15cm sFH 18 (15cm schwere Feldhaubitze 18)

History

The 15cm heavy Feldhaubitze 18 (sFH 18) became the standard 149mm howitzer for German Army divisions during World War II (1939-1945). The gun was originally designed to be horse-drawn (like all German artillery at the time), but was later modified to be mechanically towed.

After several strong trial submissions from both parties, a compromise was found to mount the Rheinmetall gun on the Krupp vehicle.

Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union and subsequent Soviet response, the sFH 18 system was found to outperform its counterpart and had to be modified to increase deployment range. However, the changes negatively affected the barrel and recoil mechanism due to excessive wear.

Consequently, the modification program was abandoned, although the remaining sFH 18 guns continued to operate until their battlefield use expired. The modified gun was designated "15-cm sFH 18 (m)".

The sFH series guns were mounted on motorized chassis, these vehicles were called "Hummel" or "Hornet" and became respected self-propelled gun (SPA) systems at the end of the war in 1945. sFH 18s also appeared in Along Hitler's famous "Atlantic Wall" - this was a long line of fortifications and artillery lines deployed along the French coast between France and Britain to deter any Allied invasion from the north/west.

Several world powers continued to use the sFH 18 heavily after the war, including Czechoslovakia, Portugal, and many South and Central American countries. Such is the superb construction of the weapon.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Performance

for everyone else in our database)

Armor

Depends on the ammunition carrier. 149mm x 260R ammo with individual loading boxes, each weighing 96 lbs (HE).

Changes