The howitzer is an artillery weapon that falls between a cannon and a mortar. It is generally aimed lower than a mortar but higher than a cannon. With their long-range capabilities, howitzers can be used to great effect in a battery formation with other artillery pieces, such as long-barreled guns, mortars, and rocket artillery.
The Skoda 100 mm Model 1916 was a mountain howitzer used by Austria-Hungary during World War I, developed from the 10 cm M. 14 Feldhaubitze. The Turks used a 105 mm variant, the M.16(T). The Wehrmacht redesignated this as the 10 cm GebH 16 or 16(ö). Guns acquired from Italy, after 1943, were known as 10 cm GebH 316(i); those acquired from Czechoslovakia were 10 cm GebH 16(t). The Italians referred to weapons gained either through capture or reparations as the Obice da 100/17 modello 16. The gun could be broken into three sections, intended for towing by two animal carts. The gun crew was protected by a gun shield. The Italians used lighter shells than the Czechs, which accounts for the greater range and muzzle velocity of their guns.
The 10 cm M. 14 Feldhaubitze was a dual-purpose field and mountain gun used by Austria-Hungary during World War I, with variations of the 14 and improved 14/19 used by several countries afterwards, especially Italy. It was a conventional design, although the first versions used an obsolescent wrought bronze barrel liner and a cast bronze jacket. Later versions used a standard steel barrel.
The 22.5 cm Minenwerfer M 15 was a heavy mortar used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. It was developed by Böhler as an alternative to the German Ehrhardt 25 cm schwere Minenwerfer which Böhler was having problems building under license. It was a muzzle-loading, smooth-bore mortar that had no recoil system whatsoever. The entire mortar had to be levered around to aim at new targets. It was not particularly accurate and bombs often fell over in flight and landed on their sides so they used time instead of contact fuzes. It fired high-explosive and gas shells. For transport two wheels from the Gebirgsgechütz M 99 were used.
The 10 cm Feldhaubitze M 99 was a howitzer used by Austria-Hungary during World War I.
The 9 cm Feldkanone M 75/96 was a field gun used by Austria-Hungary during World War I, a modernized version of the M 75 field gun. Virtually all the M 76s were upgraded during 1898. For cost reasons the new gun retained the bronze barrel of the original, although it was actually redesigned to withstand the more powerful propellants coming into use. A touch hole lock was added to prevent accidental misfiring when the breech was open. A spring-mounted spade brake reduced recoil from 5–6 metres to 80 centimetres, although it only worked if the spade was buried in the ground. A depression lever was added to elevate the carriage's trail to allow the gun greater depression in mountainous areas. Many guns had shields added after the outbreak of World War I.
The 15 cm Autokanone M. 15/16 was a heavy field gun used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. Guns turned over to Italy as reparations after World War I were taken into Italian service as the Cannone da 152/37. Austrian and Czech guns were taken into Wehrmacht service after the Anschluss and the occupation of Czechoslovakia as the 15.2 cm K 15/16(t). Italian guns captured after the surrender of Italy in 1943 were known by the Wehrmacht as the 15.2 cm K 410(i). Due to their unique ammunition, the Germans did not use them that much, and generally served on coast-defense duties during World War II.
The 9 cm Minenwerfer M 14 was a light mortar used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. Originally named the '1-kg Minenwerfer', it was designed by the Army's own Technisches und Administratives Militär-Komitee (TMK) in an effort to quickly satisfy the demand from the front for a light mortar.
The Mortaio da 210/8 was a siege howitzer which served with Italy during World War I and World War II.
The 38 cm Belagerungshaubitze M 16 was a super-heavy siege howitzer used by Austria-Hungary during World War I.
The 42 cm L/15 Küstenhaubitze M. 14 was a superheavy siege howitzer used by Austria-Hungary during World War I and by Nazi Germany during World War II.
The 24 cm Kanone M. 16 was a super-heavy siege gun used by Austria-Hungary during World War I and by Nazi Germany during World War II. Only two were finished during World War I, but the other six were completed in the early twenties and served with the Czechoslovak Army until they were bought by the Germans after the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938. During World War I, one gun served on the Western Front and the other on the Italian Front. During World War II, they saw action in the Battle of France, Operation Barbarossa and the siege of Leningrad.
The 10 cm Gebirgshaubitze M 99 was a mountain howitzer used by Austria-Hungary during World War I.
The 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze M 94 was a heavy howitzer used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. It had a bronze barrel and relied on wheel ramps to absorb its recoil. The barrel was modified in 1899 as the M 99 and can be identified by its octagonal shape. Both howitzers could be mounted on a wide variety of carriages to suit their mission, including a carriage only 1.13 metres (44 in) wide for mountain use. Around the start of the 20th century both the M 94 and M 99 were modified to increase their elevation up to 65°. The elevation arc had to be extended and the trunnion mounts and wheels had to be strengthened to withstand the greater recoil forces when firing at high elevation. They were known as the M 94/4 and the M 99/4 after modification.
The 15 cm Mörser M 80 was a heavy howitzer used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. While mostly obsolete by the time the war broke out, it did prove useful on the Italian Front where it's high angle fire came in useful.
The 10.5 cm Gebirgshaubitze 40 was a 10.5 cm (4.1 in) German mountain howitzer used during World War II. A total of 420 were built during World War II. It saw action with German mountain divisions in Finland, Italy, France, on the Eastern Front and in the Balkans from 1942. It served with a number of European countries into the 1960s.
The Obusier de 120 mm modèle 1915 Tir Rapide or quick loading 120 mm Howitzer Model 1915 was a French howitzer designed and built by the Schneider company and used by a number of nations during the First World War.
The 7 cm Gebirgsgeschütz M 75 was a bronze-steel mountain gun used by Austria-Hungary during World War I. Despite its 7 cm designation it actually fired a 66 mm (2.6 in) projectile. The Austro-Hungarian Army rounded up to the nearest centimeter for their designations. The gun had an early form of Krupp horizontal sliding-block breech and it fired separate-loading, bagged charges and projectiles. Due to its low profile, its breech could recoil into the ground so its angle of elevation was restricted which was a significant handicap for a mountain gun which needed high angles of elevation. For transport, the Gebirgsgeschütz M 75 could be broken down into two loads.
The 21 cm Versuchmörser 06 was an experimental German howitzer which served in limited numbers during World War I.
The Peigné-Canet-Schneider mle 1897 gun carriage was a railway gun carriage designed and built during the late 1800s. Two types of guns were mounted on these carriages and both the French Army and US Army used them during World War I. They were retired soon after World War I.
