15cm K18 questions

[Sturm78]

Hi all,

I'm looking for wartime pictures of 15cm K18 heavy gun. I know very few photos of this gun even though 101 copies were manufactured according to various sources.

Secondly I have a small doubt. I have on my hard drive two photos (from Ebay) showing this gun with different wheels than normal.
Standard wheels had spokes while these two photos show wheels with 8 round holes. The question is: Were these wheels used only in the first production copies or were used two different types of wheels along the time of manufacturing of this gun?

Also, in my third photo these rare wheels with 8 holes can be seen in the barrel trailer (the carriage can not be seen very well), while in my second photo these wheels only are used in the carriage and not in the barrel trailer (with standard wheels).

My first photo shows the gun and trailers with standard wheels, to compare.

Thanks in advance. Regards Sturm78

[peeved]

These look rather like K 18 barrel and firing platform transporters to me (Source eBay.de).

Markus

[Sturm78]

Very good pictures, Markus. Thank you very much.

However your two images show a 15cm K39: barrel and platform trailers; not 15cm K18.

Regards Sturm78.

[kstdk]

Hello

Is this what you are looking for?

I do not know the Type of the actual gun, but it looks like the same?

Scanned picture from the Danish book: "Den lange vej til glæden - Herning-egnen under besættelsen 1940 - 1945"

Illegal photo of the gun during excersise at a schools sportsfield in the town of Herning - Denmark, picture taken in year 1943.

Regards
Kurt
kstdk

[jopaerya]

Hello All

I agree with Sturm78 that the photo's from Markus are 15 cm K 39 and
I think the one's from Kurt the 17 cm Kanone 18 in Mörserlafette .

Regards Jos

[Manuferey]

Two 15 cm K18 in firing positions plus one trailer ? (from ebay.de)



Emmanuel

[Sturm78]

Thank you very much for your image , Manuferey, although is too small to see any detail.
I have these other three pictures (from Ebay and BPK) but also are of poor quality and I can not appreciate the details. Any other better picture will be welcome.

Nobody has any idea about the question of the rare wheels with 8 round holes? As you can see in these latest pictures and Manuferey`s picture, all the guns have standard spoked wheels.

Regards Sturm78

[peeved]

I'm no arty expert so all I can offer is more confusion:
From Germany's Guns 1939-45 by Terry Gander 15 cm K 18 captured by the British in North Africa (8 small holes) plus K 18 on the Krupp ranges at Meppen with 6 large holes like the K 39 below it and K 39 barrel and platform trailers a few posts up.

Markus

Edit: The Meppen gun seems to have a split trail in which case it's unlikely to be a 15 cm K 18; K 39 seems more probable. Does the Africa gun look like a s. 10 cm K 18 to you?

[Sturm78]

Hi Markus,

First, thank you very much for your photos.
Secondly I think your first picture shows a 10.5cm K18, the second a 15cm K39 and the third another 15cm K39 on its platform.

Differences between a 15cm K18 and a 15cm K39:

15cm K18: box trail, mudguards on wheels,spoked/8 round holes wheels and firing platform incorporated under the gun carriage. Transported in two loads: carriage trailer and barrel trailer.
15cm K39: split trail, without mudguards, wheels with 6 round holes , and separated firing platform. Transported in three loads: carriage trailer, barrel trailer and platform trailer.

Regards Sturm78.

[peeved]

Secondly I think your first picture shows a 10.5cm K18, the second a 15cm K39 and the third another 15cm K39 on its platform.

Thanks, had noticed that myself too as mentioned in the edited text.

The 15 cm K 18, 15 cm K 18 & 15 cm K 39 IDs were straight from Gander's book. Just goes to show that even respectable writers can be fooled by the generic looks of some German guns.

Differences between a 15cm K18 and a 15cm K39:

15cm K18: box trail, mudguards on wheels, wheels with 6 round holes and firing platform incorporated under the gun carriage. Transported in two loads: carriage trailer and barrel trailer.
15cm K39: split trail, without mudguards, spoked wheels or with 8 round holes , and separated firing platform. Transported in three loads: carriage trailer, barrel trailer and platform trailer.

Shouldn't that be
15cm K18: ... spoked wheels or with 8 round holes...
and
15cm K39: ... wheels with 6 round holes...

As for the eight hole wheels on 15 cm K 18 how about this theory: After 15 cm K 16 barrels were fitted on 21 cm Mrs 18 carriages to create the 15 cm K 16 in Mrs Laf. the Germans were left with surplus K 16 carriages and trailers. Their eight hole wheels were then fitted on 15 cm K 18 carriages and/or trailers to avoid waste according to the best Hausfrau tradition.

Markus

[nuyt]

I think the wheel question has also been discussed on this forum related to the sfH18.
AFAIK the 8 hole wheel was the original Rheinmetall wheel, also used on the carriage.

By the way, what other guns can be seen on the Meppen K36 picture?

[Sturm78]

Hi Markus,

As for your theory about 15cm K18 wheels, I'm not so sure that the wheels with 8 holes of 15cm K16 (after her modernization) are the same as the 15cm K18. I think they have different diameter.
Besides, if they reused the wheels I guess that they would also reused the rear smaller wheels of trailers, which also had round holes in the case of K16 guns, but they were solid discs wheels without holes at the K18, as you can see in my third photo posted on 13 Sep.

On the other hand, I have never heard of a 15cm K16 barrel on 21cm Mrs 18 carriage . Ian Hogg mentions a 15cm SK C/28 naval barrel in Morserlafette, but I've never seen any pictures of this gun.

Shouldn't that be
15cm K18: ... spoked wheels or with 8 round holes...
and
15cm K39: ... wheels with 6 round holes...

Of course you're right. Confused me. I edit my post to correct

By the way, what other guns can be seen on the Meppen K36 picture?

I think 8.8cm Flak guns

Regards Sturm78

[peeved]

Here's a 15 cm K 18 barrel transporter photo with 8-hole large rims and spoked dolly wheels (apparently the variations were many) from Heavy Artillery by Chamberlain & Gander & two photos from their Enzyklopädie deutscher Waffen 1939 1945 labeled 15 cm SK C/28 in Mörserlafette. Have never seen a correctly captioned pic of a 15 cm K 16 in Mörserlafette.

Markus

[Sturm78]

Thank you very much for your pics, Markus.

Questions about the wheels of the German artillery pieces are very irritating:

Collecting information about 15cm K18 wheels: main wheels: spoked wheels (I think they are standard model) and 8 round
holes wheels.
dolly wheels: spoked wheels ( I think they are standard model) and solid
rim wheels.

with many possible combinations, it seems.

As for the 15cm SK C/28 on Morserlafette seems very difficult to differentiate this gun respect to 17cm K18.

Regards Sturm78

[Manuferey]

In the following post, there are pictures of a 15 cm SK C/28 tube on the LC/38 mobile carriage. One can try to compare the tube with the pictures peeved’s pictures.

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 0&t=146879

Emmanuel