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The Austro-Hungarian 37mm
Infanteriegeschütz M.15 may have looked like a toy, but in reality
it was a pretty potent trench gun.
The
gun itself was - like the French counterpart, the 37mm mle1916 -
created out of the new and unforseen demands created by the trench
warfare. In this type of combat there often araised the need to
destroy targets that were very well protected against ordinary
indirect artillery fire, regardless if by cannon or howitzer. The
most common target of that kind was dug-in, well-protected,
shield-equipped Machineguns: the only way to destroy them was to use
direct artillery fire. Mountain guns was often used in this role,
but even they were often difficult to move and use on the churned-up
battlefields. And even if you could bring them into the first line,
they were difficult to bring along in an attack.
The
solution was seen in a light gun, where very high accuracy would
compensate for the relative lightness of the projectiles. Typically
the gun would be used to put grenades with pin-point accuracy
through the embrasures of bunkers or dug-outs. Such a gun was
ordered by the Austro-Hungarian Army in 1915, and already in
November that year a prototype was successfully tested on the
Southwest front.
Despite
problems with the sight, in early 1916 an order for a 1000 guns was
placed, and soon the first pieces were delivered to the troops.
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Click on the pictures to see large
versions
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Click on the pictures to see large
versions
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The
gun, the infanteriegeschütz M.15, could be dismantled into three
packs for transports: tube, cradle and tripod, each weighing 34.6kg,
25.3kg and 24.4kg respectively. (It could be transported by manpacks,
by horse or by dog-cart.)
The
ammo came in boxes of 15, each box weighing 26.5kg. There were three
types of grenades: HE, HE/shrapnel and tracer.
In
theory each Infantry Regiment should have two infan try gun platoons.
Each platoon consisted of 1 officer, 2 NCO:s, 26 men, 1 cart, 4 pack
horses and 4 guns. Due
to lack of equipment in general each Regiment only got one infantry
gun platoon each. They were often employed in the first line, even
during defence, but were often kept down in the dug-outs until
needed.
It
was accurate, alright, and the theoretical range was up to 3.000
meters. At that range it wasn't very accurate due to the pretty
short gun tube (37.2cm). The longest practical range was 2.200
meters. Also there were complaints regarding the lack of punch in
the grenades, at the end of the war the general word was that the
calibre was too small, and that a bigger gun was needed for this
role.
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