Landships II

According with Loebells Jahresberichte 1910, Uruguay bought 3 batteries of Krupp 75mm field guns.

In addition 24 Krupp field guns were bought by Spain in 1900, they were employed also during the Civil War: 8 were assigned to the Republican 3rd heavy rgt of Santander.

In terms of German Krupp exported 7,5cm guns, I have a Krupp 7,5cm. Gebirg Kanone L/13 (Mountian Cannon) exported to Chile in 1891.  This same type also was exported to the Ottoman Empire and saw service in the German Colonies.

This is the link:

http://www.lovettartillery.com/7.5cm_Gebirg_Kanone_L_13.html

R/

Ralph Lovett

http://www.lovettartillery.com/index.html

-- Edited by CharlieC on Saturday 27th of October 2012 01:42:24 PM

Type 38 Kai (Improved)

The deficiencies of the 75mm Krupp design were apparent to the Japanese and a modified gun was produced from 1926 to address the lack of barrel elevation

and the consequent lack of range.

In part this was done by the use of a new box trail, however, the Japanese went much further in updating the gun. The trunnions were moved rearwards which

means that the breech is in roughly the same position for loading regardless of barrel elevation. A pair of equilibrators was added to reduce the loads on the elevation gearing.

Some 400 Type 38 Kai were produced at the Osaka Arsenal - there is some contention whether these were new production or remanufactured Type 38s.

The gun looks only superficially like a standard 75mm Krupp - the images are of a fairly battered survivor at Cadott, WI - the gun shield is missing which means the changes

compared to the original gun can be more easily seen. 

Data from http://www3.plala.or.jp/takihome/38-75.htm

Barrel length - 2325mm (L/31)

Elevation - -8 to 43 deg.

Weight - 1135 kg

Max. Range - 11500m

Regards,

Charlie

Most interesting. Wikipedia and others say 400 of the improved type were produced but older guns were upgraded, so the total number of "improved" ones should be much higher than 400.

However clearly not all were updated. U. S. Department of the Army pamphlet no. 30-4-4 on Axis artillery says both the original type 38 and the improved version were in service with the Chinese Communist army at the time of writing, 1955.

Super stuff, thanks everyone - MCP, private mail sent.

Looking at the surviving guns - there are a majority of the original Type 38 guns. My next contribution is on the Type 38 Kai - there were 400 of these produced - most of

them were converted from the original guns. This gives a 4:1 ratio of original to modified guns. A quick and probably unrepresentative sample is at: http://warmemorials.us/listing-007-artillery.html (guns in Wisconsin) - of the 5 Type 38s documented only one is Type 38 Kai.

Regards,

Charlie 

Japan sold 12 Type 38 field guns to Peru in 1933. Attached is a survivor at the Fortaleza real Felipe, Callao - the gun is clearly a Type 38 Kai with

box trail.

Japan also sold 24 Type 38 guns to Ecuador in 1940 - I don't know if there are any survivors or images of the guns.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/594514/thread/1290203493/Osaka-Krupp+gun+in+Callao

Regards,

Charlie

( Type 38 notes coming up )

Some corrections/additions to the post about Turkish guns:

The 1911 order was for 12 horse and 10 field batteries (88 guns). These data are sure, since the come from the Krupp Archives, quoted by Fahri Türk (a) and are confirmed by (c).

As for the Brazlian guns, they were 40, according with Zdenek Jindra, who found the information in Krupp Archive too. 

According with a Turkish General Staff work, Turkey received 54 - 75mm Krupp guns in 1914, and I think that the number is correct, since that book is usually accurate (the data I could check are always correct). Probably Germany added another 14 guns, probably Brazilian, since I don't know of any other 75mm gun at hand in the Krupp factory in 1914.

To the list 3 more guns should be added:

1898: 1 - 75mm L/30 field gun

I'll post the data soon.

1912: 1 - 75mm L/30 a/a gun

http://www.bulgarianartillery.it/Bulgarian%20Artillery%201/Krupp%2075mm%20L30%201912%20Bak.htm

1912: 1 - 75mm L/28 a/a gun

http://www.bulgarianartillery.it/Bulgarian%20Artillery%201/Krupp%2075mm%20L28%201912%20Bak.htm

(a) TÜRK. Fahri : Die deutsche Rüstungsindustrie in ihren Türkeigeschäften zwischen 1871 und 1914. Die Firma Krupp, die Waffenfabrik Mauser und die Deutschen Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken. Ein Beitrag zu deutsch-türkischen Beziehungen. Frankfurt am Main : Peter Lang 2007, p. 166.

(b) JINDRA. Zdenek : Die Rolle des Krupp-Konzerns bei der wirtschaftlichen Vorbereitung des Erstern Weltrkriege. Jahrbuch für Wirtschafts-geschichte 1976/1, pp. 155.

(c) GENELKURMAY HARP TARH BAKANLII : Türk Silâlhi Kuvvetleri Tarihi III Cilt, 6 Kisim (1908-1920) Ankara : Basimevi 1971

Israel used the 75mm Krupp gun - we're getting far away from WW1 but the gun was still going.....

The state of Israel was created by the UN in 1948 - the new state immediately was at war with the surrounding Arab states. A priority was to acquire any weaponry which

would allow the Israeli Army to hold off the Arab armies. Israel acquired 50 75mm Krupp guns with 80,000 rounds. It isn't entirely clear where the guns came from

but there is a reasonable case that Switzerland sold some of their remaining 75mm Krupp guns.  The trails of the guns appear to have been modified compared to the

original gun - the rear of the trail was widened without the sheet metal on the the top and bottom of the trail. This modification may have allowed a small increase in

maximum elevation.

