10.5 cm leFH 16 Geschützwagen Mk VI 736 (e)

German self-propelled artillery piece February 2018 10.5cm leFH 16 Geschützwagen Mk VI 736 (e) 300 10.5cm leFH 16 Geschützwagen Mk VI 736 (e) Germany Self-propelled artillery yes yes yes 19401942 Nazi Germany World War II Alfred Becker 1940 12 8,200 kg lb on 5.38 m ftin on 2.0 m ftin on 2.26 m ftin on 4 414 mm 10.5 cm leFH 16 MG 34 Meadows 6-cylinder petrol 88 hp Wilson pre-selector gearbox 30 impgal 16.9 hp/ton (Mark VIB and VIC)Duncan Horstmann inclined springs 10 inches 130 mi kmTucker 2004 243 35 mph (25 mph off road)Tucker 2004 243 The 10.5 cm leFH 16 Geschützwagen Mk VI 736 (e) was a German self-propelled artillery piece. It was created by mounting the German 10.5 cm leFH 16 field howitzer onto the chassis of the British Light Tank Mk VI. The vehicle was created by engineer Alfred Becker, who was battery chief of the 12th Battery in the 15th Artillery Regiment, 227th Infantry Division. Becker found abandoned vehicles while his unit was performing coastal protection duties in France. He made use of his artillery crews to build this vehicle and a number of others to motorize his battery. Becker's unit operated the first purpose-built self-propelled artillery of the war. A previous rough-and-ready conversion, the 15 cm sIG 33 (Sf) auf Panzerkampfwagen I Ausf B, had merely put a sIG 33 inside a superstructure, complete with wheeled carriage. Construction Following the German victory in France in July 1940, the 227th Infantry Division was assigned occupation, security, and coastal defense duties along the Normandy coast near Le Havre.Mitcham 2007 279 There, Becker came across British armored vehicles that had been left behind. A mechanical engineer in civilian life, Becker considered the benefits that could be derived in mobility from mounting his artillery guns directly onto the chassis of the abandoned tanks. Becker's unit had been drawn from the Krefeld area.Spielberger 1992 211 Krefeld was a manufacturing town, and many of the men who had been called up along with Becker were skilled workers in the iron processing industry.Spielberger 1992 242 Recruiting the men of his battery and working by shift day and night, he set about his project.Spielberger 1992 212 The light but reliable British Mark VI Light Tank was selected by Becker for the chassis to mount the 10.5 cm howitzer on.Spielberger 1992 242Doyle 2019 457 The Mk VI's design made it suitable for use as artillery self-propelled guns, since the engine, transmission, steering assembly and drive wheels were all grouped together in the front of the chassis, leaving the rear of the vehicle available for the gun and the crew.Spielberger 1992 242-243 The superstructure and turret of the tank was removed. He then mounted the 10.5 cm leFH 16 howitzer just aft of the midpoint of the chassis. The location of the gun's mounting allowed the crew the room they needed to work the gun, and the commander was provided a better field of vision. To protect the crew, a metal housing was erected around the rear of the vehicle. Having worked at Deutsche Edelstahlwerke in Krefeld before the war, Becker was able to have them produce the plates he needed to form the shielding for the crew. He measured out the dimensions needed and had the plates manufactured and then shipped out to France.Spielberger 1992 244 The steel plating ranged in thickness from 11 to 22 mm in on The armour was too light to stop heavy shells or armour piercing rounds, but served to protect the crew from small arms fire and shrapnel fragments.Moore 2019 The crew compartment was small. The commander was positioned at the rear of the vehicle on the left. He had access to a range finding periscope which was mounted to the side of the vehicle. The gunner was directly in front of the commander. A gun sight extended above the shielding in front of him. The loader was on the right, and he had access to a tray of rounds stored behind the breech. In front of the loader sat the driver.Moore 2019 The vehicle was open topped. A machine gun could be mounted to the front of the shielding on the right. Though not intended for close combat, the