field trips, we found the remains of a 76mm Bofors gun.
In the German papers from this site, it was only mentioned as
"7,6cm Landesabwehrgeschütz"

Could anyone tell me more about this type??

David Lehmann · Post by **David Lehmann** » 31 Aug 2003 22:04

Have a look on the bottom part of this page ... about finn AA guns.

http://www.ankkurinvarsi.net/jaeger/AA_GUNS3.htm

8 bought from Sweden, arrived at 1930. These guns were used in Helsinki air-defence during WW2. All of these guns were static. Probably the same type than the one you discovered.

David

Erik E · Post by **Erik E** » 31 Aug 2003 22:53

Hallo David!

I doubt that the gun in question is a Flak gun.....
The barrel was stamped with "weight 340 Kilos" written in Norwegian.
The year of production was 1918, barrel length approx. 1,7 meters.

I was first thinking of a ex-Norwgian naval gun, but the fact that it has no shield makes me think twice!

David Lehmann · Post by **David Lehmann** » 31 Aug 2003 23:05

Hallo Erik,

Well it was perhaps too easy ... but in the text it is said :

"These guns were same as the ones that Bofors manufactured in 75-mm calibre, but as Finns had opted to make 76-mm standard calibre of their heavy AA-guns Bofors manufactured them in that calibre. This particular gun-model was probably 76-mm version of 75-mm Bofors M/27 also used by Swedish Coastal Artillery. It also was static version used with column mount bolted to concrete structures of ready fire-position. Finland bought 8 of these guns at 1928, but they were not delivered until 1930. The gun had horizontal sliding wedge breech. During Winter War and Continuation War the guns were used with Vickers M/34 (subversion Vb) mechanical fire-control computer and were located in air-defence of Finnish capital Helsinki. 76-mm Bofors AA-guns proved very well and remained in use until end of WW2."

http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/Bofors.htm

Otherwise I don't know about any other WW1 / WW2 76mm Bofors gun that is not an AA gun initially but thatclearly proves nothing

... It could be the same naval version used by Swedish army perhaps ?

David

Erik E · Post by **Erik E** » 31 Aug 2003 23:17

Hmmmm......

Intereting david, but I suggest M/27 means it was developed in 1927?
This particular gun is clearly marked 1918!?!

Erik E

David Lehmann · Post by **David Lehmann** » 31 Aug 2003 23:29

yes ... well ... I am still on it, trying to find info about this 1918 gun ... I hope we will find the key

Do you know the location exactly ?
Perhaps with help of this website we could find an info ... on the bottom of the page you can "click" on the different coastal groups to have a detailed account on their armament :

http://www.nuav.net/festnorw.html

David

JTV · Post by **JTV** » 01 Sep 2003 07:04

Erik E wrote:Hmmmm......

Intereting david, but I suggest M/27 means it was developed in 1927?
This particular gun is clearly marked 1918!?!

Erik E

Yes, it can't be the same gun. There are also some major differences (like length of the gun barrel). However it if the both are Bofors they probably are distantly related (Bofors 75-mm AA-guns were originally based to naval guns of the same calibre manufactured earlier). My educated guess would be that it is Bofors made naval gun or some earlier AA-gun, but exactly what model is hard to say. However this page might be a good starting point:

http://www.me.chalmers.se/~m95perm/vape ... index.html

If only the webpage would have pictures of them all then this might be an easy task. I also think possible that the mount could have maybe originally from some other gun (I remember seeing very similar mount earlier in Finnish books, but it was't with Bofors gun - I have check on that) and might have later been modified to be used with new gun barrel.

BTW: Panzermeyer, always nice to see my site used as reference. :-)

Erik E · Post by **Erik E** » 01 Sep 2003 09:11

I don`t like to publish exact locations for such "light" equipment.......
In another battery a 5cm KwK was re-found last year.
It only took half a year with photos+location on the internet before someone stole it !
The NUAV doesn`t tell more about this gun than allready mentioned here.

Erik

David Lehmann · Post by **David Lehmann** » 01 Sep 2003 09:24

Well I didn't expected you to publish the exact location I just thought perhaps you could compare with the different coastal groups armament.

The 1918 gun listed in the other page is a 75mm AA gun ... still a mystery ... for the moment I don't really know where to look ... I can't find an exhaustive list of the bofors products

David

ChristopherPerrien · Post by **ChristopherPerrien** » 01 Sep 2003 10:26

One comment , perhap these guns are " Anti-Balloon Guns" not true AA guns. They made have an AA type mounting to allow high angle fire but more than that I doubt they are differnt from a standard cannon. I don't remember many real big flak guns being made in WWI to shoot at aircraft.

Jack Nisley · Post by **Jack Nisley** » 01 Sep 2003 18:00

Erik, isn't the translation of the German "Anti-Landing Guns"? This caliber of gun (76mm/3 in/12 pounder) would have been a common installation on pre WW I and WW I ships as anti-torpedo boat guns on large ships and main armament on small craft. The Tyrgg class torpedp boats and Glommen class minelayers were built in Norway about this time with a 76mm main armament. Could these be the source of this gun?

Jack Nisley

David Lehmann · Post by **David Lehmann** » 01 Sep 2003 18:36

But was it a Bofors gun ? Not a Breda, Melara or ... I forgot the name something sounding Italian

David

Erik E · Post by **Erik E** » 05 Sep 2003 15:38

This is one of only 2 locations I have seen the sources mentioning
"76mm Lag". The other place is told to have been a ex-Norwegian naval gun. I guess this could also be the same then!

Most of the artillery used in Norway were bought from Bofors, or produced under licence here, especially in the navy.
A detail I Noticed is that weight was written in an old Norwegian style...("Vegt")

Did the Swedes write "Vegt" in 1918???

Erik

Daniel L · Post by **Daniel L** » 05 Sep 2003 15:46

As far as I know we've never written "vegt". We've always written "vikt", atleast since prehistoric time.

Best regards/ Daniel

Erik E · Post by **Erik E** » 05 Sep 2003 16:22

Well, that solves much Daniel!

I think we have got a "licence produced Bofors ex-Norwegian navalgun, used as shore defence" here

Thanks all!

Erik E