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A howitzer is a type of artillery piece that is characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small explosive charges to propel projectiles at trajectories with a steep angle of descent. In the taxonomies of artillery pieces used by European (and European-style) armies in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, the howitzer stood between the "gun" (which was characterized by a longer barrel, larger propelling charges, smaller shells, higher velocities and flatter trajectories) and a "mortar" (which has the ability to fire projectiles at even higher angles of ascent and descent). 12 pounder mountain howitzer on display at Fort Laramie in eastern Wyoming (taken Oct. ...
12 pounder mountain howitzer on display at Fort Laramie in eastern Wyoming (taken Oct. ...
The National Park Service (NPS) is the United States federal agency that manages all National Parks, many National Monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. ...
Grounds of Fort Laramie Fort Laramie, located in present-day Goshen County, Wyoming in the United States, was a significant 19th century trading post and later a military outpost of the United States Army. ...
Official language(s) English Capital Cheyenne Largest city Cheyenne Area Ranked 10th - Total 97,818 sq mi (253,348 km²) - Width 280 miles (450 km) - Length 360 miles (580 km) - % water 0. ...
Motto: (traditional) In God We Trust (official, 1956–present) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City Official language(s) None at the federal level; English de facto Government Federal Republic - President George W. Bush (R) - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence - Declared - Recognized...
For other uses, see Artillery (disambiguation). ...
The barrel of a firearm is the tube, usually metal, through which a controlled explosion is released in order to propel a projectile out of the end at great speed. ...
US soldier loading a M224 60-mm mortar. ...
Etymology
 15-inch howitzer of the Royal Marine Artillery The English word howitzer derives from the German word Haufen (heap) which as Gewalthaufen designated a pike square formation. Already in the Battle of Tannenberg (1410), the Teutonic Knights used artillery[1] which was intended to break up enemy formations, Czechs among them. During the Hussite Wars of the 1420s and 1430s, the Czechs used short barreled "houfnice"[2] cannons to fire at short distances into such crowds of Haufen infantry ("houf" came in use as the Czech word for crowd[3]), or, to make horses skittish, into charging heavy cavalry.[4] From the aufeniz mentioned in 1440 derive the German Haussnitz and later Haubitze, the Swedish haubits, Italian obice, and the Dutch word houwitser which led to the English word howitzer . Image File history File linksMetadata 15in_howitzer_Menin_Rd_5_October_1917. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata 15in_howitzer_Menin_Rd_5_October_1917. ...
Heap may refer to: Look up heap in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
The Pike Square (German: , meaning crowd of force) was a military tactic developed by the Swiss Confederacy during the 15th century for use by its infantry. ...
For the 1914 battle at the same location, refer to Battle of Tannenberg (1914) Battle of Grunwald Conflict 1409-1411 war Date July 15, 1410 Place Grunwald/Tannenberg Result Decisive Polish and Lithuanian victory The Battle of Grunwald took place on July 15, 1410 between the Kingdom of Poland and...
For the state, see Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights. ...
Crusades First – Peoples – German – 1101 – Second – Third – Fourth – Albigensian – Childrens – Fifth – Sixth – Seventh – Shepherds – Eighth – Ninth – Aragonese – Alexandrian – Nicopolis – Northern – Hussite – Varna – Otranto Hussite Wars Nekmer - SudomÄ•Å™ – VÃtkov – VyÅ¡ehrad – Nebovidy - NÄ›mecký Brod – HoÅ™ice – Ústà nad Labem – Tachov – Lipany – Grotniki The Hussite Wars, also called...
Since the First World War, the word "howitzer" has been increasingly used to describe artillery pieces that, strictly speaking, belong to the category of "gun-howitzer". This is particularly true in the armed forces of the United States, where gun-howitzers have been officially described as "howitzers" for more than sixty years. Because of this practice, the word "howitzer" is used in some armies as a generic term for any kind of artillery piece that is designed to strike targets on land. Thus, a number of artillery pieces that bear little resemblance to howitzers of earlier eras, such as the multi-chamber "supergun" designed by the Canadian artillery expert Gerald Bull for Iraq in the 1980s, are sometimes described as "howitzers". “The Great War †redirects here. ...
The United States Armed Forces are the military services of the United States. ...
A genericized trademark (also known as a generic trade mark or proprietary eponym) is a trademark or brand name that has become the colloquial or generic description for (or synonymous with) a particular class of product or service. ...
