PICTURE: Two 37 mm Obuhov M/14 infantry guns photographed in collection point of captured heavy weapons in Tolvajärvi during Winter War. It is more than likely that their gun crews have traded these guns to recently captured Soviet 45-mm antitank-guns. The guns behind these two 37 K/14 are captured Soviet 76 RK/27 infantry guns. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photo number 2470). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (176 KB).

PICTURE: Closer look behind gun shield of 37 mm Obuhov M/14 infantry gun. The artillery sighting scope is missing, only hole of bolt used to attach it is visible in foreground right. (Photo taken in Sotamuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (39 KB).

37-mm Obuhov (also sometimes written as Obuhof or Obuhoff in various foreign sources) infantry gun can be considered quite eccentric design. What is known suggests that it was a Russian developed infantry gun design built from old 37/20 O naval guns. The gun was both developed and built during World War 1. Due to Finnish model marking it seems likely that the guns were converted to this sort of infantry guns by Obuhov factory in Petrograd (modern day St. Petersburg). Sliding wedge breech and box-trail are not particularly unusual for the era, but recoil system based on spring around the barrel is not something that one normally sees in artillery weapons. Combined with very large disc wheels and very high gun shield this gives the gun sort of a "toy gun" look. Short barrel had 12-groove rifling and offered reasonable muzzle velocity with ammunition, that it used. Artillery sighting scope was used as main sighting system. However the actual aiming system seems quite an archaic ad-hoc system compared to later designs. Gun sights were adjustable to ranges 0 - 23 cables (one cable = about 185 meters) and also to 0 - 575 points (1 point being 1/1000 of the distance). Gun shield has two-part structure and its upper & lower parts are attached to each other with hinges and a latch. Like guns of its time typically, this gun was also designed to be horse-towed and had small caisson/limber for that.

PICTURE: 37 mm Rosenberg M/15 infantry gun. Front sight is the upwards pointing spike right next to barrel. (Photo taken in Sotamuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (142 KB).

PICTURE: Another 37 mm Rosenberg M/15 infantry gun. This gun has also lower section of gun shield, which would have made moving the gun on soft ground or snow practically impossible. It is also painted with Finnish Continuation War era three colour camo, even if these guns no longer saw active use in that war. (Photo taken in Jalkaväkimuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (159 KB).

As the name suggests this gun was developed by Russian Colonel (later: General) M.F. Rosenberg and named after him. 37-mm Rosenberg gun uses same ammunition as the Obuhov one, but is the whole extent of features that they share. Rosenberg M/15 could be described as 37 mm no-nonsense basic infantry gun simplified to (maybe too) extreme. Compared to Obuhov-gun this gun has slightly shorter gun barrel with bore of similar length and rifling of 12 grooves. It also have very simple iron sights adjustable to 0 - 5400 arschen (old measurement used in Imperial Russia, known as arsina in Finland, one arschen = 0.71 meters) and screw breech with 90-degree turn. Small box trail is partly made from wood and recoil system uses rubber rings to soften up the recoil. Gun shield is two-part structure with upper & lower part. Steel wheels seem to be similar as the ones used in Sokolov-mount of Russian Maxim machineguns. Like typical horse-towed guns of its era this gun also has small caisson / gun limber.

The Finns captured these quite primitive 37-mm infantry guns from Russians during Finnish Civil War of 1918. The Russians had introduced the guns to use of their Army during World War 1. After Finnish Civil in year 1918 the guns remained in use of Finnish Army. Finnish Army also considered suitable as antitank weapons in 1920's and 1930's, officially including them to inventory of antitank guns (along with 37 mm K/36 Bofors antitank-guns) before Winter War. November of 1931 Finnish inventory contained six M/14 Obuhov and 14 M/15 Rosenberg guns. Both guns seem to have seen considerable use as training guns with Finnish Army and Civil Guard (Suojeluskunta) in 1920's and 1930's.

PICTURE: Finnish soldiers with 37 mm infantry gun m/15 sometime in 1920's or early 1930's. All soldiers in the photo are wearing Finnish Army uniforms with summer tunic M/22 and field cap M/22. (Original photograph part of Jaeger Platoon Website photo collection). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (79 KB).

Finnish Army seem to have considered these guns quite obsolescent at least already before Winter War, since they appear in year 1936 list of mixed and obsolete materials, that Finnish Army intended to be sold off in the future. But when Winter War started in November 1939, Finnish Army suffered from serious shortage of antitank-guns, which probably mainly explains why the old Russian 37-mm infantry guns were still issued to antitank-gun units. Once the war started their ineffiency as antitank-guns become soon apparent and the ones issued to combat units were swiftly removed from frontline service. That was the last time Finnish Army used these guns. According inventory list made in January of 1940 at that time Finnish Army still had five M/14 Obuhov and ten M/15 Rosenberg guns. During Continuation War the guns were issued to coastal defence, but what is known they did not see any real action anymore. Most of these guns were scrapped before year 1945, with only few of each model surviving for museum use.

- Marskin panssarintuhoojat:

distance	hitting angle	penetration
200 m	90 degrees	10 mm

- Panzerabwehrkanonen 1916 - 1977 (37 K/15 Rosenberg gun, 512 g AP-projectile, 442 m/sec):

distance	hitting angle	penetration
1000 m	90 degrees	12 mm

PICTURE: Closer look behind gun shield of 37 mm Rosenberg M/15 infantry gun. The circular things in middle of photo are rubber rings in a guiding bolt used as recoil dampening system. Notice also breech system, peep-sight type rear sight, 37-mm shell and wooden structure of the gun carriage. (Photo taken in Jalkaväkimuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (154 KB).

Information about ammunition of these guns suggests, that while the Finns early on had to rely captured Russian ammunition for these guns later on the ammunition inventory became much more versatile. This can only have resulted buying and/or manufacturing new ammunition for them. The late 1930's ammunition listing is very heavily focused in armour piercing ammunition, for which the same ammunition also being used in FT-17 light tanks may have been a factor. The manual from year 1926 still lists only ammunition types as high-explosive (HE) with shells with concussion and delay fuses, armour piercing (AP) ammunition and grape shot. The ammunition manual from 1939 (Lyhennetty tykistö ampumatarvikenomenklatuuri) on the other hand contains only armour piercing (AP), armour piercing tracer (AP-T), armour piercing high explosive (APHE) and armour piercing high explosive tracer (APHE-T) ammunition.

Structure of grape shot projectile was brass jacket filled with pellets moulded to paraffin. Time delay fuse had maximum setting of 8 seconds, which was divided evenly to 32 settings (one setting every quarter of a second). Ammunition listed in here was same as used with 37 Psv K/18 (Puteaux) guns of FT-17 tanks and 37 ItK/Maxim AA-guns (also known as 37/30-M by Coastal Artillery) mainly used by Coastal Artillery.

PICTURE: Finnish soldiers practicing with 76 LK/10 guns. Photo probably from early 1920's. (Photograph part of Jaeger Platoon Website photo collection). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (82 KB).

This was the so-called counter-attack gun of Imperial Russia and based on French Schneider design. Basically the gun was light gun designed to shoot direct fire towards attacking enemy infantry and cavalry. This gun had fixed shot type ammunition type of its own, which was not compatible with ammunition used in other guns of Russian field artillery at that time. Basic design and structure of the gun were typical to the era with pole trail, screw breech and wood wheels with steel hoops. This gun was also based to Schneider designed 76 mm infantry gun 1913, from which the Russians seem to had wanted a lighter version for direct fire use, causing development of this gun model. The gun was quite light indeed, but also of quite limited use. According Finnish experience the guns could be used for indirect fire as well, but the gun design was very poorly suited for such use.

Finnish Red Guard used these guns in relatively large numbers during Finnish Civil War of year 1918. The Finns (Finnish White Army that is) captured 49 of these guns during that war. In early 1920's their gun carriages were replaced with Finnish made gun carriages of 76 LK/13 gun, thus converting these guns gun model referred as 76 LK/10/13 guns. These 76 LK/10/13 were comparable to already existing 76 LK/13, which had proved much more useful than 76 LK/10.

PICTURE: Carriage of 76 LK/10 equipped with wooden "gun barrel". This combination commonly known as "Pastori" (= "e;reverend"e;) in Finnish Army was created as a training tool and used to practice towing gun with horses. (Photo taken in Tykistömuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (136 KB).

The remaining 76 LK/10 carriages were equipped with dud wooden barrels and used for towing training equipment, in this use they earned nickname "pastori" (reverend). When Winter War started only three 76 LK/10 remained in Finnish inventory and they did not see any use in World War 2.

PICTURE: 76 LK/13 infantry gun. (Photo taken in Tykistömuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (146 KB).

- Calculated from military manual Panssarintorjuntayksiköiden ohjesääntö, II2 osa (HEAT, projectile weight 4,80 kg, 320 m/sec)(**):

distance	hitting angle	penetration
all	90 degrees	87 mm
all	80 degrees	82 mm
all	70 degrees	77 mm
all	60 degrees	72 mm
all	50 degrees	64 mm
all	45 degrees	60 mm

(**) 76 hkr 42-18/24-38 (HEAT) and 76 hrk Vj 42/C-18/24-38 (HEAT-T) ammunition. Ammunition loaded with these HEAT and HEAT-tracer projectiles was added to Finnish Army manuals 1st of July 1944, so presumably ammunition was introduced to Finnish use around that time (likely it arrived month or two earlier). The data here has been calculated from information of the same projectile fired with 400 m/sec velocity (performance of early HEAT-ammunition deteriorated slightly when fired from rifled gun with high velocity).

76 LK/13 was further development, which French Schneider factory developed from their earlier mountain gun design 76 VK/09 also made for Russia. Gun barrel was similar as in 76 LK/10, but the more robust carriage was a clear improvement. The large difference between this gun and earlier 76 LK/10 was that it was well suited also for indirect fire. Russians used these guns in mountain gun like manner. Aiming system included artillery-sighting telescope. Breech was screw breech and wheels were wood wheels with steel hoops. The Soviets developed their 76 mm regimental gun model 1927 from this gun.

PICTURE: Closer look behind gun shield of 76 LK/13 infantry gun. (Photo taken in Tykistömuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (127 KB).

Finns captured only five of 76 LK/13 guns in Civil War of 1918, but due to 45 additional guns bought from Germany still that same year their total number in Finnish inventory reached substantial level. Two additional guns were bought via Transbaltic Oy in year 1931. With Finnish production of new 76 LK/10/13 guns in early 1920's by building new gun carriages and equipping them with gun barrels taken from 76 LK/10 guns, the total number of guns in Finnish inventory climbed further. By year 1939 the total number of 76 LK/10 and 76 LK/10/13 guns had reached 72 guns. Gun carriages used for the process of building 76 LK/10/13 guns were manufactured by Finnish companies Crichton-Vulcan and Siltarakennus Oy in city of Turku. Finnish artillery used 76 LK/13 and 76 LK/10/13 as mixed combinations in same units. The guns were so similar that even units using them sometimes were not certain, exactly which of the two their guns were. Before World War 2 these guns saw use with Civil Guard artillery units, Jaeger artillery and Riding Artillery Battery (Ratsastava Patteri) of Cavalry Brigade (Ratsuväkiprikaati). They also were quite common in use of Finnish Civil Guard in late 1930's. The guns used by Civil Guard were loaned from Finnish Army, which apparently loaned first batch of four 76 LK/10-13 to Civil Guard in May of 1928 - they went to 18^th Civil Guard Artillery Battery that was in town of Hämeenlinna. October of 1938 Civil Guard artillery units had total of 38 guns in their inventory.

During Winter War these guns represented substantial part of weaponry used by Finnish field artillery - both because of large number of guns being used and the (relatively) large stockpile of ammunition reserved for them. Finnish military had 72 of these guns when Winter War started in November of 1939, making it the second most numerous field artillery weapon in Finnish use at that time. At the same time these were also the guns with most ammunition existing per gun, so they suffered less from ammunition shortage than other artillery pieces in Finnish inventory.

PICTURE: 76 LK/13 or 76 LK/10-13 guns in use of artillery training course of Finnish Civil Guard in year 1934. (Photo part of Jaeger Platoon Website photo collection). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (113 KB).

During Winter War some 85,774 artillery shells were fired with these guns, which were used by three field artillery regiments, Riding Artillery Battery and three Separate Artillery Batteries. In Winter War the guns also sometimes saw use as antitank weapons. In fact Finnish soldiers considered 76 LK/13 to be excellent direct-fire gun, but their gun carriages proved little bit too fragile in hard use. During early Continuation War the guns were issued again and now mainly used for direct fire missions. First they were used by two Light Artillery Battalions and later they were issued to Fortification artillery units, which also used them mainly as direct-fire guns. They fired some 192,897 artillery shells during Continuation War. Summer of 1944 Syväri Fortification Artillery Battalions belonging to Finnish troops located to River Svir (Syväri) lost 23 of these guns during the retreat - this was the total number of 76 LK/13 guns issued to Syväri Fortification Artillery Battalions 1 and 2. The reasons behind such a total loss were likely related to the manner in which these two battalions used the 76 LK/13 guns - they were utilized as artillery sections of two guns in immediate frontline as direct-fire fire-support for infantry. Hence once troops were ordered to retreat, evacuating the guns would have been more than difficult. However another major reason seems to have been that the limited transport capability was reserved for heavier but older 120 K/78 and 155 K/77 guns. About 40 of 76 LK/13 guns survived World War 2. The guns that survived the war were declared obsolete and mostly scrapped in late 1950's, with only few guns saved for museum purposes.

PICTURE: 76 RK/27 infantry gun also known as regimental gun. (Photo taken in Maneesi of Sotamuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (99 KB).

(*) Only reduced propellant charge ammunition. Field gun ammunition with full propellant charge could not be used.

Distance	hitting angle	penetration
100 m	90 degrees	34 mm
500 m	90 degrees	31 mm
1000 m	90 degrees	28 mm
1500 m	90 degrees	26 mm
2000 m	90 degrees	24 mm
100 m	60 degrees	28 mm
500 m	60 degrees	25 mm
1000 m	60 degrees	23 mm
1500 m	60 degrees	21 mm
2000 m	60 degrees	20 mm

- Punaiset panssarit, page 168 (data presumably from Finnish wartime ammunition tests, ammunition used unknown)(*):

Distance	Hitting angle	penetration
100 m	90 degrees	46 mm
500 m	90 degrees	42 mm
1000 m	90 degrees	38 mm

(*) The book mentions two ammunition types: One that had 6.4-kg AP-projectile with 420 m/sec muzzle velocity and another that had 6.325-kg APCR-projectile with 332 m/sec. This could be either of these two.

distance	hitting angle	penetration
100 m	70 degrees	55 mm
200 m	70 degrees	55 mm
300 m	70 degrees	55 mm
400 m	70 degrees	50 mm
500 m	70 degrees	50 mm
600 m	70 degrees	50 mm
800 m	70 degrees	45 mm
1000 m	70 degrees	45 mm
1500 m	70 degrees	40 mm
2000 m	70 degrees	35 mm
2500 m	70 degrees	30 mm

- Data calculated from Panssarintorjuntayksiköiden ohjesääntö, II2 osa manual (HEAT, 335 m/sec, projectile weight 4,80 kg)(**):

distance	hitting angle	penetration
all	90 degrees	86 mm
all	80 degrees	81 mm
all	70 degrees	76 mm
all	60 degrees	71 mm
all	50 degrees	64 mm
all	45 degrees	60 mm

(**) 76 hkr 42-18/24-38 (HEAT) and 76 hrk Vj 42/C-18/24-38 (HEAT-T) ammunition. Ammunition loaded with these HEAT and HEAT-tracer projectiles was added to Finnish Army manuals 1^st of July 1944, so presumably ammunition was introduced to Finnish use around that time (probably arrived month or two earlier). The data here has been counted from information of the same projectile fired with 400 m/sec velocity (performance of early HEAT-ammunition deteriorated slightly when fired from rifled gun with high velocity).

PICTURE: 76 RK/27 infantry gun seen from the front. (Photo taken in Tykistömuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (165 KB).

PICTURE: 76 RK/27-39 infantry gun seen from the front. Lower part of gun shield has been turned upwards. Notice the diffences in wheels. (Photo taken in Tykistömuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (149 KB).

Year 1926 Soviets had started looking suitable gun as support weapon for their infantry regiments. They decided in favour of improved version of 76 LK 13 gun and design work was started still that same year. That design work resulted in creating this gun and officially approved it to weaponry of Soviet Red Army in year 1927. The original regimental gun model 1927 had wooden tires covered with sponge rubber, while improved version introduced in 1939 had disc wheels covered with sponge rubber. Both guns had box trail, aiming sight had artillery sighting telescope and three-part gun shield. Fixed shot type ammunition used in these guns was basically 76.2 mm x 385 R field gun ammunition (used in Soviet field guns and tank guns) with notably less powerful propellant charge. These guns remained in Soviet use at least until end of World War 2 and the Germans also used captured guns of this type in large numbers. The Soviets also developed improved regimental gun called model 1943 during World War 2, it was basically amalgamation of 76 mm regimental gun barrel and cradle with gun carriage of 45 mm model 1942 antitank gun. The Finns tested arrangement similar to gun model 1943, but as the gun cradle proved too fragile and when supply of special steel needed for the project ended, so did also the project.

PICTURE: 76 RK/27 infantry gun ready in fire position built for direct fire "somewhere out there" during Continuation War. (Original photograph part of Jaeger Platoon Website photo collection). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (91 KB).

The Finns captured 54 of these guns during Winter War. Captured guns were often pressed immediately to use by Finns and mostly used as direct fire weapons. During early Continuation War much large number of these guns were captured and the actual total number of these guns in Finnish use peaked to 235 guns in early 1944. Their light weight made them popular for direct-fire use and made transporting them also easy, so they were issued to many artillery units and often also used as training weapons. However, Finnish field artillery units did not exactly enjoy these guns. Soldiers of Finnish field artillery found out that low-quality steel used in barrels made them wear out fast and that low manufacturing quality of gun's recoil system often made it unreliable.

PICTURE: Closer look behind gun shield of 76 RK/27-39 infantry gun. (Photo taken in Tykistömuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (196 KB).

At early spring of 1944 somebody in Weapons-HQ of Finnish Army General-Staff got rather poor idea of equipping some of the gun companies with these captured infantry guns. The idea might have been to use gun companies equipped with the guns as specialised units for direct-fire tasks, but the outcome was that the guns ended up being used as replacements of antitank guns - a role in which they were far from ideal. Admittedly there was shortage of effective antitank-guns in Finnish Army in that time, but how well suited these guns were for such remains to be disputed. Regimental guns were rather clumsy looking, they had rather high gun shield supposedly making spotting them easy for Soviet armour and pushing the gun to another place before return fire difficult to its crew. In addition period photos suggest that the gun had highly visible muzzle flash, although this seems to have been a common problem also for antitank-guns. Armour penetration with armour penetrating (AP) and armour penetrating capped tracer (APC-T) ammunition was barely comparable to 37 mm antitank-guns, but high explosive antitank (HEAT) ammunition and its tracer equipped version (HEAT-T) were far more potent. On the other hand the whole gun weight only about 780 kilograms, being notably lighter than Finnish-used 75-mm antitank-guns. What is notable is that combat losses were quite high, with 37 of these guns were lost in summer of 1944, many of them while trying to use them as antitank-guns. 24 of the guns were lost by IV Army Corps in Carelian Istmus and 12 were lost by Aunus (Carelia Army) Group during its fighting retreat from River Syväri / Svir. Only small minority of the captured regimental guns were newer RK/27-39 model. Total number of 195 guns remained in Finnish inventory after the war. In post-war era Finnish Army used remaining guns for training purposes until year 1960 and remained moth-balled for possible further use until 1980's. The guns do not seem to have been reserved for antitank-use in post-war era anymore, although HEAT and HEAT-T ammunition remains in their manuals. Most of the remaining guns were sold and exported in early 1980's, with about 20 guns left behind for museums and to be used as monuments.

PICTURE: 76 RK/27-39 infantry gun in direct-fire duty in region of Karhumäki / Medvezjegorsk in June of 1944. If the Soviet spearhead to appear into that bend in the road had tanks with them, the gun would have to do as antitank-gun. Photographed by Military official A. Viitasalo. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photo number 154350). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (103 KB).

The Soviets had also developed version of this gun for bunkers, the Finns called it 76 K/27-k. Finnish Army captured 13 bunker-version guns and reinstalled them to Finnish bunkers. Eight of those guns were lost in summer of 1944. Circa 1943 - 1944 Finnish Army experimented with 76 RK/27-38, a prototype gun with 76 RK/27 gun barrel installed on gun carriage of captured 45 PstK/38 antitank-gun.

Ammunition for 76-mm "regimental guns" used by Finnish military came in large variety. High explosive (HE) ammunition usually used with it had been manufactured especially for it, but also reduced propellant charge version of ammunition made for 76,2 x 385R calibre field guns, that was manufactured in Finland could be used. Armour-piercing (AP) ammunition had several varieties. Captured Soviet BR-350A ammunition seems to have been available in small numbers, but Finnish 76 psa - Vj4 armour piercing capped (APC-T) was probably more common in this category. 76 psa – Vj4 APC-T ammunition was added to Finnish manuals 1^st of December 1942. 76 psa – Vj4 was APC-T round with 4-second tracer, which was available with two propellant charge sizes for these guns:

APC-T psa - Vj4 ammunition had projectile that weight 6,325 kg. High explosive antitank (HEAT) ammunition was apparently introduced in summer of 1944. Two HEAT-ammunition types 76 hkr 42-18/24-38 (HEAT) and 76 hrk Vj 42/C-18/24-38 (HEAT-T) were almost certainly the typical antitank ammunition mainly used with these guns in summer of 1944. Additional page for these HEAT-shells was added to Finnish Army manuals 1^st of July 1944 and usual practice seems to have been first introduce the new ammunition and issue updates to manuals later, so the actual ammunition may have been available already bit earlier. Apparently 76 hrk 42-18/24-38 had HEAT-warhead similar to German 75 millimeter Gr. 38 Hl/B projectile, while 76 hrk Vj 42/C-18/24.38 had warhead similar to German 75 mm Gr. 38 Hl/C. Two captured Soviet artillery incendiary shell models were used: 76 sya 35/64 (Soviet Z-350) and 76 p syav 35/64 (Soviet 53-Z-354). Both incendiary shells contained pieces of thermite with black powder charge.

PICTURE: 75 VK/98 mountain gun. (Photo taken in Sotamuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (176 KB).

Designers of this gun were Colonel Arisaka (main designer), Colonel Akimoto and Captain Kourijama and it replaced earlier Japanese bronze guns. Gun was heavily based to larger, but otherwise very similar Japanese 75 mm Meiji 31 field gun and is structurally remarkably narrow and low design. Ammunition was fixed ammunition type. Recoil system was semi-rigid using chains and cables connected to set of springs. Japanese military used these guns first in Russo-Japanese war (1904 - 1905), 2^nd Sino-Japanese War (1937 - 1945) and still in World War 2 (1939 - 1945). Breech system was screw breech with four segments. During World War 1 Russia bought 100 of these mountain guns from Japan, they were all delivered to Russia in year 1916.

PICTURE: 75 VK/98 mountain gun seen from the side. Notice chains locking the wheels as part of the recoil system. (Photo taken in Tykistömuseo / Museo Militaria). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (129 KB).

Finnish Red Guards used these guns during Finnish Civil War in year 1918. Finnish White Army captured 44 Japanese mountain guns, most in cities of Helsinki and Viipuri. Finnish Army had very little interest towards these guns, which proved too weak, difficult to use and ineffective. Even if Finnish Army was using field guns as old or even older, those guns had considerably better ballistics and proved better suited for Finnish conditions. So these Japanese infantry guns became to be the first artillery weapons, which Army transferred to Suojeluskunta (Finnish Civil Guard). This transfer of guns allowed large number of Civil Guard units to start field artillery training with real guns - for example year 1931 there were no less than 18 Civil Guards issued with 75 VK/98 guns. However, Civil Guard units that got them apparently were less than happy with the guns as well, which resulted the guns issued to them seeing very little actual live fire training use. Three of the guns were shortly used by Finnish volunteers of Aunus Carelia Expedition in year 1919, after which they got returned in very poor condition.

PICTURE: Helsinki Civil Guard in gunnery training with 75 VK/98 infantry gun in 1920's. Photo source Finna.fi - original photo owned by Helsingin kaupunginmuseo, used with CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons license. CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (134 KB).

Year 1936 42 of these guns and 27,769 shells were sold to Transbaltic Oy, who (officially) was exporting them to Yemen. But in reality they went to Spanish Civil War (1936 - 1939). The guns sold to Transbaltic had gone through overhaul repair procedure in Sako factory before their export, but in general they were in quite a poor shape at that time, with many guns having problems that could not be effectively repaired. The guns and their ammunition were loaded to S.S. Yorkbook, which was freight ship sailing under Estonian flag. The person behind this shipment was German arms merchant Joseph Veltjens, who was supposedly scamming either Republican Spain and/or Soviets. 5^th of March 1937 Yorkbrook was heading to Salamander, which was port controlled by Republican Spain in Basque country in northern Spain. That day first Nationalist cruiser Canarias captured the ship, but it succeeded escaping from the cruiser during battle of Machichaco and armed fishing boats of Basque Navy (Basques fought in Republican side) escorted it to harbour of Bermeo. The cargo (including these mountain guns and their ammunition) was unloaded in there and it seems that the Republican troops used in them in the northern front. Although considering quality and shape of the mountain guns plus their missing parts the reception for the cargo once inspected was presumably less than happy - and for a very good reason. It remains uncertain how much combat the guns saw in Spain. Nowadays the two guns, which were the only ones left in Finland, are part of Finnish Military Museum and Museum Militaria collections.

PICTURE: Mountain guns of German Ostsee Division in acition in Pasila during Battle of Helsinki in April of 1918. These are presumably the 75 mm mountain guns L14 model 1913, which got sold to Finnish military. Photographer either Hoffman; Wolff or Fred Zimmler. Photo source Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), acquired via finna.fi and used with with CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons license. CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (141 KB).

This Krupp-designed mountain-gun was mainly manufactured for export starting from year 1902. Main users included China and several South-American countries, but also Germany and Austro-Hungary used the guns in very small scale during World War 1. The guns that ended up to Finland were improved version that entered to production in year 1913. Structure of the gun was typical to mountain guns of that time: It had box trail, gun shield, sliding block breech, wooden wheels with steel hoops and could be divided to parts loads suitable for mules or men to carry.

Imperial Germany participated to Finnish Civil War of 1918 with their Baltic Sea (Ostsee) Division. Part of the Ostsee Division was 2^nd Bavarian Mountain Gun Detachment armed with 75 mm L14 mountain guns. For some reason the Germans thought (mistakenly) that Finnish terrain to be particularly well suitable for using mountain guns as artillery weapons and recommended the Finns creation of strong mountain artillery. As part of this effort they used their influence and managed to sell 12 of these guns and some ammunition to Finnish military. Fortunately the German preference of mountain artillery did not really catch up in Finland, since later more traditional field artillery proved far better suited for Finnish purposes. Reason why the Germans recommended strong mountain artillery may have been Finnish terrain, which tends to be very uneven with small hills all over the place, which left numerous dead zones, for which it was difficult to achieve required effect with low trajectory of existing field gun ammunition. But mountain guns had the downside of having notably shorter range than normal field guns, hence concentrating to mountains guns would have made Finnish field artillery even weaker than it historically developed into by year 1939. Ultimately Finnish solution for the problem was introduction of artillery ammunition with reduced propellant charge for field guns.

PICTURE: Two mountain guns of 2^nd Bavarian Mountain Gun Detachment in Finland in year 1918. Photographer unknown. Photo source Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), acquired via finna.fi and used with with CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons license. CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (88 KB).

The guns had seen a lot of use by that time and were in bad shape. So, when Mountain Artillery Battalion equipped with them in August of 1918 got possibility to replace them with 76 VK/09 mountain guns in 1919, it took the chance and run with it. Even if there was so few of these guns, they saw some interesting use in Finland. Two of the guns were used in two mountain gun wagons of Finnish armoured trains presumably armed by Germans after Finnish Civil War in summer or autumn of 1918. These mountain gun wagons of armoured trains served only until mid 1920's or so. Also four of these guns were loaned to Finnish volunteers of Aunus Carelia Expedition that fought in Soviet Carelia in year 1919.

These guns had not been in good shape to begin with and especially the ones returned by Aunus Carelia Expedition came back in terrible condition. Eight of the guns (which were in bit better shape than the others) were transferred to Suojeluskunta (Civil Guard) units of Tampere and Viipuri presumably in year 1923 and remained in their use until 1931. As the guns given to Suojeluskunta were in poor shape, their soldiers were not too interested about using the guns either. Year 1931 the remaining 10 guns and 7.500 artillery shells were sold to Transbaltic Oy, who sold them abroad in exchange of eleven 76 K/02 field guns and two 76 LK/13 infantry guns. No guns of this type are known to have survived anywhere.

PICTURE: 76 VK/04 mountain gun on naval/coastal mount. This particular gun is in excellent shape with its sights intact. (Photo taken in Rannikkotykistömuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (75 KB).

Russia invested heavily to new artillery weapons during the first years of 20^th century. Usually the guns adopted at that time were foreign designs, but this was an exception to that rule. This design of Obuhov factory was adopted in 1904. The gun had screw breech with recoil system using liquid inhibitors and spring returning device activated by wire triggered by gun barrels retreat in the frame between inhibitors during recoil. The aiming system was fairly primitive specially when it came to giving right elevation for indirect fire. Russians used the gun mainly with the usual gun carriage type with box trail, wooden wheels with steel hoops and optional gun shield, but most of the ones Finns captured were exceptional in this regard. Russians had created inland water navy units and armed their ships with version of this gun equipped with naval/coastal-mount. Naval/coastal-mount was basically column mount specifically designed for this gun. During Russo-Japanese war of 1904 - 1905 Russians had found that range of these guns less than satisfactory, so Russians started searching better mountain gun for their use and ended up deciding in favour of 76 VK/09.

Finnish White Army captured 11 of these guns during Civil War in year 1918, most of them were on naval/coastal mounts. Six of those guns were captured from Russian Arsenal of Vuoksenniska by Carelian Army of Finnish White Army in 24^th of January 1918 and saw use in Finnish Civil War in year 1918. Troops of Finnish White Army in Carelia (Carelian Army) had dire shortage of heavy weapons at that time, so these captured guns came very handy and were pressed into use, although they were missing parts and had naval mounts. All six guns were missing some parts, but were repaired and installed with their naval mounts on hastily purpose-built horse-towed sledges. Most of the time the sledge-installed guns were used in combat as single guns. The guns got also known as "Karimo's guns" after artist, author and poet Aarno Karimo, who first commanded commanded one of the guns and later in March took command of 4^th Artillery Battery, which was armed with two 76 VK/04 guns. Around the same time 1^st Artillery Battery of Carelian Army got issued with the other four guns. One of the captured guns was installed to somewhat improvised White Army armoured train "Saviour of Karelia" (Karjalan Pelastaja). This proved as kind of a foresight as in 1930's four of these guns were installed as main weaponry of Finnish armoured trains. During Winter War Finnish Army had two armoured trains, each of which had two of these mountain guns as their main guns in rotating steel turrets. That was the last time that these guns were used in Finnish armoured trains, since the armoured trains proved to be too poorly equipped against aircraft. After Winter War 40-mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns became new main weapons for armoured trains and function of the armoured trains changed, with them becoming mobile anti-aircraft batteries used for protecting important transports made by train. During Continuation War some 76 VK/04 guns were used as short coastal guns for beach defence. In this use five guns used by Lake Laatokka (Lake Ladoga) Coastal Defence were lost in summer of 1944.

PICTURE: 76 VK/04 mountain gun on caval gun mount being used for beach defence. Photograph taken by Military Official Riku Sarkola in Vitele at July of 1943. (SA-kuva.fi photo archive, photo number 134460). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (167 KB).

(3-dm gornaja skorostrelnaja pushka obr. 1909 g.)

PICTURE: 76 mm mountain gun M/09. Notice gun shield shape quite typical to Schneider designs of that time. (Photo taken in Tykistömuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (165 KB).

Finnish use: 11 captured in 1918, only 5 remained during Winter War so they were not issued during it. After 13 more were captured from Soviets in 1941 they were issued to Finnish fortification artillery battalions and used until 1944.

This Schneider design was the replacement of unsatisfactory 76 VK/04 mountain guns for the Russians. First batch was manufactured in France, but soon also Russian factories started manufacturing them in large numbers enough to make Russia number one country in total number of mountain guns in inventory at the beginning of World War 1. Largest improvement compared to earlier mountain guns was two part barrel designed by Greek Colonel Danglis not only allowing gun barrel to be transported in two parts, but also being stronger at the same time and allowing more powerful propellant charge to be used. Otherwise guns structure was along the usual lines of that time: box trail, wood wheels with steel hoops, screw breech and gun shield. Gun could be divided to seven loads each light enough to be carried by a horse.

PICTURE: Closer look behind gun shield of 76 VK/09. (Photo taken in Tykistömuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (169 KB).

During Finnish Civil War of 1918 eleven of these guns were captured, most (eight) of them in Tampere and some in Rautu (in Carelian Isthmus). 1^st and 4^th Artillery Batteries of Karelian Army (of Finnish White Army) were re-equipped with these guns in April of 1918, as weather was no longer good for sledge-installed 76 VK/04 guns, since with arrival of spring snow was melting. Year 1919 they were used to replace 75 VK L14 mountain guns in use of Mountain Gun Artillery Battalion of Finnish Army, but already at that time most of the issued guns were in rather poor shape. April of 1928 Finnish Army loaned three of the guns to Civil Guard (Suojeluskunta), which issued them to 4^th Civil Guard Artillery Battery, which was in Pori. When Winter War started only 5 of these guns remained so they were not issued during it, but after capturing 13 more guns of this type from the Soviets in 1941, they were issued to fortification artillery battalions and remained in their use until 1944. That was last time they were used.

Ammunition used by Finnish military with 76 VK/09 contained besides the typical HE also ammunition loaded with captured Soviet incendiary shells 76 sya 35/64 (Soviet Z-350) and 76 p syav 35/64 (Soviet 53-Z-354). Both of these incendiary shell designs contained thermite and black powder.

SOURCES:

Itsenäisen Suomen kenttätykit 1918 - 1995 (Field Guns of Independent Finland) by Jyri Paulaharju.

Suomen Kenttätykistön historia (History of Field Artillery) parts 1 - 2 by Jyri Paulaharju.

Tykistömuseon 87 tykkiä (87 guns of Artillery Museum) by Unto Partanen.

Itsenäisen Suomen rannikkotykit (Coastal Guns of Independent Finland) 1918 - 1998 by Ove Enqvist.

Itsenäisen Suomen jalkav¨en raskaat aseet ja ryhmäaseet (Heavy Weapons and Team Weapons of Finnish Infantry in Independent Finland).

Marskin Panssarintuhoojat (Tank Destroyers of Marski) by Erkki Käkelä.

Panzerabwehrkanonen 1916 - 1977 by Franz Koser.

Jatkosodan Historia (History of Continuation War), volume 6.

Military manual: Jalkaväkitykit (Infantry Guns) year 1926 manual by Yleisesikunta.

Military manual: Jalkaväkitykkien harjoitusohjesääntö (Training Regime for Infantry Guns), year 1926 manual by Yleisesikunta.

Military manual: Panssarintorjuntayksiköiden ohjesääntö osa II2 (Regulations for Antitank Units, Part II2) (printed 1956).

Military manual: Ampumatarvikenimikkeistö (Ammunition Nomenclature) by Puolustusvoimien Pääesikunta Taisteluvälineosasto (printed 1941).

Military manual: Lyhennetty tykistön ampumatarvikenomenklatuuri (Shortened Artillery Ammunition Nomenclature), printed 1939.

Military manual: Kenttätykistön ampumatarvikkeet (Ammunition for Field Artillery) by Puolustusvoimien Pääesikunta Taisteluvälineosasto (printed 1940, updates added until 1947).

Article: Anti-tank guns used by Finnish Army by Markku Palokangas in Journal of Military History 17.

Article: Suojeluskuntatykistön historia by Jyri Paulaharju in Ase-lehti magazine 3/1996.

Article: Vuoritykit Suomessa ja muutakin tarinaa by Jyri Paulaharju in Ase-lehti magazine 2/1998.

Finnish National Archives folder Sk-2513/396 (contains transfer documents for equipment transferred from Finnish Army to Civil Guard).

Finnish Military Archives, documents under archive number T20207.

Finnish Military Archives, documents under archive number 5/T20314.

Finnish Military Archives, documents under archive number T18468.

Finnish Military Archives, documents under archive number T18419/1.

Special thanks to Sotamuseo (Finnish Military Museum), Helsinki

Special thanks to Rannikkotykistömuseo (Coastal Artillery Museum), Suomenlinna

Special thanks to Tykistömuseo (Finnish Artillery Museum) / Museo Militaria, Hämeenlinna