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 Kliment Voroshilov tanks are a series of Soviet heavy tanks named after the Soviet defence commissar and politician Kliment Voroshilov who operated with the Red Army during World War II. The KV tanks were known for their heavy armour protection during the early stages of the war, especially during the first year of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. In certain situations, even a single KV-1 or KV-2 supported by infantry could halt German formations. The German Wehrmacht at that time rarely deployed its tanks against KVs, as their own armament was too poor to deal with the "Russischer Koloss" – "Russian Colossus".
The Škoda Works was one of the largest European industrial conglomerates of the 20th century. In 1859, Czech engineer Emil Škoda bought a foundry and machine factory in Plzeň, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary that had been established ten years previously, founding Škoda Works. By World War I, Škoda Works had become the largest arms manufacturer in Austria-Hungary, supplying the Austro-Hungarian army with mountain guns, mortars and machine guns, including the Škoda M1909, and the ships of the Austro-Hungarian navy with heavy guns. After the end of the war and the creation of the First Czechoslovak Republic, the company, previously focused on manufacturing of armaments, diversified and became a major manufacturer of locomotives, aircraft, ships, machine tools, steam turbines, equipment for power utilities, among other industrial products.
The formal definition of large-calibre artillery used by the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms (UNROCA) is "guns, howitzers, artillery pieces, combining the characteristics of a gun, howitzer, mortar, or rocket, capable of engaging surface targets by delivering primarily indirect fire, with a calibre of 76.2 mm (3.00 in) and above". This definition, shared by the Arms Trade Treaty and the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, is updated from an earlier definition in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 46/36L, which set a threshold of 100 mm (3.9 in). Several grammatical changes were made to that latter in 1992 and the threshold was lowered in 2003 to yield the current definition, as endorsed by UN General Assembly Resolution 58/54.
The Škoda 30.5 cm Mörser M.11 is a siege howitzer produced by Škoda Works and used by the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I and by Nazi Germany in World War II.
203 mm howitzer M1931 (B-4) was a 203 mm (8 inch) Soviet high-power heavy howitzer. During the Second World War, it was under the command of the Stavka's strategic reserve. It was nicknamed "Stalin's sledgehammer" by German soldiers. These guns were used with success against Finnish pillboxes at the Mannerheim Line, heavy German fortifications and in urban combat for destroying protected buildings and bunkers. These guns were used until the end of the war in the Battle of Berlin, during which the Red Army used them to smash German fortifications at point blank range with their heavy 203mm shells. In the spring of 1944, a KV-1S tank chassis was used to create a self-propelled variant, the S-51. The heavy recoil from the muzzle blast threw the crew off their seats and damaged the transmission, and so it was cancelled.
The six Leningrad-class destroyer leaders were built for the Soviet Navy in the late 1930s. They were inspired by the contre-torpilleurs built for the French Navy. They were ordered in two batches of three ships each; the first group was designated Project 1 and the second Project 38. These ships were the first large vessels designed and built by the Soviets after the October Revolution of 1917.
152 mm gun M1935 (Br-2) was a Soviet 152.4 mm heavy gun, produced in limited numbers by the Barrikady Plant in Stalingrad in the late 1930s. The most unusual feature of the gun was its tracked carriage, shared by a number of Soviet heavy artillery systems of the interwar period. Despite a number of drawbacks, most notably limited mobility and short service life of the barrel, the weapon was employed throughout the German-Soviet War; an upgraded variant with wheeled carriage, Br-2M, remained in service at least until the 1970s.
The 210 mm gun M1939 (Br-17) was a Czechoslovak heavy siege gun used by the Soviet Union during World War II. After the Germans occupied Czechoslovakia in March 1939 they took over the Škoda Works, which had been working on this design and a companion 305 mm howitzer. As a result of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact the Germans sold both designs to the Soviet Union. It is not entirely clear that Škoda actually built the weapons itself or merely supplied the blueprints.
The 24 cm houfnice vz.39 was a Czechoslovak-designed siege howitzer used in the Second World War. It was kept in production after the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 and eighteen were delivered to the Germans. It was only used by the Army's Artillery Regiment 814 and entered service shortly before the Battle of France in 1940. The regiment participated in Operation Barbarossa and in the Sieges of Sevastopol and Leningrad.
The Mortaio da 210/8 was a siege howitzer which served with Italy during World War I and World War II.
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 21 cm Mörser M. 16 was a heavy howitzer used by Austria-Hungary during World War I. Škoda Works began design in 1915 for a wheeled howitzer that could be towed in a single load by a tractor. The first prototype wasn't satisfactory as it was too heavy and traversing was difficult due to the very high limber bar pressure. A second howitzer was delivered in mid-1917 that broke down into two loads for transport. This, at least, cured the traversing problem of the first weapon, as reported by the test battery assigned to the 11th Army. In the meantime, however, a third prototype had been ordered as the M. 18 with a carriage based on that of the Škoda 305 mm Model 1911 that would allow for full traverse at the price of more time needed to emplace the firing platform. It broke down into three loads for transport. No M. 18s were delivered by the end of the war, although Skoda built some modified versions as the M. 18/19 for the newly independent Czechoslovakia where they were known as the 21 cm Moždíř vz. 18. After the Occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939 the Germans adopted them under the names of 21 cm Mörser 18/19(t) or kurze 21 cm Mörser(t) and used at least 15 on coast-defense duties in Norway.
The Obusier de 520 modèle 1916 was a French railway howitzer that was built during World War I, but did not see service before the war ended. One weapon was destroyed in firing trials and the other was captured by the Germans after France surrendered in 1940 and used by them in the siege of Leningrad. Both weapons were destroyed by premature detonations of shells in their barrels.
The 35.5 cm Haubitze M1 was a German siege howitzer. It was developed by Rheinmetall before World War II to meet the German Army's request for a super-heavy howitzer. Eight were produced between 1939 and 1944. It saw service in the Battle of France and spent the rest of the war on the Eastern Front, saw action in Operation Barbarossa, the siege of Sevastopol, the siege of Leningrad and helped to put down the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.
The 280 mm mortar M1939 (Br-5) was a Soviet heavy artillery piece used during World War II, it was the Red Army's heaviest field piece during the war.
Georgy Sergeev was a Soviet designer of artillery and rocket systems, Hero of Socialist Labor.
The Škoda 220 mm howitzer was a siege howitzer design which served with Germany, Poland, and Yugoslavia before and during World War II.
The Obusier de 400 Modèle 1915/1916 were French railway howitzers that saw action during the First World War and World War II. The mle 1915/1916 was the largest caliber railway howitzers in service with the French Army during the First World War.
Soviet Union 
