10.5 cm leFH 16 Geschützwagen Mk VI 736 (e)

The 10.5 cm leFH 16 Geschützwagen Mk VI 736 (e) was a German self-propelled artillery piece. It was created by mounting the German 10.5 cm leFH 16 field gun onto the chassis of the British Vickers Mk VI light tank. The vehicle was created by engineer Alfred Becker, who was battery chief of the 12th Battery in the 15th Artillery Regiment, 227th Infantry Division. Becker found abandoned vehicles while his unit was performing coastal protection duties in France. He made use of his artillery crews to build this vehicle and a number of others to motorize his battery. Becker's unit was the first self-propelled artillery battery of the war.

10.5cm leFH 16 Geschützwagen Mk VI 736 (e)
10.5cm leFH 16 Geschützwagen Mk VI 736 (e)
Type	Self-propelled artillery
Place of origin	France
Service history
In service	1940–1942
Used by	Nazi Germany
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designer	Alfred Becker
Designed	1940
No. built	12
Specifications
Mass	8,200 kg (18,078 lb)
Length	5.38 m (17 ft 8 in)
Width	2.0 m (6 ft 7 in)
Height	2.26 m (7 ft 5 in)
Crew	4
Armor	4–14 mm
Main armament	10.5 cm leFH 16
Secondary armament	MG 34
Engine	Meadows 6-cylinder petrol 88 hp
Power/weight	16.9 hp/ton (Mark VIB and VIC)[1]
Transmission	Wilson pre-selector gearbox
Suspension	Horstmann inclined springs
Ground clearance	10 inches
Fuel capacity	30 imperial gallons (140 l; 36 US gal)
Operational range	130 miles (210 km)[2]
Maximum speed	35 miles per hour (56 km/h) (25 miles per hour (40 km/h) off road)[2]

Construction

Following the German victory in France in July 1940 the 227th Infantry Division was assigned occupation, security and coastal defense duties along the Normandy coast near Le Havre.[3] There Becker came across British light tanks and light personnel carriers that had been left behind. A mechanical engineer, Becker considered the benefits that could be derived in mobility from mounting his artillery guns directly onto the chassis of the abandoned tanks. Becker's unit had been drawn from the Krefeld area.[4] Krefeld was a manufacturing town, and many of the men who had been called up along with Becker were skilled workers in the iron processing industry.[5] Recruiting the men of his battery and working by shift day and night, he set about his project.[6]

The light but reliable English built Vickers Mk.VI armoured vehicle was selected by Becker for the under-carriage for mobilizing the 10.5 cm howitzer.[5][7] The design of this British light tank made them suitable for use as artillery self-propelled guns, since the motor, transmission, steering assembly and drive wheels were all grouped together in the front of the chassis, leaving the rear of the vehicle available for the gun and the crew.[8]

The superstructure and turret of the tank was removed. He then mounted the 10.5 cm leFH 16 howitzer just aft of the midpoint of the chassis. The location of the gun's mounting allowed the crew the room they needed to work the gun, and the commander was provided a better field of vision. To protect the crew a metal housing was erected around the rear of the vehicle. Having worked at Deutsche Edelstahlwerke Gmbh in Krefeld before the war, he was able to have them produce the plates he needed to form the shielding for the crew. He measured out the dimensions needed, had them manufactured and shipped out to France.[9] The steel plating ranged in thickness from 11 to 22 mm and served to protect the crew from small arms fire and shrapnel fragments. The armour was too light to protect the crew from heavy shells or armour piercing rounds.[10]

The crew compartment was small. The commander was positioned at the rear of the vehicle on the left. He had access to a range finding periscope which was mounted to the side of the vehicle. The gunner was directly in front of the commander. A gun sight extended above the shielding in front of him. The loader was on the right, and he had access to a tray of rounds stored behind the breech. In front of the loader sat the driver.[10]

