Finnish Artillery pieces
Guns with recoil system
Used in the Winter War
Part I
(The
contents of this page are based on the book "Itsenäisen Suomen Kenttätykit
1918 - 1995"
by Jyri Paulaharju, Published by Military Museum of Finland,
1996")
The designation of guns in Finland
was, and is, as follows:
- The first number is the Caliber of the gun
in millimeters (mm)
- Then the letter that follows identifies the type
of the gun
K = cannon
H = howitzer
LK = gun short
VK = mountain gun
VH = mountain howitzer
RK = infantry gun
KH = gun-howitzer
- The last number is the year of development
(or when it was accepted in service or some other year used
to identify the model)
General
information of artillery weapons and shells
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Note:
The characteristics of the guns are with a normal shrapnel (High Explosive)
projectile.
The barrel length can vary by different sources
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Light cannons
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Caliber
Barrel length
Shell weight
Muzzle velocity
Elevation
Max range
Weight in action
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mm
cal
kg
m/s
deg (°)
km
kg
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75
36.3
7.24
550
-11 - +18
7.9
1 140
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Picture source: "Field guns in Finland 1918-1995",
p.55
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This gun of French origin was the first
really modern field gun, with the first successful hydraulic recoil
system. It can be claimed to be the most widely used light field
gun ever produced. 12 of the 48 guns bought came fast enough to
be used in Winter War.
The gun on the left was photographed in the
Artillery Museum in Hämeenlinna, Finland.
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Back to Top !
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Caliber
Barrel length
Shell weight
Muzzle velocity
Elevation
Max range
Weight in action
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mm
cal
kg
m/s
deg (°)
km
kg
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75
31
6.5
496 - 503
-7 - +15.5
8.1 - 9.6
1 037
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The gun was photographed in the Artillery
Museum in Hämeenlinna, Finland.
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12 of these German guns (with 7 166 shells) were donated by Norway
in February 1940.
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Caliber
Barrel length
Shell weight
Muzzle velocity
Elevation
Max range
Weight in action
|
mm
cal
kg
m/s
deg (°)
km
kg
|
75
30
6.4
484 - 493
-3 - +15
8.3 - 9.3
1 000
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The gun was photographed in the Artillery
Museum in Hämeenlinna, Finland.
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This gun was built under license in Sweden. During the mobilization
phase, Finland bought 12 of them. The total number used in Winter
War was 60 (including 12 gun lent and 12 used by Swedish voluntary
force SFK) and 15 848 shots were fired.
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Caliber
Barrel length
Shell weight
Muzzle velocity
Elevation
Max range
Weight in action
|
mm
cal
kg
m/s
deg (°)
km
kg
|
75
37.3
6.35
417 - 633
-5 - +45
8.3 - 11.8
1 435
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The gun was photographed in the Artillery
Museum in Hämeenlinna, Finland.
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Argentina had ordered 12 of
these guns from Sweden. In January 1940 Finland bought 8 of these
guns after long negotiations. |
Back to Top !
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Caliber
Barrel length
Shell weight
Muzzle velocity
Elevation
Max range
Weight in action
|
mm
cal
kg
m/s
deg (°)
km
kg
|
76.2
30
6.58
593
-6 - +17
8.75
1 040
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The gun was photographed in the Artillery
Museum in Hämeenlinna, Finland.
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This gun was the most important light field gun in the war between
Russia and Japan. It was designed by a Russian General Engelhardt
and a total of 2 400 gun were produced in 1901-1903.
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Caliber
Barrel length
Shell weight
Muzzle velocity
Elevation
Max range
Weight in action
|
mm
cal
kg
m/s
deg (°)
km
kg
|
76.2
30
6.35
460 - 605
-6 - +16
7.9 - 10.6
1 106
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Picture source: "Talvisodan Historia 1", p.172
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This gun was designed by L.A.Bishljakov, K.M.Sokolovski
and K.I.Lipinski in the Putilov factory, Imperial Russia.
