Canon de 105 court mle 1935 B

Canon de 105 court mle 1935 B
In the Draguignan artillery museum
Type	howitzer
Place of origin	France
Service history
In service	1936-1945
Used by	France  Nazi Germany
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designer	State Arsenal at Bourges
Manufacturer	Bourges
Produced	1936-1939
Specifications
Weight	1,627 kg (3,587 lb)
Barrel length	1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) L/16.7
Caliber	105 mm (4.13 in)
Carriage	split trail
Elevation	-6° to 50°
Traverse	58°
Rate of fire	5 rpm
Muzzle velocity	442 m/s (1,450 ft/s)
Maximum firing range	10,300 m (11,300 yd)

The Canon de 105 court modèle 1935 B was a French howitzer used in World War II. It was designed by the State Arsenal at Bourges to replace the Canon de 105 court mle 1934 Schneider. Some 610 were originally ordered, although production was terminated in 1939 in favor of anti-tank guns. Only some 232 were in service when the German attacked in May 1940. Captured weapons were used by the German Heer as the 10.5 cm leFH 325(f) and assigned to training and second-line occupation units.^[1]

Design

Its most interesting feature was that the wheels, which were pressed steel with either solid rims or pneumatic tires, moved with the trail legs and "toed-in" when the gun was in action to provide more cover for the crew.

References

• Bishop, Chris, ed. Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II. New York, Barnes and Noble, 1998 ISBN 0-7607-1022-8
• 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 ISBN 0-385-15090-3

Notes

1. Bishop, p. 138