A SuperGun (or super gun) is a device used to play arcade games in lieu of requiring a full arcade cabinet. ...
Gerald Vincent Bull (March 9, 1928 - March 22, 1990) was a Canadian engineer who developed long range artillery. ...
The British had a further method of nomenclature that they adopted in the 19th century. Guns were categorised by projectile weight in pounds while howitzers were categorised by calibre in inches. This system broke down in the 1930s with the introduction of gun-howitzers.
History The first modern howitzers were invented in Sweden towards the end of the seventeenth century. These were characterized by a shorter trail than other field guns meaning less stability when firing, which reduced the amount of powder that could be used, armies using these had to rely on a greater elevation angle to achieve a given range, which gave a steeper angle of descent. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixelsFull resolution (1500 × 1000 pixel, file size: 312 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) A 155 mm artillery shell hurtles out of the barrel of a 11th Marine Regiment M-198 howitzer during live fire and maneuver training on Nov. ...
Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixelsFull resolution (1500 × 1000 pixel, file size: 312 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) A 155 mm artillery shell hurtles out of the barrel of a 11th Marine Regiment M-198 howitzer during live fire and maneuver training on Nov. ...
(16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ...
A field gun is an artillery piece. ...
Originally intended for use in siege warfare, they were particularly useful for delivering cast-iron shells filled with gunpowder or incendiary materials into the interior of fortifications. In contrast to contemporary mortars, which were fired at a fixed angle and were entirely dependent upon adjustments to the size of propellant charges in order to vary range, howitzers could be fired at a wide variety of angles. Thus, while howitzer gunnery was more complicated than the technique of employing mortars, the howitzer was an inherently more flexible weapon that could fire its projectiles along a wide variety of trajectories.[5] A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition, often accompanied by an assault. ...
Cast iron usually refers to grey cast iron, but can mean any of a group of iron-based alloys containing more than 2% carbon (alloys with less carbon are carbon steel by definition). ...
In the middle of the eighteenth century, a number of European armies began to introduce howitzers that were mobile enough to accompany armies in the field. Though usually fired at the relatively high angles of fire used by contemporary siege howitzers, these field howitzers were rarely defined by this capability. Rather, as the field guns of the day were usually restricted to inert projectiles (which relied entirely upon momentum to achieve their destructive effects), the field howitzers of the eighteenth century were chiefly valued for their ability to fire explosive shells. Thus, there were many cases which, for the sake of simplicity and rapidity of fire, dispensed with adjustable propellant charges.[6]
 French TRF1 155 mm gun-howitzer In the mid-nineteenth century, some armies attempted to simplify their artillery parks by introducing smoothbore artillery pieces that were designed to fire both explosive projectiles and cannonballs, thereby replacing both field howitzers and field guns. The most famous of these "gun-howitzers" was the Napoleon 12-pounder, a weapon of French design that saw extensive service in the American Civil War.[7] Image File history File links Download high resolution version (908x1288, 236 KB) Copyright © 2005 David Monniaux File links The following pages link to this file: Howitzer ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (908x1288, 236 KB) Copyright © 2005 David Monniaux File links The following pages link to this file: Howitzer ...
Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action, 258,000 total...
In 1859, the armies of Europe (to include those which had recently adopted gun-howitzers) began to rearm their field batteries with rifled field guns. These new field pieces used cylindrical projectiles that, while smaller in calibre than the spherical shells of smoothbore field howitzers, could carry a comparable charge of gunpowder. Moreover, their greater range combined allowed them to create many of the same effects (such as firing over low walls) that had previously required the sharply curved trajectories of smoothbore field howitzers. Because of this, military authorities saw no point in obtaining rifled field howitzers to replace their smoothbore counterparts but, instead, used rifled field guns to replace both guns and howitzers.[8]
In siege warfare, the introduction of rifling had the opposite effect. In the 1860s, artillery officers discovered that rifled siege howitzers (which were substantially larger than field howitzers) were a much more efficient means of destroying walls (and particularly walls that were protected by intervening obstacles of certain kinds) than either siege guns or siege mortars. Thus, at the same time that armies were taking howitzers of one sort out of their field batteries, they were introducing howitzers of another sort into their siege trains and fortresses. The lightest of these weapons (which would later become known as "light siege howitzers") had calibers in the vicinity of 150 mm or so and fired shells that weighed between 40 and 50 kilograms. The heaviest (which would later be called "medium siege howitzers") had calibers between 200 mm and 220 mm and fired shells that weighed about 100 kilograms(220 pounds). [9]
 Breech of a US M109 gun-howitzer During the 1880s, a third type of siege howitzer was added to inventories of a number of European armies. With calibers that ranged between 240 mm and 270 mm and shells that weighed more than 150 kilos, these soon came to be known as "heavy siege howitzers." A good example of a weapon of this class is provided by the 9.45-inch (240 mm) weapon that the British Army purchased from the Skoda works in 1899. (Intended for use against the fortifications of Pretoria,which fell before they could be used, and subsequently deployed to China for use against the fortifications of Peking, which also fell without a siege, the 9.45-inch (240 mm) howitzer was never fired in anger.) Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1024 × 768 pixel, file size: 267 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Breech end of M109A5 howitzer tube (M284 type). ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1024 × 768 pixel, file size: 267 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Breech end of M109A5 howitzer tube (M284 type). ...
