Bulgarian Artillery in WW1

[MCP]

French captured guns

In autumn 1915 French Armee d’Orient was composed by two Infantry Divisions and as for artillery had (C means canon court = howitzer; L means canon long = gun) :
15 batteries with Puteaux 75mm Mle. 1897 quick-firing field guns (156e D.I. : 6 batteries; 57e D.I. : 9 batteries)
2 batteries with Schneider-Ducrest 65mm Mle. 1906 quick-firing mountain guns
1 batteries with Schneider 105mm Mle. 1913 L quick-firing heavy guns
1 batteries with De Bange 120mm Mle. 1878 L heavy guns
Later a third Infantry Division (122e D.I.I) with 9 field batteries was attached to the French Army in Macedonia.

In 1915 during the heavy fighting with Bulgarian Army, the latter captured 6 field guns. In 1916-18 ASIK Bulgarians had no chance to capture more French guns. According with some sources a little number of French field guns were used as improvised anti-aircraft artillery. It seems also that Germany shipped some French 75mm field guns to Bulgarian Army.

[MCP]

Gun model : Schneider-Canet 120mm mod. 1897 Long Gun
Calibre: 120mm L/26
Weight in action: 3080 kg
Shell Weight: 18 kg
Muzzle Velocity: 575 m/s
Max. Range: 8400 m
Remarks : Slow firing long gun.


Serbian Army have some old fortress guns (65 in 1912), used in fixed batteries. The principal defensive works are at Nish (an old citadel with seven bastioned forts, two groups of old Turkish fortification near Vinik and Goriza, three moder forts: Kamara, Markovo-Kale and Detljak), Pirot (five forts and some redoubts built in 1885, for the war against Bulgaria), Zajechar (three groups each with three modern forts) and Vranja (tventy works of various strengh). They were armed with a mix of old guns and mortas, some of them dating back to Russian-Turkish War (1877-78) and Serbia-Bulgaria War (1885). There were also some La Hitte 6 pdr. bronze guns (dating back to 1850s), nearly obsolete. At the beginning of the war some fortress guns were used in the defence of Belgrad, but many guns were captured by Bulgarian in Nish and Vranja. They were of no utility in a modern war and it is very unlikely that they were used by Bulgarian Army.

Many thanks to The Edge for the correction.

[MCP]

Gun model : Schneider-Canet 150mm mod. 1897
Calibre: 150mm L/8
Weight : 491 kg
Weight in action : 2300 kg
Tube Lenght : 1200 m
Shell Weight :
Muzzle Velocity : 200 m/s
Max. Range : 3000 m
Elevation :
Remarks : Slow firing mortar

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Gun model : Schneider-Canet 120mm mod. 1897
Calibre: 120mm L/12
Weight : 497 kg
Weight of carriage : 872 kg
Weight in action : 1368 kg
Weight of gun train : 2230 kg
Tube Lenght : 1.440 m
Shell Weight : 16.4 kg.
Shrapnel Weight : 16.4 kg. (276 balls x 13.83 gr)
Muzzle Velocity : 315 m/s
Max. Range : 6000m /4500m
Elevation : + 45° / - 5°
Traversing angle : 4°
Remarks : Slow firing howitzer.

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Gun model : Schneider-Canet 120mm QF M. 1911
Calibre : 120mm L/14.5
Weight in action : 1385 kg
Tube Lenght : 1.740 m
Shell Weight : 21.3 kg
Muzzle Velocity : 330 m/s
Max. Range : 6700 m (afterwards increased to 8000 m )
Elevation : + 43° / - 3°
Traversing angle : 5°
Remarks : Quick firing field howitzer. It is an improved version of the 120mm quickfiring howitzer adopted by Bulgarian Army.

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Gun model : Schneider-Canet 150mm QF M. 1911
Calibre : 150mm L/12
Weight in action : 2285 kg
Tube Lenght: 1.800 m
Shell Weight : 42 kg
Muzzle Velocità : 300 m/s
Max. Range : 7800 m
Elevation : + 43° / - 3°
Traversing angle : 5°
Quick firing heavy howitzer. It was derived from the 152.4mm M1910 howitzer built by Schneider for Russian Army.

