Is the shield missing from this piece or was it offered like this (there are more of this type at Canakkale Fortress, without shield). http://www.network54.com/Forum/330333/message/1274811924/Krupp+75mm+1906
There are a fair number of the 75mm Krupp guns in Australia - captured in 1918 in Palestine. All of them have the original shield. I've attached an image of a 75mm Krupp gun captured by the 11th Light Horse at Semakh - it has the shield attached. (I've got an image of a gun park of captured 75mms after Semakh - somewhere - all of them have the shields attached).
This gun is part of the 1905 purchase of 462 guns from Krupp - for this gun the serial no. is #110 and the build date 1323 or 1905 (Islamic date), 1907 (Rumi date). The later, and smaller, batches of Krupp guns seem to have retained the Krupp Roman alphabet markings.
I can't see the 75mm Krupp gun would be a very effective mountain gun - it can't be broken down into components easily. Removing the shield wouldn't reduce the weight of the gun very much - it's made of 4mm plate.
Regards,
Charlie
-- Edited by CharlieC on Tuesday 25th of May 2010 11:32:41 PM
The Krupp 77mm & 75mm were the lightest field guns in their class by some margin (several hundred kilos) so would have done much better than most. A plate approx 2m by 1.5m even at 4mm thick is still hefty. The weights with shield are about 1,000kg's. All up weight on the 2.75" mountaingun british (with shield) is about 700kg's.
Having manhandled a "modern" Italian 105mm pack howitzer over a 10km (admitidly mostly tarmac) course involving some shape rises in full kit including full pack for a "fun run" ( our BSM was a right @#$%^&! ), it would work. The only issues were down hill & if we got halted on a sharp slope or vetical height of about 30cm or more. We were also part timers & city boys - not Ottoman hill pesant farmers!
Don't get me wrong a "proper" mountain gun would be preferable not just lighter. Most proper mountain guns are really howitzers so much more suitable for sharp terrian.