The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ...
Škoda Works (Czech: Škodovy závody; today Škoda Holding, a. ...
In the early 20th century, the introduction of howitzers that were significantly larger than the heavy siege howitzers of the day made necessary the creation of a fourth category, that of "super-heavy siege howitzers". Weapons of this category include the famous Big Bertha of the German Army and the 15-inch (381 mm) howitzer of the Royal Marine Artillery. These large howitzers were made possible by mechanical traction instead of horse teams. They were transported as several loads and had to be assembled on their firing position. Big Bertha Big Bertha (German: Dicke Bertha; literal translation Fat Bertha) is the name of the L/14 model of heavy mortar-like howitzers built and used by Germany during World War I. The name Big Bertha is often mistakenly applied to the Langer Max and Paris Gun railway guns. ...
The Royal Marines (RM) are the marines and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service [2]. They are also the United Kingdoms amphibious force and specialists in mountain and Arctic warfare. ...
In the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, the inability of rifled field guns to inflict significant damage upon field fortifications led to a revival of interest in field howitzers. By the 1890s, a number of European armies fielded either light (105 mm to 127 mm) or heavy (149 mm to 155 mm) field howitzers and a few, such as that of Germany, fielded both. The Russo-Turkish Wars were a series of ten wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Turkish-ruled Ottoman Empire during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. ...
These field howitzers introduced at the end of the nineteenth century were valued for their ability to fire shells with high trajectories giving a steep angle of descent and, as a result, could strike targets that were protected by intervening obstacles. Howitzers of this era were also valued for their ability to fire shells that were about twice as large as shells fired by guns of the same size. Thus, while a 75 mm field gun that weighed one ton or so was limited to shells that weighed less than 8 kilograms, a 105 mm howitzer of the same weight could easily fire shells that weighed 15 or 16 kilograms. This is a matter of fundamental mechanics affecting the stability and hence the weight of the carriage. However, despite having a greater maximum elevation, the price was that howitzers had a shorter maximum range than the equivalent gun.
As heavy field howitzers and light siege howitzers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries used ammunition of the same size and types, there was a marked tendency for the two types to merge. At first, this was largely a matter of the same basic weapon being employed on two different mountings. Later, as on-carriage recoil-absorbing systems eliminated many of the advantages that siege platforms had enjoyed over field carriages, the same combination of barrel assembly, recoil mechanism and carriage was used in both roles.
By the early 20th century the differences between guns and howitzers were relative not absolute and generally recognised[10] as follows:
- Guns - higher velocity and longer range, single charge propellant, maximum elevation generally less than 35 degrees.
- Howitzers - lower velocity and shorter range, multi-charge propellant, maximum elevation close to 45 degrees and upwards.
The onset of trench warfare after the first few months of First World War greatly increased the demand for howitzers that gave a steep angle of descent, which were better suited than guns to the task of striking targets on a horizontal plane (such as trenches) with large amounts of explosive and considerably less barrel wear. The army that reaped the greatest benefit from this phenomenon was that of Germany, which began the war with a far greater proportion of howitzers than the French.[11] {{subst:empty template|}} {{Copyviocore |url= |month = {{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} |day = {{subst:CURRENTDAY}} |year = {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}} |time = {{subst:CURRENTTIME}} |timestamp = {{subst:CURRENTTIMESTAMP}}}} Trench warfare is a form of warfare where both combatants have fortified positions and fighting lines are static. ...
“The Great War †redirects here. ...
