The Škoda 7.5 cm Gebirgskanone M. 15 (; ) was a mountain gun used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. In German service, it was known as the 7,5cm Škoda Geb. K. M. 15. The Italians designated them as the Obice da 75/13 and the Wehrmacht would designate captured guns as 7.5 cm GebK 259(i) after the surrender of Italy in 1943.

Description

The M15 is described by Gander and Cappellano as a howitzer, capable of delivering high-trajectory fire, which made it useful for mountain warfare. It was also lightweight, weighing and could be broken down for transport into seven loads, the heaviest one weighing over ; while the disassembled gun could be manhandled, the Germans during WWII made use of teams of mules instead. A folding gun shield could also be fitted.

The gun could fire a shell up to despite the short barrel. Ammunition types included high-explosive (HE), shrapnel, HE Shrapnel, and reportedly gas shells.

thumb|left|German anti-tank gunners and supporting infantry, October 1918

A standard Austro-Hungarian Gebirgs-Artillerie-Regimenter, which was used to beef up Field Artillery Regiments in some Corps, would be equipped with 36 Škoda M15s on paper, though in reality the number of guns and batteries varied quite a bit. Part of this reason was due to the slow production and dispersement of the guns and parts. 76 artillery pieces were delivered in the first half of 1915, with 250-252 barreled assemblies & 248 carriages delivered in the second half of that same year. The German Army used the Škoda as a substitute for the 7.62 cm Infanteriegeschütz L/16.5 in the infantry support role with 14 Infanteriegeschütz-battalions equipped with these guns but using more powerful HE grenades than those used by the Austro-Hungarians. While the Austro-Hungarians were generally well pleased with the Škoda, the Germans tended to use the gun in situations it wasn't designed for such as a mobile close support weapon. The M15 was designed to be disassembled for transport but the Germans often towed them on long marches as-is, so that the main parts had a tendency to become lose or disconnected after traveling on bumpy terrain. This was mainly because there wasn't a large need for disassembly on the Western Front as there were in other areas such as the Italian Front.

  • − M15 and M28

Surviving examples

thumb|War memorial in [[Tuamarina Cemetery, New Zealand]]

Serial number 1399 (manufactured 1917) is displayed in Bundaberg, Queensland, having been gifted to that city as a war trophy, in 1921, by the Australian Government.

Another, also repatriated in the 1920s, serves as a memorial to the men and women of the armed forces in Tuamarina Cemetery, Marlborough, New Zealand.

References

Bibliography

  • Englemann, Joachim and Scheibert, Horst. Deutsche Artillerie 1934-1945: Eine Dokumentation in Text, Skizzen und Bildern: Ausrüstung, Gliderung, Ausbildung, Führung, Einsatz. Limburg/Lahn, Germany: C. A. Starke, 1974
  • Gander, Terry and Chamberlain, Peter. Weapons of the Third Reich: An Encyclopedic Survey of All Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the German Land Forces 1939-1945. New York: Doubleday, 1979
  • Hogg, Ian. Twentieth-Century Artillery. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2000
  • Jäger, Herbert. German Artillery of World War One. Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire: Crowood Press, 2001
  • Ortner, M. Christian. The Austro-Hungarian Artillery From 1867 to 1918: Technology, Organization, and Tactics. Vienna, Verlag Militaria, 2007