crew had access to their personal weapons as well, which they could fire over the top of the fighting compartment if need be. A tarpaulin could be fitted to the top to give the crew some protection from the weather.Spielberger 1992 244 To provide stability when firing the relatively heavy gun from a rather light chassis, Becker used a lowered rear spur at rear to absorb the considerable recoil force. This recoil brake was made of a square steel frame reinforced with two cross bars. At the bottom were a pair of V-shaped "spades" which dug into the ground when firing.Spielberger 1992 244 The 10.5 cm leFH 16 main gun was a howitzer that had been first used by the German Army in World War I.leFH stands for the German words leichte FeldHaubitze (" light field howitzer") while 16 refers to the year of its development, 1916 Its maximum firing range was 9,225 m yd on, with a muzzle velocity of 395 m/s ft/s. The high explosive round was two-part; the high explosive shell would be loaded first followed by the cartridge propellant case. Depending on the range of the target, different sized bags of propellant were inserted into the cartridge.Moore 2019 Though an armour piercing round could be provided to the guns, the relatively low muzzle velocity gave it poor penetrative power. Used for direct-fire against armored vehicles, it could penetrate as much as 52 mm of armor plate at a range of 500 meters.Moore 2019 Over a six-month period Becker's unit succeeded in creating a complete battery, mobilizing twelve of the battalion's 10.5 cm leFH 16 howitzers. He also built six other vehicles mounting the larger 15 cm sFH 13 heavy guns, twelve munitions carrying versions of the Mk.VI, several munitions carrying versions of the Bren gun carrier and four armoured command tank versions of the Mk. VI.Spielberger 1992 249 Though awkward, the vehicle designation 10.5 cm LeFH 16 auf Geschützwagen Mk.VI(e) is descriptive. 10.5 cm LeFH 16 is the name of the gun mounted. auf Geschützwagen translates to 'on gun car'. Mk.VI refers to the Mk VI that is the chassis, and the letter 'e' for englisch that the vehicle was originally British manufacture. Some early images of the vehicles show the letters Gp followed by a number on the left side of the armor plate of the vehicle. Gp is an abbreviation for Geschützpanzer which translates as "gun tank" or "self-propelled gun", and the number indicates which one of those vehicles it is.December 2021 Operational history The battery's initial test firing was done at the range at Harfleur near Le Havre, France.Spielberger 1992 212 The complete battery was tested at the training grounds at Beverloo, Belgium.Spielberger 1992 212Restayn 2011 The vehicles saw their first use in combat when the 227th Infantry Division was transferred to Army Group North. In September 1941 the division was given orders to transfer from France to the east, and arrived there by rail later that autumn.Kirchubel 2005 165 The division took up positions in the forests south of Lake Ladoga as the German forces took up a defensive posture. The 227th was the only division on the Eastern Front to have a motorized artillery battery.Spielberger 1992 212 When the 254th Infantry Division was under pressure and required extra artillery support, the 12th battery was temporarily transferred there. The fact that the battery could be moved easily and quickly made Becker's battery soon recognized as a ready, mobile force whose firepower could be quickly brought to bear. The battery was used to provide support to a variety of units through the next two months, however, when called upon to provide direct fire support for an infantry attack the battery suffered its first casualties. Four men, including Captain Becker, were wounded; their vehicles were small and lacked the heavy armour of an assault vehicle.Moore 2019 On 11 November 1941 a platoon of the battery was engaged with Soviet T-40 light tanks of the 2nd Tank Brigade. These light tanks mounted machine guns, but no heavy gun. A German battle report noted one of the self-propelled guns was hit 16 times, but its armor plate was not penetrated.Moore 2019 The