105 mm howitzer dating from World War II employed as a monument on the site of the World War I Battle of Turtucaia. Howitzers introduced in the course of World War I often had longer barrels than comparable weapons that had been introduced before 1914. Thus, while the standard German light field howitzer at the start of the war (the 10,5 cm leichte Feldhaubitze 98/09) had a barrel that was 16 calibers long, the light field howitzer adopted by the German Army in 1916 (105 mm leichte Feldhaubitze 16, see on the left) had a barrel that was 22 calibre long. At the same time, new models of field gun introduced during that conflict, such as the 77 mm field gun adopted by the German Army in 1916 (7,7 cm Feldkanone 16) were often provided with carriages that allowed firing at comparatively high angles and adjustable propellant cartridges. [12]In other words, there was a marked tendency for howitzers to become more "gun-like" while guns were taking on some of the attributes of howitzers. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 458 pixelsFull resolution (1077 × 617 pixel, file size: 103 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) 105mm Howitzer used in the Battle of Turtucaia I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ...
Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 458 pixelsFull resolution (1077 × 617 pixel, file size: 103 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) 105mm Howitzer used in the Battle of Turtucaia I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ...
Combatants Romania Central Powers (Bulgaria) Commanders General Constantin Teodorescu General Panteley Kiselov Strength 19 battalions (initially) 31 battalions (end phase) 28 battalions Casualties 6,160 dead or wounded; 28,480 taken POW 7,972 dead or wounded The Battle of Turtucaia or Battle of Tutrakan, also referred to as the...
The light field, also known as the plenoptic function or radiance field, is a function that describes the amount of light travelling through every point in 3D space in every possible direction. ...
7. ...
 Nine-man gun crew firing a US M198 howitzer In the years after World War I, the tendency of guns and howitzers to acquire each others characteristics led to the renaissance of the concept of the gun-howitzer. This was a product of technical advances such as the French invention of autofrettage just before World War I, which led to stronger and lighter barrels, the use of cut-off gear to control recoil length depending on firing elevation angle, and the invention of muzzle brakes to reduce recoil forces. Like the gun-howitzers of the nineteenth century, those of the twentieth century replaced both guns and howitzers. Thus, the 25-pounder "gun-howitzer" of the British Army replaced both the 18-pounder field gun and the 4.5-inch howitzer. While this had the effect of simplifying such things as organization, training and the supply of ammunition, it created considerable confusion in the realm of nomenclature. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixel Image in higher resolution (3072 × 2048 pixel, file size: 2. ...
Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixel Image in higher resolution (3072 × 2048 pixel, file size: 2. ...
Autofrettage is a metal fabrication technique in which the stock is momentarily subjected to enormous pressure. ...
The muzzle brake of the 105 mm gun on an AMX 10 RC fighting vehicle. ...
QF 18 pounder (Mark IV) Type field gun Nationality UK Era WW 1 Target History Date of design 1916 Production period Number built Service duration 1918 - 1942 Operators British Empire War service WW1 Specifications Carriage wheeled, fixed trail Calibre 3. ...
The Ordnance QF 4. ...
In the US Army, however, the preferred term was "howitzer". What is true for English, moreover, is also true for many other European languages. Thus, as gun-howitzers replaced both guns and howitzers, words such as "obusier" (French) and "Haubitze" (German), which had originally been used to designate weapons with relatively short barrels, were applied to weapons with much longer barrels. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (3562x2376, 850 KB) de: Beschreibung: Panzerhaubitze 2000 (PzH 2000) in der Fahrschule FahrSimKette Baumholder Datum: Februar 2002 Autor: Björn Becker File links The following pages link to this file: PzH 2000 ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (3562x2376, 850 KB) de: Beschreibung: Panzerhaubitze 2000 (PzH 2000) in der Fahrschule FahrSimKette Baumholder Datum: Februar 2002 Autor: Björn Becker File links The following pages link to this file: PzH 2000 ...
The Panzerhaubitze 2000 (English. ...
The German Army (German: [1], [IPA: heÉ] ) is the land component of the Bundeswehr (Federal Defence Forces) of the Federal Republic of Germany. ...
Most of the many languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European language family. ...
Since World War II, most of the artillery pieces adopted by land armies for use as surface-to-surface weapons have been gun-howitzers.
Types - A pack howitzer is a relatively light howitzer that is designed to be easily broken down into several pieces, each of which is small enough to be carried by a mule or a packhorse.
- A mountain howitzer is a relatively light howitzer designed for use in mountainous terrain. Most, but not all, mountain howitzers are also pack howitzers.
- A siege howitzer is a howitzer that is designed to be fired from a mounting on fixed platform of some sort.
