I need help for Id. heavy gun

[Manuferey]

Hi all,

Can somebody identify this German coastal gun?
I think 15cm SK L45 but I am not sure

Image from EBay
Sturm78

I think it is a 15 cm SK L/40 gun (one step on the barrel instead of two for the L/45) of Batterie Beseler at Mariakerke (near Ostende).

Emmanuel

[Sturm78]

Thank you very much, Emmanuel.

Any idea about this ?

Image from EBay
Sturm78

[Terry Duncan]

Hi Sturm,

I do agree with Emmanuel that it looks like the L40 gun because of the single step.

Terry

[Manuferey]

Any idea about this ?
Image from EBay
Sturm78

It is a 28cm Kuestenmörser designated 28 cm Kst. H. L/16 i.

Here is a post-WW1 Belgian postcard showing such an howitzer abandoned by Germans at Blankenberghe (Flanders coast) in late 1918:



Emmanuel

[Sturm78]

Emmanuel wrote
It is a 28cm Kuestenmörser designated 28 cm Kst. H. L/16 i.

Uummmhhh..... I do not think the weapon of my image is an 28cm Kuestenmörser.
It looks like a weapon with a caliber much lower (I think around 15cm) You can see the ammunition shell and the soldier next to the gun.

Regards Sturm78

[Manuferey]

It looks like a weapon with a caliber much lower (I think around 15cm) You can see the ammunition shell and the soldier next to the gun.
Regards Sturm78

Good observation ! I agree with you. The shell looks indeed closer to 15 cm in diameter than 28 cm.

Emmanuel

[Ruhrpottpreusse]

Hello!
Blankenberge is next to Zeebrugge.
The Hafenschutzkommando (Harbour-protection group) Blankenberge consisted of three batteries.
Commander was Korvetten-Kapitän Lenne (substitue Kapitänleutnant Schwartzenberg)
There were three batteries:
Batterie Groden (Korvetten-Kapitän Lenne and Kapitänleutnant Schwartzenberg) with four 28cm howitzers and north of them a few 21cm grenade launchers
Batterie Mittel (Oberstleutnant z.S. Ernst and Oberleutnant d.R. Niebert-Krüger) with three (maybe four) 10,5cm canons
Batterie Hafen (Oberleutnant d.R. Baustert-Möhlenbeck) with four 8,8cm anti-aircraft guns on concrete-platforms.

I think, the canon is too short for being an anti-aircraft gun. I assume, the description of the card is wrong, and we have one of the 21cm grenade-launchers to defy the coast against landing-troops in the battery "Groden"

[Heinrich George]

These photos were taken in 1915 on the Eastern Front. The poster says the guns are Russian but I suspect that some actually may be captured German weapons. The gun in the first photo is marked "No.2", in what does not look like Cyrillic letters, but I don't think that's a German abbreviation for "number" either.

http://www.shorpy.com/node/15578

http://www.shorpy.com/node/15577

http://www.shorpy.com/node/15576

[Sturm78]

Hi Heinrich George,

About the images of your links, I think:

Image 1: I think a 24cm Type 45 japanese howitzer
Image 2: I think a 152mm Canet coastal gun
Image 3: No idea

Sturm78

[Terry Duncan]

Hi,

I would agree with Sturm on guns 1 & 2 and to the unknown nature of No 3!

1. Japanese Army Type 45 24 cm Howitzer http://ww2db.com/image.php?image_id=10457

2. 152 mm 45 calibre Canet model 1892 coastal gun http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... i_side.JPG http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... asaari.JPG

Terry

[Sturm78]

Hi all,

The question is: How did this Japanese heavy howitzer come to Europe?
Perhaps Japan provide some exemplary to Russia before 1917 .....??

Regards Sturm78

[Ruhrpottpreusse]

That´s right. After the war from 1905 Japan sold a lot of guns to Russia, even the original Krupp costal-howitzers from 1879, Japan built in license. So german troops were attacked by german guns too...

[CharlieC]

Japan and Russia were notionally allies in WW1. Japan sold about 800 artillery pieces to Russia in 1915-17.
Many of the pieces were quite old but there were small numbers of modern pieces. The detailed
list is from Taki (takihome).

518 Type 31 75mm Field Guns
100 Type 31 75mm Mountain Guns
42 28cm Howitzers
34 24cm Mortars
14 L23 24cm Cannons
12 Type 38 10cm Cannons
9 Type 45 24cm Howitzers
16 Krupp 15cm Howitzers
28 Krupp 12cm Howitzers
12 15cm Mortars
12 9cm Mortars
4 Krupp 10cm Cannons

Regards,

Charlie

[Sturm78]

Thank you, Charlie.

Here, a rare image of an 21cm Versuchsmörser L10 M1907

Image from EBay
Sturm78

[CharlieC]

Any idea of the context of this image?

There is a surviving 21cm Versuchsmorser at Red Cliffs, Victoria, Australia - some images at http://www.landships.info/landships/art ... r_m10.html.

Regards,

Charlie