The Israeli guns were modified for vehicle towing by replacing the wooden wheels with rubber tired wheels from 25 Pounder guns. The smaller diameter wheels required 

mounting arms to be welded onto the original axles to maintain the same contact point. the Krupp guns served throughout the 1948 War of Independence and eventually

were used for training in the 1950s. A number of the Krupp guns have been preserved as monuments throughout Israel.

The Israelis acquired de-milled M4 Sherman tanks from dumps in Italy. In 1949, 6 of these tanks were armed with 75mm Krupp guns. However, there were difficulties

in adapting the gun sights and the conversion wasn't very successful. 

The image of the breech markings is from a fairly battered survivor at the Yad Mordecai Museum - thanks to Ilan, the curator, for the images.

Regards,

Charlie

Continuing the Swedish improvements to the 75mm Krupp gun - 108 Krupp M02s were converted in 1933 to the Bofors M 02/33.

"The 7,5cm Kanon m/02-33 was a decent improvement of the old 7,5cm Kanon m/02. On a completely new lavette (some sources seem to indicate that this was the same lavette as the 7,5cm Kanon m/40) the elevation was improved to 43° and the traverse to 50°. The increased elevation allowed for the range to increase to 10 000 meters. Some of the guns (no source I have indicate how many) had rubber rim steel wheels instead of the old spoked wood wheels, to make them suitable for high-speed motor towing. The new lavette made the gun heavy though, almost too heavy for the standard horse set used by the Swedish artillery to move their guns."

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=164193

Barrel - L/27

Projectile weight - 6.6 kg

Muzzle Velocity: 496 m/s

Max elevation: 43°
Range: 10 000 m
Traverse: 50°
Gun weight in action: 1 400 kg

A very similar carriage was used on the later 75mm Bofors M 40 gun.

-- Edited by CharlieC on Thursday 25th of October 2012 02:04:34 PM

-- Edited by CharlieC on Thursday 25th of October 2012 02:05:10 PM

In 1902 Denmark ordered 128 M1902 75mm Krupp guns. These remained in service until WW2, in 1937 8 of 11 field artillery battalions were equipped with the Krupp gun (96 guns).

The only modification which seems to have been made to these guns was adding a rubber tire to the wooden wheels to make the gun more suitable for vehicle towing.

Regards,

Charlie

China was also a 75mm Krupp user - found this by Google search.

"China seems to have acquired several batteries of these guns prior to the 1911 Revolution. Chinese guns seem to have been designated the M-1903/06 field gun. It has been reported in Early 1900s Chinese Ammunition Manufacture that direct copies of these field guns were produced at both the Hanyang Arsenal and Jiang Nan Manufacturing Bureau in Shanghai as the L/29 field gun.

*75mm: Italian Cannone da 75/27 modello 1906. China is reported to have acquired an unknown quantity of these field guns after the First World War to supplement their standard Krupp M-1903/06 field guns. The Cannone da 75/27 was an Italian licensed copy of the original Krupp commercial design built by Ansaldo and Armstrong Pozzuoli. The origin of the Chinese guns is unclear, but some of them may have been acquired as surplus from Poland as well as from Italy directly.

75mm: Japanese Type 38 and Type 38 Improved (Model of 1905) field guns. This was a Japanese licensed production version of the Krupp commercial field gun listed above, and was the most important Japanese field gun until the appearance of the Schneider designed Type 90 (Model of 1930) field gun during the early 1930s. Many of these weapons were captured during the Sino-Japanese War and employed against their former owners or were subsequently acquired from abandoned stocks after 1945 and used during the Civil War."

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=101&t=162448 

Regards,

Charlie

I think that an article collegcting all the infos available about 75mm export guns would be very usefull. If anybody wants to try to make it, he can use all the material I posted without any problem. I have data also for Chile and Japan and, maybe, for other lesser countries (China?, I should check). I'll add them as soon as possible.

BTW. I could try to do the same thing about 75mm Krupp mountain guns.

Best,

Marco

This is interesting - a couple of images from the Vickers image archive. The gun is a 75mm Krupp M05+ - slide breech, etc.

I haven't seen the traversing platform before - anyone know if it was ever used. A similar design was standard on the British WW2 25 Pounder.

Regards,

Charlie

The pictures of the "Matorras" Krupp were taken on the Museo de Armas de la Nación, a place worth a long visit if anyone visits Buenos Aires. There are lots of WW1 related weapons, and of course, of other periods as well. It's one of the greatest small museums that remains vrtually unknown except for the enthusiasts.

AFIK Bulgaria was a secondary user of 75mm Krupp field guns.

In 1912-13 the Bulgarian Army captured 144 field Krupp guns during the Balkan War.

After the war they were introduced into the Army. It seems that in 1914 106 - 75mm Krupp ex-Turkish field guns of various patterns were available, but before the entry of Bulgaria in WW1 (October 1915) some other guns had been repaired and sent to the troops.

In 1915 Bulgaria bought 18 - 75mm "Brazilian" guns.

Deatails at: www.bulgarianartillery.it

Great start on the 75mm Krupp gun.

We've only got Sweden, Switzerland, Rumania, Belgium, Italy, Japan, Bulgaria, Brazil and the secondary users like Israel and Peru to go.

Regards,

Charlie