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It was not conceived as a land weapon, but was originally intended to be used against Naval targets. Pretty soon as the war started, the Austro-Hungarian High Command found out that the threat from the Sea was less than the demand for heavy artillery on the land fronts. So Skoda was asked to make these coastal howitzers mobile, or at least transportable. Which they did. The result was the 42cm Haubitze M.14. (The M.14 is characterized by being turret mounted, a lageacy from their days as coastal howitzers.) In January 1915 the M.14 version fired its first shots, at Tarnow in Poland, with great success. (It then participated in the first air radio corrected artillery shelling in the history of warfare.) During the summer the gun (the other one was still at Pola was used) was shifted around, and used at the Serbian, Russian and Italian fronts. As more guns were produced (finally six), more batteries were formed, and put into action. A redesign of the heavy M.14 was started in 1916, which, among other things, dispensed with the remains of the turret, and instead used a simple base box, of the same type that were used by the 30.5cm Mörser and 38cm Haubitze. The gun could now be moved, in a disassembled state of course, in six units, pulled by heavy tractors This was the M.16. (In 1917 another redesign was ordered, resulting in an even smaller base-box, making the gun transportable in only four units. This was the M.17.) |
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is Extratech:s fine kit, but backdated from the M.17 portrayed in the kit, to the earlier M.16 model, used during WW1. The changes that this called for are more than I initially believed. Among other things, the M.16 requires a new baseplate, a radically changed autoloader, altered carriage sides etc. (For more info on how to this, click here.) I don't consider it 100% complete. This behemoth really cries out for a diorama, that includes the parphernalia associated with a deployed gun, not least the small wagon used to transport the grenades to the auto-loader etc. Hopefully I will do such a diorama one day. Click on the thumbnails to see more views of this model:
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The Austro-Hungarian 42cm Howitzer was probably the most potent artillery piece
used by any Army in WW1.
