On this time travel to the front lines of a murderous war in the Soviet Union, we are encountering the most important weapon of all German infantry divisions, the 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze 18 or sFH 18 (German: "Feld Howitzer, Model 18"), nicknamed "Immergrün", the german word for "Evergreen". Its mobility and firing range and the effectiveness of its 44 kilogram shell made it a very dangerous weapon. A total of 6,756 examples were produced. The howitzer was designed for horse towing, it used an unsprung axle and hard rubber tires.
It replaced the earlier, First World War-era design of the 15 cm sFH 13, which was judged by the Krupp-Rheinmetall designer team of the sFH 18 as completely inadequate. The sFH 18 was twice as heavy as its predecessor, had a muzzle velocity increase of forty percent, a maximum firing range 4.5 kilometers greater, and a new split-trail gun carriage that increased the firing traverse twelvefold. The secret development from 1926-1930 allowed German industry to deliver a trouble-free design at the beginning of German re-armament in 1933. It was the first artillery weapon equipped with rocket-assisted ammunition to increase range.
The sFH 18 was one of Germany's three main 15 cm calibre weapons, the others being the 15 cm Kanone 18, a corps-level heavy gun, and the 15 cm sIG 33, a short-barreled infantry gun. (Source: wikipedia)
This private footage was taken during the Russian campaign in 1942.
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