“WASP” – THE FIRST “PROTAGONIST” OF THE WEHRMACHT

“Field guns on the mobile carriage” was initially called in the troops of the Wehrmacht 105-mm self-propelled howitzer Sd.Kfz.124 Wespe (“Vespa”, “Wasp”), They appeared at the front in the spring of 1943 and their baptism of fire had for the operation “Citadel”, to participate in the battle of Kursk. There is evidence that while the German combat formations were up to seventy guns, fifteen of which were destroyed by the fire of our divisions.

Until that time, the Wehrmacht self-propelled artillery still was not in service. So, the Second world war the Germans began with a field howitzer LeFH 18/36 mostly horse-drawn, although in the motorized divisions, they are towed by tractors. It was a three-ton half-track tractor Sd.Kfz.11 or the five-ton Sd.Kfz.6. However, the maximum speed of artillery systems was only 17 km/h and already the fighting in Poland revealed a significant backlog of artillery units from the armored units and motorized infantry. Therefore, to increase the mobility of artillery units fire support had an urgent basis to create self-propelled guns. The first of these represented the samples on the chassis of captured tanks captured in 1940 the French and the British. Only in 1942 on the basis charged by the time with the weapons of a light tank T-Il Pz. Kpfw. Il Sd.Kfz.121 the industry has been producing self-propelled guns 10,5 cm LeFH 18/40..

The vehicle was developed for the firm of Alkett (Altmarkische Ketten-fabrik), which was a division of Rheinmetall-Borsig AG in Spandau, area of Berlin. The serial production is established in February 1943 at the FAMO plant in Wroclaw (Pol. – Breslau), and then on the FAMO-URSUS in Czechowice, near Warsaw; manufactured until August 1944, 676 self-propelled guns (according to other sources, 682) and 159 tractors, the forwarders ammo. The production stopped because of the evacuation of the plant in the interior of Germany, in connection with the Soviet offensive.

Ammunition were 32 shots of separate loading ammunition with armor-piercing, cumulative and high-explosive shells. The mass of the latter, for example, was 14.8 kg, mass of the propellant charge – 1.02 kg; the initial velocity of the projectile – 4370 m/s.

 

Ammunition was stored in the wheelhouse in four boxes: right in two – liners, to the left in the two shells.

 

Machine gun MG34 of 7.92 mm calibre was carried in the fighting compartment: the fire from it to conduct and ground and air targets. In addition, the crew had submachine guns MP-40 with ammo about 200 rounds of ammunition; they were stored on the sides of the cuttings in special clamps.

 

 

105-mm howitzer unit equipped with hill-start assist device

 

 

The fighting compartment installation. In the center-front of the optical sight, below the lifting mechanism of the howitzer, to the right – breech howitzers

 

Also in the wheelhouse on the port side in frame-rack, took the rubber shock absorbers, protecting them from vibration and shock, was the radio station FuG Spr f, its antenna was mounted outside the cabin.

 

The crew consisted of five people: commander, driver and three members of the gun crew. The driver placed separately from the others, in the Department of management. He was towering over the sides of the machine lookout cabin, in front of which was mounted a surveillance device with glass blocks triplex, and left and right were cut peepholes. A front plate the driver could raise, to improve visibility. In the casemate roof mounted double leaf escape hatch.

 

The first German “Vespa”, according to military experts, proved to be very expedient “alteration” outdated T-Il, successfully supporting the combat actions of tank units.

 

THE PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ACS “VESPA”

 

The crew cel……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..5

Weight, kg………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….11 000

Length, mm……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………5810

Width, mm………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..2280

Height, mm………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….2300

Booking, mm:

– forehead korpusa……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….30

– side corpus…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….15

– forehead rubki…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..20

– side rubki……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….15

Weapons:……………………………………………………………………105-mm howitzer 7.92 mm machine gun

Boekomplekt:………………………………………………………………………………32 shot 600 rounds

Engine:………………………………………………………………..carburetor Maybach HL 62 TRM

four-stroke OHV, liquid-cooled

Motor power l s……………………………………………………………………………………………….140

Running caste:……………………………………………………………………………………five rollers,

three support rollers, an elliptical proressor

Gusenicy:………………………………………………………………………………………………razdelennye,

width 500 mm tracks – 108

The speed on the highway, km/C…………………………………………………………………………………………………40

Speed along the lane, km/C……………………………………………………………………………………………..20

Fuel l…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….200

Radiostanciya……………………………………………………………………………………………………….FuG Spr f

On-Board Swazi…………………………………………………………………………………………Bord Spr

Produced ed…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….676

 

The PERFORMANCE characteristics of the HOWITZER LeFN 18/28

 

Years proizvodstva…………………………………………………………………………………………… 1935 – 1945

Proizvoditel…………………………………………………………………………………………………..Rheinmetall

Caliber mm……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………105

Rate, mystr./min…………………………………………………………………………………….4-6

The initial velocity of the projectile, m/s……………………………………………………………………………………470

Sighting range, m…………………………………………………………………………………………. 10 675

Sarajane…………………………………………………………………………………………..razdelno-gilboe

Wheel device……………………………………………………………..hydropneumatic

Zatvor………………………………………………………………………………………..horizontal wedge