8 cm FK M 18

8 cm Feldkanone M 18
At the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum
Type	Field gun
Place of origin	Austria-Hungary
Service history
In service	1918-1945
Used by	Austria-Hungary Austria Hungary Nazi Germany Republic of China
Wars	World War I World War II
Production history
Designer	Böhler
Designed	1917-18
Manufacturer	Böhler
Specifications
Mass	1,478 kg (3,258 lb)
Barrel length	2.756 m (9.04 ft) L/33
Shell	Fixed 8 kg (18 lb) − Standard 76.5 x 233mm R Fixed 9.99 kg (22 lb) − prototype
Caliber	76.5 mm (3.01 in) − Standard 83.5 mm (3.29 in) − prototype
Recoil	Hydro-pneumatic
Carriage	Box trail
Maximum firing range	12,078 m (13,209 yd) − 83.5 mm prototype

The 8 cm Feldkanone M 18 designed and built by Böhler was a field gun similar in size, weight and caliber to Škoda's M. 17 − Austria-Hungary used both during World War I. The majority of the M. 18 guns used the standard Austro-Hungarian 76.5 mm caliber, but testing was underway for the heavier 83.5 mm version when the war ended. However, only six guns chambered for the larger caliber had been delivered by the end of World War I.

Its post-war service is unclear, but it seems that it served in small numbers with the Austrian Army, although it doesn't appear that the Germans placed it into service following the Anschluss, possibly because it used non-standard ammunition. Gander and Chamberlain don't list it in their book, but the older work by Chamberlain and Gander claims it saw service with the German Army as the 8 cm leichte Feldkanone 18(ö). A copy was also manufactured in China by Liao as "Type 14 77mm" since 1925. There seems to have been some available to the Hungarian army during world war 2. Between one and two hundred were modified by the Hungarians for installation as the main armament 75 mm 41M L/31 tank gun in their indigenous 41M Turán tank.

It was a far more innovative design than Skoda's 8 cm FK M. 17. The carriage of the M 18 had a bent axle which allowed the whole carriage to traverse since the spade pivoted around a vertical pin, so that neither the spade nor the wheels had to be moved to traverse. For use in mountains it could be fitted with a special narrow set of wheels. For transport it broke down into three animal carts.

References

• Gander, Terry and Chamberlain, Peter. Weapons of the Third Reich: An Encyclopedic Survey of All Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the German Land Forces 1939-1945. New York: Doubleday, 1979 ISBN 0-385-15090-3
• Ortner, M. Christian. The Austro-Hungarian Artillery From 1867 to 1918: Technology, Organization, and Tactics. Vienna, Verlag Militaria, 2007 ISBN 978-3-902526-13-7
• Chamberlain, Peter and Gander, Terry. Light and Medium Field Artillery. New York, Arco