19th century 12 pounder (5 kg) mountain howitzer displayed by the National Park Service at Fort Laramie in Wyoming, USA

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. The National Park Service ( NPS) is the United States federal agency that manages all National Parks, many National Monuments, and other conservation Fort Laramie National Historic Site, located in present-day Goshen County, Wyoming The State of Wyoming ( is a sparsely populated state in the western region of the United States. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Artillery (from French artillerie) is a military Combat Arm which employs any apparātus machine For the fictional characters see Gunbarrel (Transformers. A gun barrel is the tube usually Metal, through which a controlled Explosion 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). A mortar is a muzzle-loading Indirect fire weapon that fires shells at low velocities short ranges and high-arcing ballistic trajectories

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. The Pike Square (Gewalthaufen meaning crowd of force) was a military tactic developed by the Swiss Confederacy during the 15th century for use by its Infantry Already in the Battle of Tannenberg (1410), the Teutonic Knights used artillery^[1] which was intended to break up enemy formations, Czechs among them. The Battle of Grunwald (or 1st Battle of Tannenberg) took place on 15 July 1410 with the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led by The Teutonic Order is a German Roman Catholic religious order. 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. The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars involved the military actions against and amongst the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia in the period 1420 Czech (ˈʧɛk čeština ˈʧɛʃcɪna in Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers it is the majority language in the ^[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 . The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Swedish ( is a North Germanic language spoken by more than nine million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname

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". World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All 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. The United States Armed Forces are the overall unified military forces of the United States 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. A genericized trademark (also known as a generic trademark or proprietary eponym) is a Trademark or Brand name that has become the colloquial 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". For the arcade game hardware see SuperGun For the 1990s United Kingdom political scandal known as the "Supergun affair" see Arms-to-Iraq. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page 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

US M198 gun-howitzer

The first modern howitzers were invented in Sweden towards the end of the seventeenth century. As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 17th Century was that Century which lasted from 1601 - 1700 in the Gregorian calendar 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. A field gun is an Artillery piece Originally the term referred to smaller Guns that could accompany a field army on the march and when in combat could be

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. Cast iron usually refers to grey cast iron, but identifies a large group of Ferrous Alloys which solidify with a Eutectic. 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]

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. Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South ^[7]

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. The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. For the car manufacturer see Škoda Auto Škoda Works ( Czech: Škodovy závody; today Škoda Holding a (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. )

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. Big Bertha (Dicke Bertha literal translation "Fat Bertha" is the name of a type of super-heavy Howitzer developed by the famous armaments manufacturer The Royal Marines ( RM) are the marine corps and amphibious Infantry of the United Kingdom and along with the Royal Navy 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.

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. Russo-Turkish War may refer to one of the following conflicts between Imperial Russia and the Ottoman Empire: Russo-Turkish War (1568–1570 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.

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. Trench warfare is a form of warfare where both combatants have fortified positions and fighting lines are static World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All 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]

105 mm howitzer dating from World War II employed as a monument on the site of the World War I Battle of Turtucaia. The Battle of Turtucaia or Battle of Tutrakan (Битка при Тутракан also referred to as the Tutrakan Epopee (Тутраканска епопея

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. The light field is a function that describes the amount of Light traveling in every direction through every point in space 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. The 77 cm Feldkanone 16 (77 cm FK 16 was a field gun used by Germany in World War I. ^[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.

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. Autofrettage is a metal fabrication technique in which a pressure vessel is subjected to enormous Pressure, causing internal portions of the part to yield and resulting Muzzle brakes and recoil compensators are devices that are fitted to the muzzle of a Firearm or Cannon to redirect propellant gases with 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. The 18-pounder Gun was the larger of the standard British Army Field guns of the World War I era The Ordnance QF 45 inch Howitzer was the standard British Empire field howitzer of The First World War. 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.

Self-propelled howitzer PzH 2000 of the German Army

In the US Army, however, the preferred term was "howitzer". The Panzerhaubitze 2000 ("Armoured howitzer 2000" abbreviated PzH 2000, is a German 155mm self-propelled howitzer developed by Krauss-Maffei The German Army (Deutsches Heer heɐ) is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. What is true for English, moreover, is also true for many other European languages. Most of the many Languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European Language family. 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.

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 self-propelled howitzer is mounted on a tracked or wheeled motor vehicle. Self-propelled Artillery (also called mobile artillery or locomotive artillery) vehicles are a way of giving mobility to Artillery. A motor Vehicle is a Machine which incorporates a motor (sometimes known as an Engine) and which is used for Transportation In many cases, it is protected by some sort of armor so that it superficially resembles a tank. For body armour see Armour, for armoured forces see Armoured warfare, for other uses see Armour (disambiguation. A tank is a tracked, Armoured fighting vehicle designed for Front-line combat which combines Operational mobility and tactical

• 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. In its common modern meaning a mule is the offspring of a male Donkey and a female Horse, which is classified as a kind of F1 hybrid.

• 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. An army (from Latin Armata "act of arming" via Old French armée) in the broadest sense is the land-based Armed forces It is invariably provided with a wheeled carriage of some sort.

Examples

• Tsar Cannon, the largest howitzer ever made
• BL 6-inch 26 cwt British howitzer of the First World War
• QF 25 pounder British gun-howitzer of the Second World War
• L118 Light Gun British towed gun-howitzer of the late twentieth century
• M198 howitzer US towed gun-howitzer of the late twentieth century
• M777 howitzer British towed gun-howitzer of the early twenty-first century
• M109 howitzer US self-propelled gun-howitzer of the late twentieth century
• SSPH Primus Singaporean self-propelled gun-howitzer of the early twenty-first century
• PzH 2000 German self-propelled gun-howitzer of the early twenty-first century
• M110 howitzer US self-propelled gun-howitzer of the late twentieth century
• G5 howitzer South African towed gun-howitzer of the early 1980s. Tsar Pushka ( Царь-пушка, literally " Tsar -cannon" is a huge Cannon, Commissioned in 1586 by Russian Tsar Feodor The Ordnance BL 6 inch 26cwt howitzer was a British Howitzer used during World War I and World War II. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All The Ordnance QF 25 pounder, or more simply 25-pounder or 25-pdr, was the major British Field gun / Howitzer that was introduced World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including 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 The M198 howitzer (aka "God's Gun" is a medium-sized towed Artillery piece The M777 howitzer is a towed Artillery piece developed by British Vickers group and is produced by BAE Systems Land Systems in the US The 21st century is the current century of the Christian Era or Common Era in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. The M109 is an American -made self-propelled 155 mm Howitzer, first introduced in the early 1960s The Panzerhaubitze 2000 ("Armoured howitzer 2000" abbreviated PzH 2000, is a German 155mm self-propelled howitzer developed by Krauss-Maffei The 8 inch (203 mm Self-Propelled Howitzer M110 was the largest available self-propelled Howitzer in the United States Army 's inventory The G5 is a South African towed Howitzer of 155 mm calibre manufactured by Denel.

For more examples, see List of artillery

See also

• Gun
• Missiles
• Mortar
• Rocket

References

External links

• French Artillery of the Napoleonic Wars