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Gun model : Schneider-Creusot 70mm QF M. 1907
Calibre : 70mm L/17
Weight : 98 kg
Weight in action : 508 kg
Tube Lenght : 1197 m
Shell Weight : 5.3 kg
Shrapnel Weight : 5.3 kg
Muzzle Velocity : 300 m/sec
Max. Range : 5000 m
Elevation : + 20° / - 12°
Remarks :
Quick firing mountain gun.
5 load: 1 - gun; 1 - axle; 1 - shield and fittings; 1 - cradle, 1 - trail and wheels
It was the standard Schneider export mountain gun. It was supplied also to Italy ans Spain as their M 1908. The Schneider mountain guns adopted by Bulgarian army was the same weapon, but adopted a 75mm cailbre gun in order to standardize the artillery.

Gun model : 80mm De Bange M. 1885
Calibre : 80mm
Weight : 105 kg
Weight of Cartridge : 0.4 kg
Weight of Shell : 5.6 kg
Max. Range : 5000 m
Remarks : This mountain gun was developed from 90mm De Bange field gun. It was adopted by French Army on 25 July 1878.
3 load: 1 - gun; 1 - carriage; 1 - trail and wheels

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Gun model : 80mm De Bange M. 1885
Calibre : 80mm L/28.8
Weight : 424.5 kg
Weight in action : 925 kg
Weight with limber : 1595 kg
Tube Lenght : 2.304 m
Weight of Cartridge : 1,5 kg
Weight of Shell : 5.8 kg
Weight of Shrapnel : 6.1 kg
Weight of Case Shot : 5.55 kg
Muzzle Velocity : 472 m/s
Max. Range : 6000 m (shrapnel), 7000 m (HE shell)
Elevation : -8°30’ + 22°30’
Remarks : Slow firing field gun.


Thanks to The Edge for the corrections.

[MCP]

ex Serbian Field Guns

General remark:
The guns and howitzers used by Serbian Army during World War I were generally very similar to those adopted by Bulgarian Army. Obviously the artillery of a more recent pattern have some little improvements, but no really significant alteration was introduced between 1907 and 1912.


Gun model : Schneider-Creusot 75mm QF M. 1907
Calibre : 75mm L/31
Weight : 340 kg
Weight in action : 1040 kg
Tube Lenght : 2.325 m
Shell Weight : 6.4 kg
Shrapnel Weight : 6.1 kg (320 balls)
Muzzle Velocity : 550 m/s
Max. Range : 7300 m
Elevation : + 16° / - 5°
Remarks : Quick firing field gun.

Gun model : Schneider-Creusot 75mm QF M. 1912
It was the same gun which French Army had adopted as its artillery gun. Since its features are inferior to the standard 75mm Mle 1897, French Army ordered only a little number of this gun. It fired the same ammunition as M. 1907, but was lighter than it (weight in action was only 965 kg). See also Post 109.

Gun model : Krupp 75mm QF M. 1904
It was the same gun captured from the Turks by Bulgarian Army.

Thanks to The Edge for the corrections and the additions.

[MCP]

Serbian captured guns

In 1913, after Balkan wars, Serbian Army had (excepting fortress guns):
- 324 quick firing 75mm Schneider-Creusot M. 1907 and M. 1907A field guns,
- 24 quick firing 75mm Krupp M. 1904 field guns captured from the Turks,
- 36 quick firing 70mm Schneider-Creusot M. 1907 mountain guns,
- 8 quick firing 75mm Krupp M. 1904 mountain guns captured from the Turks,
- 32 quick firing 120mm Schneider-Canet M. 1911 field howitzers,
- 8 quick firing 150mm Schneider-Canet M. 1911 QF howitzers,
- 264 slow firing 80mm De Bange M. 1885 field guns,
- 30 slow firing 80mm De Bange M. 1885 mountain guns,
- 20 slow firing 120mm Schneider-Canet M. 1897 howitzers,
- 6 slow firing 150mm Schneider-Canet M. 1897 mortars,
- 16 slow firing 120mm Schneider-Canet M. 1897 ong guns.

