Landships II

ALVF · Major

Please help ID a 10.0 cm WW1 Artillery casing

George G · Corporal

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Hello I'm new here, so I hope that �you don't mind me asking for help in my first post.

I picked this cut down 10.o cm casing on the weekend and I'm a bit stumped.

It is stamped 10.0cm, 1917 which I have no problems with. Then 125, M14,�

Opposite is wdf then some kind of symbol followed by 16�

There is a large L with an upside down p adjacent to it on the bottom left hand side. Then a 1 4 and 7 placed randomly in small text.

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From what I can find the L may refernce French manufacture?�

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What do you think?

CharlieC · Legend

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10cm doesn't sound like a French calibre to me. There was an Austrian M14 10cm howitzer which saw extensive service throughout WW1 (and afterwards) which might be a candidate for your cartridge. The German 10cm Haubitze M98/09 used a much shorter cartridge than your example.

If you don't get a definitive identification on this forum perhaps the people over at�http://www.bocn.co.uk/vbforum (British Ordnance Collectors Network) can help.

Regards,

Charlie

Ralph Lovett · General

The shell case is Austro-Hungarian for the 10cm�M14.� Look at the page from the Landships site:

�http://www.landships.freeservers.com/10cm_feldhaubitze_m14_walkaround.htm

Notice the Austro-Hungarian Eagle stamped into the bottom of the shell case.

R/

Ralph

-- Edited by Ralph Lovett on Wednesday 28th of March 2012 01:33:53 PM

CharlieC · Legend

George,

The shell casing may not have been cut off. The M14 howitzer used a separately loaded projectile with the cartridge used for obturation and the primer. The M14 had 6 bags of propellant in the cartridge which gave a fair amount of flexibility of propellant charge. There was no reason for the cartridge case to completely fill the breech space up to the projectile as would the case for fixed rounds. The German 10cm cartridge case was even smaller, only about 9cm high.

...bit of digging around - I found an image of another M14 cartridge on the axis history forum (attached).

Regards,

Charlie

Edit: found the dimensions of the M14 cartridge - 100 x 132R - if your cartridge is about 132mm high it hasn't been cut down.

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-- Edited by CharlieC on Thursday 29th of March 2012 05:52:21 AM

George G · Corporal

Thanks to all. I was going down the austrian road in my research but I just could not quite figure out if the stamp was an eagle. It is not clearly stamped.

This casing as been cut off at 5 inches.

Regards,

George

George G · Corporal

Charlie,

The shell is excatly 132mm long.

So the casing only held the powder? The "bullet" was separate?

I thought they were all integral like todays rifle shell: lead inserted into a brass casing.

George

George G · Corporal

Being only 132 mm long, it would have made a perfect "small" sized souvenir for a soldier to bring back to Canada.

CharlieC · Legend

George G wrote:
Charlie,

The shell is excatly 132mm long.

So the casing only held the powder? The "bullet" was separate?

I thought they were all integral like todays rifle shell: lead inserted into a brass casing.

George

�The projectile was separate and was loaded in so the drive bands engaged with the rifling. This is still done today - you can see the separate loading of

projectile and propellant in this video clip -�http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoZ1900AhDU.

The cartridge case had the propellant in six bags - to fire with reduced propellant loads the appropriate number of bags were pulled out of the cartridge case before loading it.

Fixed ammunition like a large rifle round is useful for guns where you want high rates of fire and have no requirement to alter the muzzle velocity of the gun - anti-tank guns are an example. High angle guns like howitzers need the capability to control the muzzle velocity of the gun by changing the amount of propellant.

Regards,

Charlie

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George G · Corporal

Wow great information.