The vehicle was open topped. A machine gun could be mounted to the front of the shielding on the right. Though not intended for close combat, the crew had access to their personal weapons as well, which they could fire over the top of the fighting compartment if need be. A tarpaulin could be fitted to the top to give the crew some protection from the weather.[9] To provide stability when firing the relatively heavy gun from a rather light chassis, Becker arrived at the solution to bring the bulk of the considerable recoil forces backwards through the vehicle and to the ground through a lowered rear spur. This recoil break was extended before firing. It was made of a square steel frame reinforced with two cross bars. At the bottom were a pair of V-shaped "spades" which embedded into the ground when firing.[9]

The 10.5 cm leFH 16 main gun was a howitzer that had been used by the German Army in World War I. The abbreviation leFH stands for the German words "leichte FeldHaubitze" or light field howitzer, while 16 refers to the year of its development, 1916. Its maximum firing range was 9,225 m (10,089 yds), with a muzzle velocity of 395 m/s (1,300 ft/s). The high explosive round was supplied in two components. Each was loaded separately as a two-part round. The high explosive shell would be loaded first followed by the cartridge propellant case. Depending on the range of the target, different sized bags of propellant were inserted into the cartridge. The gun was not fitted with a muzzle brake.[10]

Though an armour piercing round could be provided to the guns, the relatively low muzzle velocity gave it poor penetrative power. Used for direct-fire against armored vehicles, it could penetrate as much as 52 mm of armor plate at a range of 500 meters.[10]

Over a six-month period Becker's unit succeeded in creating a complete battery, mobilizing twelve of the battalion's 10.5 cm leFH 16 howitzers. He also built six other vehicles mounting the larger 15 cm sFH 13 guns, twelve munitions carrying versions of the Vickers Mk.VI, several munitions carrying versions of the Bren gun carrier and four armoured command tank versions of the Vickers Mk. VI.[11]

Though awkward, the vehicle designation 10.5 cm LeFH 16 auf Geschützwagen Mk.VI(e) is descriptive. 10.5 cm LeFH 16 is the name of the gun mounted. 'auf Geschützwagen' translates to 'on gun car'. Mk.VI refers to the Vickers Mk VI that is the chassis used for the mount, and the letter 'e' references that the vehicle is originally of English manufacture. Some early images of the vehicles show the letters Gp followed by a number on the left side of the armor plate of the vehicle. Gp is an abbreviation for ‘Geschüetzpanzer’ which translates as gun tank or self-propelled gun, and the number indicates which one of those vehicles it is.

Operational history

The battery's initial test firing was done at the range at Harfleur near Le Havre, France.[6] The complete battery was tested at the training grounds at Beverloo, Belgium.[6][12]

The vehicles saw their first use in combat when the 227th Infantry Division was transferred to Army Group North. In September 1941 the division was given orders to transfer from France to the east, and arrived there by rail later that autumn.[13] The division took up positions in the forests south of Lake Ladoga as the German forces took up a defensive posture. The 227th was the only division on the Eastern Front to have a motorized artillery battery.[6] When the 254th Infantry Division was under pressure and required extra artillery support, the 12th battery was temporarily transferred there. The fact that the battery could be moved easily and quickly made Becker's battery soon recognized as a ready, mobile force whose firepower could be quickly brought to bear. The battery was used to provide support to a variety of units through the next two months, however, when called upon to provide direct fire support for an infantry attack the battery suffered its first casualties. Four men, including Captain Becker, were wounded. This was not a suitable duty for these vehicles, as they were small and lacked the heavy armor of an assault vehicle.[10]

On 11 November 1941 a platoon of the battery was engaged with Soviet T-40 light tanks of the 2nd Tank Brigade. These light tanks mounted machine guns, but no heavy gun. A German battle report noted one of the SP guns was hit 16 times, but its armor plate was not penetrated.[10] The battery was again ordered to operate as assault guns on 15 November to support an attack of the 223rd Infantry Division. One of the vehicles was heavily damaged after running over a mine and three men were killed. The vehicle had to be left behind, but was recovered three days later.[10]

