10.5 cm Feldhaubitze 98/09
|10.5 cm Feldhaubitze 98/09|
|Place of origin||German Empire|
|Used by|| German Empire
|Wars||World War I|
|Weight||1,145 kg (2,519 lbs)|
|Barrel length||1.625 m (5 ft 4 in) L/15.5|
|Width||1.53 m (5 ft)|
|Shell||separate loading, fixed case|
|Caliber||105 mm (4.13 in)|
|Breech||horizontal sliding block|
|Elevation||-13° to +40°|
|Muzzle velocity||302 m/s (990 ft/s)|
|Maximum firing range||6,300 m (6,890 yds)|
The 10.5 cm Feldhaubitze 98/09 (10.5 cm FH 98/09), a short barreled (1625 mm) 105mm howitzer, also referred to as the 10.5 cm leichte Feldhaubitze (light field howitzer) 98/09, was used by Germany in World War I and after. It had a maximum range of 6,300 metres (20,700 ft).
It was originally built by Rheinmetall as the 10.5 cm Feldhaubitze 98, an old-fashioned, fixed-recoil weapon delivered to the German army in 1898; between 1902 and 1904, it was redesigned, by Krupp, with a new recoil mechanism and a new carriage. However, it wasn't accepted for service until 1909, hence the ending designation 98/09. Existing weapons were rebuilt to the new standard. As usual, two seats were attached to the gun shield. There were 1,260 in service at the beginning of World War I.
The 10.5 cm used three different types of ammunition and the aiming instruments were marked with three different meter scales and a dial sight for both direct and indirect fire. Originally, it used 7 charges of propellant, but this was increased during the war to 8 in an effort to extend its range.
- Feldhaubitz granate 98: A 15.8 kilogram (35 lb) high-explosive shell.
- Feldhaubitz granate 05: A 15.7 kilogram (35 lb) high-explosive shell.
- Feldhaubitz schrapnel 98: A 12.8 kilogram (28 lb) shrapnel shell.
Weapons of comparable role, performance and era
- QF 4.5-inch howitzer British equivalent
- Jäger, Herbert. German Artillery of World War One. Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire: Crowood Press, 2001 ISBN 1-86126-403-8
- 10.5 cm LIGHT FIELD HOWITZER MODEL 98/09- Retrieved 2012-02-29. Archived 2012-03-06.
- Transformation of the 10.5 cm Feldhaubitze 98/09- Retrieved 2012-02-29. Archived 2012-03-06.
- Jäger, p. 28
- Ammunition- Retrieved 2012-02-29
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