15 cm sFH 02

The 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze 1902 (English: "15 cm heavy field howitzer 1902") was a German heavy field howitzer introduced in 1903 and served in World War I.

15 cm sFH 02
Type	Heavy field howitzer
Place of origin	German Empire
Service history
In service	1903–1918
Used by	German Empire
Wars	World War I
Production history
Designer	Krupp
Designed	1902
Manufacturer	Krupp
Specifications
Mass	2,035 kg (4,486 lb)
Barrel length	1.8 m (5 ft 11 in)
Height	1.23 m (4 ft)
Shell	40.5 kg (89 lb)
Caliber	149.1 mm (5.87 in)
Recoil	hydro-spring
Elevation	0° to +45°
Traverse	4°
Muzzle velocity	325 m/s (1,070 ft/s)
Maximum firing range	7,450 m (8,150 yd)

Design and history

It was the first artillery piece to use a modern recoil system in the German Army. Some 416 were in service at the beginning of the World War I.^[1] Its mobility, which allowed it to be deployed as medium artillery, and fairly heavy shell gave the German army a firepower advantage in the early battles in Belgium and France in 1914^[2] as the French and British armies lacked an equivalent. France had a Canon de 65 M with a recoil system, but used it only as a mountain howitzer.^[3]

• 
  The remains of a German sFH 02 howitzer located in Kei Mouth, South Africa. It was captured from German forces in South West Africa during World War I. Like other such German weapons of the time, it was cast with the markings R II Ultima Ratio Regum ("last argument of kings").
• 
  Another sFH 02 howitzer, this one confiscated by the US after World War I and now located in Sierra Madre Memorial Park.
• 
  A German 15 cm sFH 02 howitzer from 1917

See also

• 15 cm sFH 13 : German successor

Weapons of comparable role, performance and era

• 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze M 94: Austro-Hungarian equivalent
• BL 6 inch 30 cwt howitzer: British equivalent
• Rimailho Model 1904TR : French equivalent
• 152 mm howitzer M1910 : French/Russian equivalent
• 6 inch field howitzer M-1908 : approximate US equivalent

Notes

1. Jäger, p. 29
2. Farndale 1986, page 59
3. lovettartillery.com, Development of German Heavy Artillery, by CW2 Ralph Lovett

References

• General Sir Martin Farndale, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. Western Front 1914–1918. The Royal Artillery Institution, 1986. ISBN 1-870114-00-0.
• Jäger, Herbert. German Artillery of World War One. Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire: Crowood Press, 2001. ISBN 1-86126-403-8.

External links

• Lovett Artillery Collection
• "sFH 02 on Landships". landships.freeservers.com. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012.
• List and pictures of World War I surviving 15cm sFH 02 howitzers