7.5 cm FK 7M85

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7.5 cm Feldkanone 7M85
Type	field gun
Place of origin	Germany
Service history
In service	1945
Used by	Nazi Germany
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designed	1944-45
Produced	1945
Specifications
Weight	1,788 kg
Length	3.7 m
Barrel length	2.471 m

Shell	fixed
Caliber	75 mm
Breech	semi-automatic horizontal sliding block
Carriage	split trail
Elevation	-5° to +42°
Traverse	30° 30'
Rate of fire	12-15 rpm
Muzzle velocity	550 m/s
Effective range	10,275 m (11,237 yds)

The 7.5 cm Feldkanone 7M85 (7.5 cm FK 7M85) was a field gun used by Germany in World War II.

[edit] Design

The FK 7M85 was designed to a requirement issued in 1944 for a dual-purpose anti-tank and artillery gun that could be produced quickly. The gun, cradle and recoil system from the 7.5 cm PaK 40 anti-tank gun was adapted to the 10.5 cm leFH 18/40 carriage. Interestingly the leFH 18/40 carriage was adapted from the PaK 40 so this design essentially returned the gun to its original carriage, albeit adapted with an extra 20° of elevation.

[edit] Nomenclature

In 1944-5 the Germans changed their system of artillery designations from the old "year" system. Each weapon was to have a number showing their caliber group, a letter denoting ammunition group, and the last two digits were from the weapon drawing number. In this case 7 denoted 75 mm caliber using the M group of ammunition. The shells were all to be designated as M with a 4 digit number, the first three were the drawing number and the last was the shell's category from the following list:

#	Shell type	#	Shell type
1	high explosive	5	gas
2	hollow charge anti-tank	7	incendiary
3	armor-piercing	8	leaflet
4	high explosive, high capacity	9	practice
5	smoke	10	proof projectile

[edit] References

Englemann, Joachim and Scheibert, Horst. Deutsche Artillerie 1934-1945: Eine Dokumentation in Text, Skizzen und Bildern: Ausrüstung, Gliderung, Ausbildung, Führung, Einsatz. Limburg/Lahn, Germany: C. A. Starke, 1974
Hogg, Ian V. German Artillery of World War Two. 2nd corrected edition. Mechanicsville, PA: Stackpole Books, 1997 ISBN 1-85367-480-X

German artillery of World War II

Tank & anti-tank guns