At the biginning of World War I, Serbian Field Army had 542 guns, the rest being in the rear or along Bulgarian and Albanian borders. During 1914 Serbian Army suffered heavy losses both in men and in weapons, but it also captured a lot of materiel, that were used in order to replace the losses. In the battle of the Jadar Serbians captured 46 guns, 30 machine-guns, 140 ammunition wagoons and during the third Austro-Hungarian invasion they captured 133 guns, 71 machine-guns, 29 gun carriages, 386 ammunition wagoons.
The Etente contributed very little to the strengthening of Serbian Army. AFIK France gave to Serbian army only 3 batteries of four 75mm field guns and 2 batteries of four 65mm mountain guns; Russia only a battery of 106.2mm heavy guns (or 122mm howitzers). Besides Serbia acquired in Greece 2 batteries of four 76.2mm Schneider-Danglis (or 75mm Krupp) mountain guns.
In September 1915 when Mackensen crossed the Danube and Bulgaria entered into war, Serbian Army lined up:
against 3rd Austrian Army and 11th German Army : 362 guns
against 1st Bulgarian Army : 248 guns
against 2nd Bulgarian Army : 44 guns
along Albanian border : 24 guns
Among these 678 guns there were about 180 captured Austrian guns and in addition to them there were some fortress and siege guns.

In september-december 1914 Serbian Army was completely defeated and lost almost all its equipment. On 31th december the rest of Serbian Army, concentrated in Albania between Durazzo and San Giovanni di Medua, had only 81 guns and 179 machine guns, but only 68 guns were transferred to Corfu by Italian and French Navy.
The total amount of guns captured by Bulgaria and its allies in 1915 is not clear, since the sources are not in agreement:
- according with Austrian Official History of the War (Oesterreich-Ungarns letzer Krieg III, page 236) Austria and Germany captured 397 guns, 48 machine guns, 12 mine launchers and 208 ammunition wagoons, while Bulgarians captured about 200 guns;
- according with German Official History of the War (Der Weltkrieg IX, page 276) Mackensen Army Group and Bulgarian 2nd Army as a whole captured 502 guns till november and about 100 guns in december;
- according with Mackensen Memories (Briefe und Aufzeichnungen, page 242) they captured about 500 guns till november: about 1/3 of them was captured by Bulgarians;
- according Manuel Lon (Bulgaria en la Guerra Europea, page 60) Bulgarian army alone captured 371 guns and 136 ammunition wagoons - among them there were 48 fortress and heavy guns (mostly old) taken in Nish.
Unfortunately I don't know how many guns captured from serbians were used by Bulgarian Army during the war. But according with L.CORDIER, Victoire eclair en Orient, Aurillac, Editions U.S.H.A. 1968, p. 58, the 5th battery of 2nd Field Artillery Regiment had four 120mm Schneider-Canet howitzers (I think they are of the ancient slow firing mod. 1897, but I'm not sure).


Thanks to The Edge for the corrections

[MCP]

Captured guns

During the War Bulgarian Army captured a lot of of weapons and hundreds of guns. Even if I have not accurate informations about the use of captured guns, it is very probable that many of them were assigned to Bulgarian units, expecially in 1915-16. Also during Balkan Wars Bulgarian Army used many guns captured from the Turks and in 1913-14 they were assigned to artillery regiments in order to achieve the established strenght. Lt. Col. Napier, British Militar Attache; in Sofia before World War I (August 1914-September 1915) affirmed that, when he visited gen. Gesov in Plovdiv, he saw "a number of good Krupp guns recently captured from the Turks". Gen. Gesov told him that "thanks to the latter he was able to fit the Division out complete with Q.F. guns" (Experiences of a Military Attache; in the Balkans, London, p.47).
In 1915 German Army had no enough guns to equip its new Divisions. The number of guns of a Division decreased from 72 at the beginning of the War, to 48 at the beginnig of the 1915, to only 24 in spring of 1915. In mid 1915 four units were designed brigades - even if they had 9 infantry battalions like a Division - because they had only a battalion of field artillery (12 guns) each. This lack of artillery ends up in the second half of 1916. Consequently in 1915-16 Germany could ship to Bulgaria only a little number of guns. So we can suppose that Bulgarian Army utilized some guns captured in Serbia in 1915 and in Rumenia in 1916. This is even more likely since both Serbians and Rumenians had the same field guns that Bulgarians used (Schneider and Krupp).
Germany too ceded some of the guns captured in Russia or in France. Most of them were used as improvised antiaircraft guns.

