Landships II

Tim R · Hero

Some more Artillery ID's needed

28juni14 · Hero

The first three are self-descriptive; I'll not dwell on them. The next series are either on the Zeebrugge mole, or part of Batterie "Kanal". On the last pic you can make out the piers in the back ground.

When MARINEKORPS FLANDERN pulled out in October '18, they blew everything as they were leaving. After the war Osten and Zeebrugge became grand attractions, and post card booklets were sold by the hundreds depicting the defensive remains of the German occupancy. The mole (causeway) seems to have been the photographer's favorite subject in the area. On the mole there were positioned; 3 X 15cm SK L/40, 2 X 10,5cm , and 3 X 8,8cm L/30. ( All but the last pic illustrate mole guns.) This mole, incidentally was in three sections; the first 300 yds were wide enough to carry a roadway, and two standard gauge railway tracks. Then there was a steel viaduct, followed by the mole proper which was about a mile long.

Immediate shore batteries were: Lubeck, Wurttenberg, and Kanal. Additionally 2 X 28cm SK L/40 railway guns were in the vicinity.

The Brits like to think the raid "had limited success", but in reality the Germans were able to dredge around the block ships and resume traffic in less than 24 hours.

Tim R · Hero

Yes, I know the first three pictures names, But I would like more information on the specific things, like caliber, better pictures, things like that.

Also I did get the others from a post card booklet about Zeebrugge, This raid holds a lot of interest for me.

Thanks for your help.

All the Best

Tim R

28juni14 · Hero

The batteries emplaced from Osten to Blankenberge were divided into batterie regions(Kustenverteidigung Ost) In the Osten region: Matrosen-Artillerie Rgt 1 containing the 1. Gruppen: batterien "Kaiser WilhelmII" (4 X 30.5cm), "Hessen" (4 X 28cm), "Braunschweig" (4 X 28cm), "Freya" (4 X 21cm), "Hertha" (4 X 21cm) 2. Gruppen: "Schleswig-Holstein" (2 X 17cm), "Augusta" (3 X 15cm) , "Hamburg" (4 X 10,5cm), "Bremen" (4 X 10,5cm), "Lokkerbek" (4 X 8,8cm), "Schutzennest" (6 X 5cm)

That takes us up to the Zeebergge area. I have to run now, but will return with the rest of the Kustenverteidigung Ost establishment this evening; stay tuned.

28juni14 · Hero

..continuing..

3. Gruppe..Zeebrugge area.. Batterie "Friedrichsort" (4 X 17cm), Batterie "Lubeck" ( 4 X15cm), Batterie "Mole" (4 X 5cm, 2 X 8,8cm, 4 X 10,5cm, 2 X 15cm) , Batterie "Kanal" (4 X 8,8cm), Batterie "Sachsen" (4 X 17cm), Batterie "LeopoldKanal" ( 2 x 5CM), Batterie "Kaiserin" (4 X 15cm). 4. Gruppe.. Batterie "Groden" (4 X 28cm), Batterie "Mittel" 3 X 10,5cm), Batterie "Hafen" (4 X 8,8cm)

Added notes: All these weapon systems (other than Batterie Groden which were haubitze) were flat trajectory. The ports, especially Ostende, were pre-war resort-tourist attractions with luxury hotels built virtually on the shore. Consequently, German battery emplacements were necessarily often quite close to these built-up areas to afford adequate fields of fire. Birtish warship bombardments damaged/destroyed the areas heavily. In one instance they hit a hospital killing dozens of civilians/nurses.

The majority of "88s" used in emplacements should not be confused with the excellent 8,8cm SK L/45. This "88" was the L/30 anti-TBoat gun that had been fitted to German capital ships at the turn of the century. (It was the Naval version of the Army's c73 with less performance.) The 5cm gun was the early TBoat weapon. It was replaced on these boats during the war with the aforementioned inadequate "88".

-- Edited by 28juni14 at 19:41, 2006-01-06

Tim R · Hero

Thank you for the excellent information, I appreciate it.

All the Best

Tim R

Date: Jan 7, 2006

Hi

If we could see your images then we could comment on them.Or are you afraid they might get knicked

Shafty

Tim R · Hero

Shafty Who ever you are, the photos are posted. So you can see them!!!!!!!!!!!Log In

Knicked?????????????

Tim R

-- Edited by Tim R at 03:50, 2006-01-07

SASH155 · Major

quote: "On the mole there were positioned; 3 X 15cm SK L/40." All I will add to this thread is that the two guns in the fifth photo of the 'Batterie L�beck' on or near the m�le, once again, appear to be our suddenly ubiquitous 15cm SK L/45s, not SK L/40s (note again the side mounted recoil recuperator/buffer cylinders, the characteristic steps at the chase and the length of the ordnance, just as on the field carriages discussed here earlier). A German source seems to confirm the presence of SK L/45 guns in the 'Batterie L�beck' as well, adding that there were four, not three of them. According to the author of "Naval Weapons of World War II", John Campbell, this was the standard secondary armament of Germany's dreadnoughts, battlecruisers and all later German light cruisers. The earlier and slightly shorter SK L/40 was used on earlier pre-dreadnoughts and cruisers. So, for whatever the type of vessel these guns were originally intended, the Germans must have had a combined total of (I would speculate) at least two hundred spare 15cm naval barrels of both types to use in field mounts and coast defense mounts. To confuse matters further, there were the 15cm Tbts K L/45 and the 15cm Ubts und Tbts K L/45 which were used, respectively, on the later and larger U-boote and S-113-class destroyers (I am unaware of their use on shore during the First World War). The guns in the sixth photo, according to a German publication that I have, claims that the two guns at the entrance to the m�le were captured Belgian coast defense guns. They appear to be 149mm weapons as well (Belgians, French, Italians, Spanish, Poles, Russians, Serbs, Romanians and Bulgarians customarily used millimeters and Germans, Austrians, Dutch (usually), Czechs, Hungarians, Turks used centimeters to denote caliber), likely of Krupp origin, or at least licenced produced by Cockerill or FRC to a similar design to the German 15cm K L/45s seen elsewhere in this collection (including the gun that the Aussies are sitting on). Note that the breech ring on this Belgian weapon looks significantly different from those of the German guns (unless this is damage due to spiking). My book also has a photo that resembles the one here of the 'Batterie Friedrichsort' (the one that incorrectly claims in the caption that the gun in question was a 28cm, when in fact they were 17cm SK L/40s) but from a slightly different angle. The position did have four old 28cm SK L/22s until 1917, when they were replaced with the more modern and faster firing 17cm SK L/40s, perhaps causing the confusion of the captioner.

-- Edited by SASH155 at 06:07, 2006-01-07

-- Edited by SASH155 at 06:41, 2006-01-07

-- Edited by SASH155 at 06:42, 2006-01-07