- A field howitzer is a howitzer that is mobile enough to accompany a field army on campaign. It is invariably provided with a wheeled carriage of some sort.
A U.S. M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzer Self-propelled artillery (also called mobile artillery or locomotive artillery) vehicles are a way of giving mobility to artillery. ...
Military vehicles are commonly armoured to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets or shells, protecting the soldiers inside from enemy fire. ...
For other uses, see Mule (disambiguation). ...
For other uses, see Army (disambiguation). ...
Examples - For more examples, see List of artillery
6 inch 26 cwt Howitzer Type howitzer Nationality UK Era World War I Target general History Date of design 1910s Production period 1915 - ? Number built 4,000 Service duration 1915 to 1945 Operators War service WW1, WW2 Specifications Carriage Calibre 6 in ( 152 mm) Barrel length 13. ...
Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ...
The 25 pounder was the major British field gun/howitzer that was introduced into service just before World War II and was the British Armys primary artillery system into the 1950s. ...
Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...
The L118 Light Gun is a 105 mm towed howitzer, originally produced for the British Army in the 1970s and widely exported since, including to the United States, where a modified version is known as the M119A1. ...
The M198 Howitzer during the Persian Gulf War The M198 howitzer is a medium-sized, towed artillery piece. ...
USMC gunners test a new M777 howitzer. ...
20XX redirects here. ...
The M109 is an American-made self-propelled 155 mm howitzer, first introduced in the early 1960s. ...
The Singapore Self-Propelled Howitzer 1 (SSPH 1) Primus is a self-propelled artillery unit armed with a 155 mm howitzer. ...
The Panzerhaubitze 2000 (English. ...
The 8 inch (203 mm) Self-Propelled Howitzer M110 was the largest available self-propelled howitzer in the United States Armys inventory. ...
The G5 is a South African towed howitzer produced by Denel. ...
A list of the worlds artillery, by type. ...
External Links - French Artillery of the Napoleonic Wars
Notes - ^ Stephen R. Turnbull: Tannenberg 1410 Disaster for the Teutonic Knights, p. 45
- ^ Stephen Turnbull: The Hussite Wars, 1419-36 [1]
- ^ Christopher Gravett: German Medieval Armies 1300-1500 [2]
- ^ The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1973), I, p. 992
- ^ OFG Hogg Artillery: its Origin, Heyday and Decline (London: C Hurst & Co, 1970), pp. 94
- ^ Heinrich Rohne, "Zur Geschichte der schweren Feldhaubitze", Jahrbücher für die deutsche Armee und Marine, No. 423, pp. 567-68
- ^ Ildefonse Favé, “Résumé des Progrès de l’Artillerie Depuis l’Année 1800 Jusqu’a L’Année 1853”, in Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte and Ildefonse Favé, Études sur le passé et l'avenir de de l'artillerie, (Paris: J. Dumaine, 1846-71), V, pp. 223-25
- ^ Charles Thoumas, Les transformations de l'Armée française: essais d'histoire et de critique sur l'état militaire de la France, (Paris : Berger-Levrault, 1887), II, pp. 123-26
- ^ Hermann von Müller, Die Entwickelung der deutschen Festungs und Belagerungstrains, (Berlin: E. S. Mittler, 1896), pp. 328-35
- ^ HA Bethell, Modern Guns and Gunnery, (Woolwich: FJ Cattermole, 1905, 1907, 1910)
- ^ Gudmundsson, Bruce I. (1993). On Artillery. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0275940470.
- ^ Hans Linnenkohl, Vom Einzelschuss zur Feuerwalze, (Koblenz: Bernard und Graefe, 1990), pp. 86 and 219-220
Dr. Stephen Turnbull is an expert on samurai. ...
Oxford University Press (OUP) is a highly-respected publishing house and a department of the University of Oxford in England. ...
Louis I Napoleon Bonaparte, King of Holland, Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves, Count of Saint-Leu (Lodewijk Napoleon in Dutch) (September 2, 1778 – July 25, 1846) was the fifth surviving child and fourth surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino. ...
See also Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Look up Howitzer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Wiktionary (a portmanteau of wiki and dictionary) is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 151 languages. ...
This article is about the video game. ...
A missile (British English: miss-isle; U.S. English: missl) is, in general, a projectile—that is, something thrown or otherwise propelled. ...
US soldier loading a M224 60-mm mortar. ...
This article is about vehicles powered by rocket engines. ...
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