Heroes of the Resistance Reborn

The following is reproduced from "Miscellaneous Talks on National Army Artillery During the Anti-Japanese War":

Speaking of the artillery used by the Chinese army during the Anti-Japanese War, the most famous and most powerful one is the 150 mm German-made FH18 howitzer. FH means Field Howitzer, which is also called sFH18. s means long-range in German.

The initial letter, relative to le, means short range. The FH18 was jointly developed by the German company Rheinmetall and Krupp from 1926 to 1930. Rheinmetall developed the gun body and Krupp developed the gun mount. Because the whole gun is relatively small,

Heavy, in 1935 Rheinmetall developed a weight-reduced version. The gun mount was redesigned to reduce weight, but the muzzle velocity and range were also reduced, and the cost increased due to the use of alloys, so the German Wehrmacht did not adopt it. And this

Both versions of the FH18 were introduced in China before the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War in 1937. They were equipped with two artillery regiments with nearly 50 guns, becoming the backbone of China's artillery firepower at that time.

It is worth mentioning that the sFH18 is also the first artillery in the world to use rocket-extended range ammunition. The maximum range of rocket-extended range ammunition can reach 19 kilometers. It is unclear whether China also imported this type of ammunition at that time. But in general

It is said that the FH18 is inferior to similar artillery in the Soviet Union at that time in terms of range.

In addition, China also imported some 75mm le.IG18 infantry guns from Germany. This was the first new type of artillery equipped by the German Wehrmacht after the end of World War I. Its barrel was very short. It was mass-produced and widely used in various battlefields throughout World War II.

, somewhat similar to the Japanese Type 92 infantry gun.

In addition, before the war, the Chinese army was also equipped with the old Krupp 75mm mountain cannon and the French Schneider 75mm mountain cannon.

The 37mm PAK35/36 anti-tank gun was another type of artillery introduced from Germany at that time. Although this artillery was already inadequate on the European battlefield at that time, it was still capable of dealing with the thin-skinned tanks of the Japanese. Later, the 50th domestic factory also imitated it.

Passed a batch of PAK35/36. In addition, China also introduced the 47mm M1935 Breda combat anti-cannon from Italy.

Talking about the German-made artillery introduced by China at that time, the most mysterious and the one that everyone is most interested in is the 88 gun. According to records, China imported a batch of 88mm Flak18 anti-aircraft guns at that time, which were used in the defense of Jiangyin, but during the entire Anti-Japanese War

Didn't play much role.

In addition to German-made artillery, China also imported various artillery pieces from other European countries before the Anti-Japanese War. Another common one is the 75mm L20 mountain gun (M1934) of Bofos, Sweden. L20 is Bofors

Developed in the 1920s with the help of Krupp, the entire gun can be split into 8 parts and carried by mules and horses. The 72 L20s purchased by China in 1932 were originally ordered by the Turkish government. Due to the financial difficulties of the Turkish government

, and the Chinese side, which had just experienced the Songhu Anti-Japanese War, felt that it lacked firepower, so it sold it to China. The first batch of L20 sold to the Netherlands was later captured and used by the Japanese army in Indonesia, so both China and Japan were equipped with L20 at that time.

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(Note: According to the author’s information, artillery is divided into small caliber (2O-75 mm), medium caliber (76-155 mm) and large caliber (more than 155 mm) artillery. In terms of use and function, there are field howitzers, combat artillery

Anti-cannon, mountain artillery and infantry artillery are divided into equal parts.)