It was based on 76 K 00 and it was influenced by the French 75
K 97. By the start of WWI the 76 K 02 was the primary field artillery
piece in the Russian army. It was originally designed to fire
direct-fire, but proved to be also good in indirect-fire. It's
main drawback was that it didn't elevate enough and this led to
many variations later on. This gun was used in the civil war by
both the reds and the whites (armed with captured guns) , and
a total 179 guns were captured. Modernized versions of this gun
were used by the Finnish army to mid 90's (mostly in training
purposes and firing ranges) . 265 050 shots were fired by these
guns in the Winter War.
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Caliber
Barrel length
Shell weight
Muzzle velocity
Elevation
Max range
Weight in action
|
mm
cal
kg
m/s
deg (°)
km
kg
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76.2
16.5
6.35 - 6.78
371 - 380
-6 - +28
6.5 - 7.0
627
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The gun was photographed in the Artillery
Museum in Hämeenlinna, Finland.
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This gun was a Russian modernized version of the 76 VK 09, which
was manufactured by the French Schneider gun factory. The 10/13
model had the barrel of an old 76 LK 10 installed on a new carriage.
This was made, because the 76 LK 10 was a direct-fire weapon only.
During the Winter War 85 774 shots were fired with these guns.
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Caliber
Barrel length
Shell weight
Muzzle velocity
Elevation
Max range
Weight in action
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mm
cal
kg
m/s
deg (°)
km
kg
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76
36.4
4.82 - 6.35
440 - 590
-5 - +43
3.0 - 10.6
1 500
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The gun was photographed in the Artillery
Museum in Hämeenlinna, Finland.
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In 1924 Finland ordered 4 of these French guns for evaluation.
It didn't fulfill the expectations and no more guns were ever
ordered. The 4 guns fired 344 shots during the Winter War.
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Caliber
Barrel length
Shell weight
Muzzle velocity
Elevation
Max range
Weight in action
|
mm
cal
kg
m/s
deg (°)
km
kg
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76.2
36.1
4.82 - 6.35
403 - 590
0 - +65
10.6
1 338
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The gun was photographed in the Artillery
Museum in Hämeenlinna, Finland.
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This gun was manufactured by Saint-Chamond gun factory and 4
guns were, like the 76 K 22, bought for evaluation purposes in
1926. This gun failed also the expectations and no more guns were
bought. The main weakness was that the carriage was too weak.
It could use the same shells as the 76 K 02 (characteristics above)
. 644 shots were fired with these guns during the Winter War.
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Caliber
Barrel length
Shell weight
Muzzle velocity
Elevation
Max range
Weight in action
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mm
cal
kg
m/s
deg (°)
km
kg
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76.2
16.5
4.82 - 6.61
387
-6 - +35
3.0 - 8.1
780
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This weapon was developed from the
76 LK 13. It was produced in two versions, the most visible difference
were the wheels. During the Winter War 54 of these regimental cannons
(there were 6 of them in each Soviet infantry regiment) were captured
(mostly on the battlegrounds north of lake Ladoga) , and some were
put to use immediately firing a total of 4 075 shots.
The upper gun was photographed in the Military
Museum in Helsinki, Finland. The guns on the left and right were
photographed in the Artillery Museum in Hämeenlinna, Finland.
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Caliber
Barrel length
Shell weight
Muzzle velocity
Elevation
Max range
Weight in action
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mm
cal
kg
m/s
deg (°)
km
kg
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76.2
51.1
6.4
688
-5 - +75
3.0 - 13.6
1 620
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The gun was photographed in the Military
Museum in Helsinki, Finland.
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The production of this excellent gun began in mid 30's and was
in front line use in 1939. 37 guns were captured during the Winter
War and some of them were put into use almost immediately. It
was nicknamed "The rat's tail" because of the long barrel. 3 171
shots were fired during the Winter War by the Finns.
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