battery was again ordered to operate as assault guns on 15 November to support an attack of the 223rd Infantry Division. One of the vehicles was heavily damaged after running over a mine and three men were killed. The vehicle had to be left behind, but was recovered three days later.Moore 2019 The battery continued to conduct artillery fire support missions over the winter and spring of 1942. The battery's division, the 227th Infantry Division, continued to be engaged in fighting south of Lake Ladoga around the village of Pogost'ye.Moore 2019 On 16 February 1942 the battery encountered KV-1 heavy tanks of the 124th tank battalion of the Soviet 54th Army. The 10.5 cm armour piercing ammunition used by the German gun crews was unable to knock out the KV-1s, and three of the de 10.5 cm LeFH 16 auf Geschützwagen Mk.VI(e) self-propelled guns were destroyed.Moore 2019 In March 1942 three vehicles provided close support for troops moving along roads near Pogostyle. Over the next several months the self-propelled guns were gradually lost, most often by mine damage, but one was destroyed by direct fire from a tank of the 98th Tank Brigade.Moore 2019 In August 1942 the OKH requested one of the Becker-designed vehicles be withdrawn and shipped to Berlin. On 2 September 1942 Becker and one of his crews presented the vehicle to Adolf Hitler and officers of the Army Ordnance Office in the garden of the Reich Chancellery.Spielberger 1992 212 Following this meeting, Becker was withdrawn from the Eastern front and sent to France to build conversions using other captured or damaged vehicles.Daglish 2013 115 Further development Becker had built the first German battery of purpose-built self-propelled artillery.Spielberger 1992 243 This marked the start of a development that led to the creation of a separate mobilized artillery branch in the German army. This had been envisioned by Heinz Guderian as a component of the panzer division, but, apart from the Sturmpanzer I, such vehicles had not been developed thus far due to limitations in material and the priority on tank production.Spielberger 1992 242 Subsequently, Germany produced self-propelled guns based on its own armored vehicle chassis, such as the de Wespe using the Panzer II light tank and the de Hummel based on the Panzer IV medium tank. The mobile artillery battery was a significant contribution to the further development of the panzer force.Spielberger 1992 212 For his work on mobilizing the artillery pieces Becker was awarded the German Cross in Gold.Spielberger 1992 212Restayn 2011 References Notes Citations 30em Bibliography Daglish Ian Operation Goodwood Barnsley Pen & Sword Military 2013 Doyle David The Complete Guide to German Armored Vehicles Skyhorse Publishing 2019 Duncan N W AFV Profile No. 5: Light Tanks Marks I-VI Kirchubel Robert Operation Barbarossa 1941. Vol 2, Army Group North Oxford Osprey 2005 Mitcham Samuel German Order of Battle Volume One: 1st thru 290th Infantry Divisions in WWII Mechanicsburg, PA Stackpole Books 2007 1985 978-0-8117-3416-5 Moore Craig German self-propelled artillery guns of the Second World War Stroud, United Kingdom Fonthill Media 2019 Restayn Jean Kommando Becker: "Recycling" von alliiertem Kriegsmaterial (Command Becker: "Recycling" of Allied war material) de Deutsche Militäzeitschrift 2 September 2011 Spielberger Walter J. Beute-Kraftfahrzeuge und Panzer der Deutschen Wehrmacht Captured Halftracks and Tanks of the German Military de Stuttgart Motorbuch Verlag 1992 1989 3-613-01255-3 Tucker Spencer Tanks: An Illustrated History of Their Impact ABC-CLIO 2004 1-57607-995-3 Further reading Glantz David The siege of Leningrad, 1941-1944: 900 days of terror. Zenith Imprint 2001 0-7603-0941-8 Patzwall Klaus D. Scherzer Veit 2001 Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II de Norderstedt, Germany Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall 978-3-931533-45-8 Scheibert Horst Panzerjäger (Tank destroyer) de Schiffer Publishing Atglen, PA 1998 Category:World War II self-propelled artillery of Germany Category:105 mm artillery Category:Military vehicles introduced from 1940 to 1944