It is hardly necessary to remind once again that the task of artillery is to transfer as much explosives as possible to the enemy. Of course, in a tank, say, you can "fire up" a solid "blank", and this will destroy it, but it is best to shoot at enemy fortifications with something that contains a lot of explosives and explodes very strongly. To - let's say, "in one fell swoop with seven beats", that is, to leave him as little chance as possible to survive. That is, the larger the caliber of the gun, the better. But this also increases the weight. This is why 6 and 8 inches are considered to be the most commonly used heavy field artillery calibers. It was believed in the same way during the First World War, but few army had such weapons. The German, however, had 210-mm howitzers, but in other countries, field guns of similar calibers were underestimated.
Mk VIII in camouflage livery at the Canadian War Museum, Ottawa.
In the UK, the urgent need for 203mm guns was met by the development of the Marks I and V (Mk I and V) howitzers. It should be noted the efficiency and resourcefulness of the British, who used barrels of naval guns with bored and cut barrels for their first 8-inch howitzers. Carriages were also hastily made in railway workshops, and the wheels were taken from steam tractors. They proved to be quite good, after which the military wanted to have an even more effective weapon of this caliber. For this reason, in August 1915, Vickers was asked to create a new eight-inch howitzer. The first 8-inch Mk VI howitzer rolled off the assembly line on March 1, 1916.
Basic graphic projections of the howitzer.
The design of the gun allowed for aiming the barrel by 4 ° to the left and to the right, and the angle of maximum barrel lift of 50 °. The breechblock is piston, and on the new gun it has become faster and more modern. The barrel of the new howitzer was made of nickel steel and consisted of an inner tube, outer casing, breech, front and rear guide rings. The casing was fitted on the pipe with an interference fit in the hot state, which made the barrel very strong and at the same time light enough for such a large caliber. The rifling in the barrel had a constant steepness. The recoil devices were located in a massive cradle under the barrel. The recoil brake is hydraulic, the recoil brake is hydropneumatic. The lifting mechanism had one sector attached to the left pivot of the cradle. In addition, the howitzer was equipped with a lifting mechanism for quickly bringing the barrel to the loading angle (+ 7 ° 30 ') and back. The turning mechanism is screw. All this made it possible to achieve a maximum firing range of 9825 meters, with a total weight of 8, 7 tons, which was about five tons less than the weight of previous models. This gun had an improved recoil system over earlier versions, but still required ramps under the wheels to compensate for the rest of its significant recoil.
The Mk VI got stuck in a ditch and even the tractor didn't help!
The next model was the Mk VII, which appeared in June 1916, and it was almost identical to its predecessor, except that the length of its barrel was increased to 17.3 calibers. Several small re-designs followed, resulting in the Mark VIII 8 inch howitzer. The new gun could now throw 200 pounds (90.8 kg) projectiles at a range of 12,300 yards (11,240 m).
The howitzers of the 54th siege artillery battery are firing at the enemy. Western Front, 1917. Photo by Frank Harley.
The howitzer can be towed by either a tractor or horses. Which, in general, was convenient, since animal-drawn transport was still used very widely during the First World War. The wheels were 30 cm wide and 170 cm in diameter. It was a really heavy howitzer: the weight of the barrel and bolt was 2.9 tons, and only one piston bolt weighed 174 kg. The rate of fire was only about 1 round per minute, partly due to the large weight of the barrel, which required reducing its tilt to zero when loading. The 8-inch howitzer used cap-type ammunition: that is, shells and caps with gunpowder were loaded into the barrel separately. There were four types of charges, each of which gave different ranges in firing range. The howitzer was used by the British until the very end of the First World War, then it was in service in the 20-30s and was also used in the first years of the Second World War, until in 1943 it was recognized as completely obsolete.
Shells for an 8-inch howitzer. Photo by Frank Harley.
This howitzer was also used by the French Army and the US Army, where it was also produced. Just eight days after the American declaration of war with Germany (passed by Congress on April 4, 1917), 80 8-inch howitzers were ordered from Midvale Steel & Ordnance Co. in Niketown, Pennsylvania. The order was not difficult to fulfill, since this company was already producing them for the UK. Production was organized so quickly that the first ready-made gun went for testing on December 13, 1917. The total order was eventually increased to 195 copies; 146 were completed and received by November 14, 1918, and 96 of them were then sent abroad.
High-explosive shells Mk III. The projectile had a screw-in bottom, a copper guide belt at the rear of the projectile, and it was rather thick-walled, which caused, when it exploded, crushing into large and heavy fragments that flew over a considerable distance. The projectile also had a strong high-explosive effect.
During the Winter War 1939 - 1940. Finland, desperate for modern and powerful weapons, bought 32 8-inch howitzers from the United States, but they arrived too late to have any effect on the outcome of this war. They are cheap, but people had to be trained to work with them, so when their calculations were ready, the war was over. Nevertheless, they were used during the war with the USSR in 1941-1944. The Finns liked this howitzer, which they found very reliable. After World War II, the remaining howitzers were kept in case of a new war until the end of the 60s. Well, one such howitzer ended up in a military museum in Helsinki.
BL Mark VIII made in the USA at a museum in Helsinki. The "tractor" wheels with embossed oblique lugs are clearly visible.
The BL Mark VIII proved to be a powerful, reliable and transportable weapon. Of its shortcomings, a very large rollback of the barrel was noted. Because of this, when switching from a traveling position to a combat position, it was necessary to dig in the soil under the gun carriage, if it was supposed to shoot at high elevation angles. Without this, the breech of the howitzer could hit the ground.
Howitzer in the Museum of Artillery in St. Petersburg.
During the First World War, this howitzer was also supplied to Russia. They entered the TAON - "Heavy artillery of special purpose", about the activities of which, by the way, the author of the novel "Port Arthur" Alexander Stepanov, in his sequel "The Zvonarevs Family", wrote very interestingly. Port Arthur is good for what, and this novel of his is even better, but for some reason we know much less about it. By the way, when at the end of 1921 the Red Army carried out an inventory of foreign guns, it turned out that it had 59 203-mm howitzers of "foreign designs", most of which belonged to the Mk VI type. But on 1923-01-08, the Taon had only 203 mm Mk VI howitzers. Of these, five were in service, and another nine constituted the emergency reserve of Taon, and 15 were stored in warehouses. However, already by November 1, 1936.in service in the Red Army there were 50 serviceable 203-mm howitzers Mk VI and another of the same training howitzer. Subsequently, Mark VI howitzers were in service with the Red Army at least until 1943.
Mk VIII, 23 April 1940. Bethune, France.
As for the British howitzers, before the outbreak of World War II, they were put on wheels with pneumatic tires, which increased their cross-country ability on dirt roads and the speed of transportation. In this form, they fought the entire war.
