Škoda 75 mm Model 15

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 613 kg and could be broken down for transport into seven loads, the heaviest one weighing over 150 kg; 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 6.35 kg shell up to 8250 m despite the short barrel. Ammunition types included high-explosive (HE), shrapnel, HE Shrapnel, and reportedly gas shells. According to Cappellano, the Škoda M15 proved to be superior over the lighter Cannone da 65/17 modello 13 used by the Italians.

History

Its development was quite prolonged, as the Austrians couldn't decide on the specifications that they wanted. Initially, they wanted a gun that could be broken down into no more than five pack-animal loads to replace the various 7 cm mountain guns in service, but prolonged trials proved that the 7.5 cm M. 12 prototype to be the best gun. However, the commander-in-chief of Bosnia and Herzegovina believed it to be too heavy and demanded a return to the 7 cm caliber to save weight. Škoda dutifully built enough guns for a test battery in the smaller caliber and tested them during the spring of 1914 where they were judged inferior to the 7.5 cm guns. This cost the Austrians heavily as the 7.5 cm guns began to be delivered in April 1915 instead of the planned date of April 1914.

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-batallions 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.

Variants

• Škoda 75 mm Model 15 − Original model
• Škoda 75 mm Model 1928 − Improved export model for Yugoslavia, it could be fitted with either a 75 mm or 90 mm barrel, but only the former saw any use. During WWII, the Germans gave the captured guns the designations 7.5 cm GebK 28 (in Einheitslafette mit 9 cm GebH) and 7.5 cm GebK 285(j) and passed them to the Independent State of Croatia. Colombia also purchased some M28s and after the war replaced them with surplus M116 howitzers

Users

• Austria-Hungary
• First Austrian Republic
• Kingdom of Bulgaria
• Colombia − M28, replaced by the M116 howitzer
• Independent State of Croatia
• Czechoslovakia
• German Empire
• Nazi Germany − Designated as 7.5 cm GebK 15
• Kingdom of Hungary
• Kingdom of Italy − Designated as Obice da 75/13
• Second Polish Republic
• Kingdom of Romania
• Slovak Republic (1939–1945)
• Turkey
• Kingdom of Yugoslavia − M15 and M28

Surviving examples

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

• {{cite encyclopedia |last=Cappelano |first=Filippo |title=Italian Artillery during the First World War: Its structural, Organic, Tactical and Material Evolution |encyclopedia=King of Battle: Artillery in World War I |editor1-last=Marble |editor1-first=Sanders | access-date =}}
• 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

References

1. "75-77 MM CALIBRE CARTRIDGES".
2. "Skoda 75mm 1915_Gb".
3. (5 June 2023). "Obice da 75/13 or Skoda 75 mm Model 15 – Italian Mountain Howitzer".
4. "Skoda 7.5cm Gebirgskanone M.15".
5. Ortner, pp. 332–335
6. "ztráty slovenské armády v letech 1939 - 1944 – Druhá světová válka – druhasvetova.com".