The battery continued to conduct artillery fire support missions over the winter and spring of 1942. The battery's division, the 227th Infantry Division, continued to be engaged in fighting south of Lake Ladoga around the village of Pogost'ye.[10] On 16 February 1942 the battery encountered KV-1 heavy tanks of the 124th tank battalion of the Soviet 54th Army. The 10.5 cm armor piercing ammunition used by the German gun crews was unable to knock out the KV-1s, and three of the 10.5 cm LeFH 16 auf Geschützwagen Mk.VI(e) SPGs were destroyed.[10]

In March 1942 three vehicles provided close support for troops moving along roads near Pogostyle. Over the next several months the SPGs were gradually lost, most often by mine damage, but one was destroyed by direct fire from a tank of the 98th Tank Brigade.[10] In August 1942 the OKH requested one of the Becker-designed vehicles be withdrawn and shipped to Berlin. On 2 September 1942 Becker and one of his crews presented the vehicle to Adolf Hitler and officers of the Army Ordinance Office in the garden of the Reich Chancellery.[6] Following this meeting Becker was withdrawn from the Eastern front and sent to France to build conversions using other captured or damaged vehicles.[14]

Summation

With mobilizing his guns Becker had built the first battery of self-propelled artillery.[15] This marked the start of a development that led to the creation of a separate mobilized artillery. This had been envisioned by Heinz Guderian as a component of the panzer division, but such vehicles had not been developed thus far due to limitations in material and the priority on tank production.[5] Subsequently, Germany produced self propelled guns based on its own armored vehicle chassis, such as the Wespe using the Panzer II and the Hummel based on the Panzer IV frame. The mobile artillery battery was a significant contribution to the further development of the panzer force.[6] For his work on mobilizing the artillery pieces Becker was awarded the German Cross in Gold.[6][12]

References

Citations

1. Duncan.
2. Tucker 2004, p. 243.
3. Mitcham 2007, p. 279.
4. Spielberger 1992, p. 211.
5. Spielberger 1992, p. 242.
6. Spielberger 1992, p. 212.
7. Doyle 2019, p. 457.
8. Spielberger 1992, pp. 242-243.
9. Spielberger 1992, p. 244.
10. Moore 2019.
11. Spielberger 1992, p. 249.
12. Restayn 2011.
13. Kirchubel 2005, p. 165.
14. Daglish 2013, p. 115.
15. Spielberger 1992, p. 243.

Bibliography

• Daglish, Ian (2013). Operation Goodwood. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military.
• Doyle, David (2019). The Complete Guide to German Armored Vehicles. Skyhorse Publishing.
• Duncan, Major-General N W. "Light Tanks Marks I-VI". AFV Profile No. 5.
• Kirchubel, Robert (2005). Operation Barbarossa 1941. Vol 2, Army Group. North Oxford: Osprey.
• Mitcham, Samuel (2007) [1985]. German Order of Battle Volume One: 1st thru 290th Infantry Divisions in WWII. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-3416-5.
• Moore, Craig (2019). German self-propelled artillery guns of the Second World War. Stroud, United Kingdom: Fonthill Media.
• Restayn, Jean (2 September 2011). "Kommando Becker: "Recycling" von alliiertem Kriegsmaterial (Command Becker: "Recycling" of Allied war material)". Deutsche Militäzeitschrift (in German).
• Spielberger, Walter J. (1992) [1989]. Beute-Kraftfahrzeuge und Panzer der Deutschen Wehrmacht [Captured Halftracks and Tanks of the German Military] (in German). Stuttgart: Motorbuch Verlag. ISBN 3-613-01255-3.
• Tucker, Spencer (2004). Tanks: An Illustrated History of Their Impact. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1-57607-995-3.

Further reading

• Glantz, David (2001). The siege of Leningrad, 1941-1944: 900 days of terror. Zenith Imprint. ISBN 0-7603-0941-8.
• Patzwall, Klaus D.; Scherzer, Veit (2001). Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN 978-3-931533-45-8.
• Scheibert, Horst (1998). Panzerjäger (Tank destroyer) (in German). Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing.