Gun-howitzer (also referred to as gun howitzer) is a type of

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

weapon that is intended to fulfill both the role of ordinary

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

or field gun, and that of a howitzer. It is thus able to convey both direct and

indirect fire Indirect fire is aiming and firing a projectile without relying on a direct line of sight between the gun and its target, as in the case of direct fire. Aiming is performed by calculating azimuth and inclination, and may include correcting aim ...

. Modern gun-howitzers are usually identified just as howitzers. To be able to serve as a howitzer, gun-howitzers are typically built to achieve at least 60° to 70° of

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

. For effective direct fire, the gun-howitzers typically employ a fairly long

gun barrel A gun barrel is a crucial part of gun-type weapons such as small firearms, artillery pieces, and air guns. It is the straight shooting tube, usually made of rigid high-strength metal, through which a contained rapid expansion of high-pressu ...

, usually not shorter than 30

calibre In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the finished bore match ...

s. Its ammunition also has a high muzzle velocity and usually of large calibre ( calibre and greater).

History

Historically the first gun-howitzer was the French '' canon obusier'' of the mid-19th century. The smooth-bore

Canon obusier de 12 The Canon obusier de 12 (officially the "Canon obusier de campagne de 12 livres, modèle 1853"), also known as the "Canon de l’Empereur" ("emperor's cannon"), was a type of canon-obusier (literally "shell-gun cannon", "gun-howitzer") developed ...

was a versatile weapon that quickly replaced both ordinary cannons and howitzers in French service, and became one of the basic types of artillery used by both sides of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. Owing to their versality, gun-howitzers gained prominence in the period leading to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

as a more flexible weapon than ordinary howitzers and were adopted by armies of both the Allies (for instance the Soviet ML-20 152 mm M1937 and British (88 mm)

Ordnance QF 25-pounder The Ordnance QF 25-pounder, or more simply 25-pounder or 25-pdr, was the major British field gun and howitzer during the Second World War. Its calibre is 3.45-inch (87.6 mm). It was introduced into service just before the war started, combin ...

) and the Axis (German 10.5 cm leFH 18, classified just as howitzer). A modern example of gun-howitzer is M-84 NORA. After World War II, barrel length of howitzer designs started to grow gradually in order to obtain longer range, and as a result, separate category of gun-howitzer merged with howitzers and cannons. In modern armies gun-howitzers are usually identified just as howitzers.

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* * * Howitzers Field guns {{artillery-stub

History

See also

References

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