[MCP]

Gun model : Skoda 150mm QF M. 1914/1916
Austrian designation : 15cm Hubitz M 14/16
Calibre : 150mm L/14
Weight in action : 2765 kg
Tube Lenght : 2.100 m
Shell Weight : 42 kg
Muzzle Velocity : 340 m/s
Max. Range : 7900 m
Elevation : + 70° / - 5’
Remarks :
Quick firing heavy field howitzer. It was also converted for mountain transport, divided in four loads. Following Austro-hungarian exemple, German Army converted 7.7cm FK 96 n/A, 10.5cm lFH 98/09, 15cm sFH 02, sFH 13, 10cm K 04 and 10cm K 14. They were all transported in two loads: tube and carriage (later three loads). In the picture are shown the solution adopted for 15cm sFH 02.

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Gun model : Skoda 75mm QF M. 1915
Austrian designation : 7.5cm Gebirgskanone M 15
Calibre : 75mm L/13
Weight in action : 613 kg
Tube Lenght : 0.975 m
Shield thickness: 5 mm
Shell Weight : 6.3 kg
Shrapnel Weight : 6.55 kg (280 lead bullets or 160 steel and 10 lead-antimony bullets)
Muzzle Velocity : 365 m/s
Max. Range : 6800 m
Elevation : + 56° / - 9’
Remarks :
Quick firing mountain light howitzer. It could be dismantled into six parts (gun = 106 kg; shield and fittings = 86 kg; cradle 98 kg; wheels = 95 kg; carriage - front = 110 kg; carriage - back = 51 kg), generally carried in four loads.

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Artillery shipped by Austria-Hungary during WW1

Austria-Hungary was the second supplier of Bulgarian Army in World War I. The ties between the two Armies are very bound, probably because Bulgarian Chief of Staff and some Bulgarian officiers studied in Vienna. Only a few days after entering the war in October 1915, the Bulgarian High Command sent an urgent request to the Austro-Hungarian General Staff for immediate delivery of 50,000 Mannlicher rifles and 50 million rounds for them, 300,00 greatcoats, 500,000 pair of boots, 250,000 rucksacks, 250,000 cartridge belts, 500,000 aluminium canteens, 100,000 woolen blankets, 1,600,000 meters of cotton cloth, and much more. During the war the co-operation between the two Army was unfailing and Austria-Hungary supplied a lot of Schwarzlose machine guns and a great number of weapons and equipments.
As for artillery, Bulgarian Army received by Austria-Hungary some batteries of 15cm heavy howitzer and of 7.5cm pack gun, both made by Skoda. This was probably the best mountain gun introduced during World War I and was intensively used also during World Ward II by various Army. Even if it was designed "kanone" it was a true howitzer able to fire in curve trajectory, very usefull in mountain warfare.

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Heavy Minenwerfer

Gun model : Rheinmetall heavy Minenwerfer Old pattern
German designation : 25cm sMW a/A
Calibre : 245mm L/3
Weight in action : 660 kg
Weight on march : 955 kg
Tube Lenght : 0.750 m
Shell Weight : 97 kg (50 kg of explosive)
Muzzle Velocity :
Max. Range : 150/550 m
Elevation : + 75° / 20
Rate of fire: 20 rounds per hour
Personnel required to carry the MW into action : 21 men
Remarks : Introduced in 1910.

Gun model : Rheinmetall heavy Minenwerfer New pattern
German designation : 25cm sMW n/A
Calibre : 245mm L/5
Weight in action : 762 kg
Tube Lenght : 1.250 m
Shell Weight : 97 kg (50 kg of explosive)
Muzzle Velocity : 56 m/s (with the lowest charge)
67m/s (with the highest charge)
Max. Range : 150/970 m
Elevation : + 75° / 20
Rate of fire: 20 rounds per hour
Personnel required to carry the MW into action : 28 men
Remarks : Introduced in 1916. It was able to traverse 360°.