42-line fortress and siege gun M1877 () was a siege gun used by the

Russian Imperial Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

in late 19th and early 20th centuries. The word "line" in the designation refers to a

measurement unit A unit of measurement, or unit of measure, is a definite magnitude (mathematics), magnitude of a quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same kind of quantity. Any other qua ...

which equals 0.1 inch. Curiously, the "model year" was not the year when the weapon was designed or standardized, but the year when a new rifling system was adopted.

History

The gun was initially developed by the German arms manufacturer

Krupp Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp (formerly Fried. Krupp AG and Friedrich Krupp GmbH), trade name, trading as Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century as well as Germany's premier weapons manufacturer dur ...

and was based on an earlier 105 mm piece and would have a typical Krupp horizontal sliding-block breech block. The 105 mm weapon was demonstrated to a group of Russian Army officers along with a 120 mm design. The delegation liked the 105 mm weapon, but wanted Krupp to change the caliber to a traditional Russian caliber of "42 lines" (106.7 mm). Later the weapon entered production in Russia; it remained in production until 1903. The 42-line siege gun M1877 could fire high explosive (HE) or shrapnel shells of 15.6 kg (34.3 lbs) weight at a distance of 9.6 km (6 miles). Notice in the image on right top of page the equipment around wheels used to reduce recoil.

Employment

The gun saw action in the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

like in the defense of the Nanshan Hill during the

battle of Nanshan The , also known as the battle of Jinzhou or Chinchou (), was one of many vicious land battles of the Russo-Japanese War. It took place on 24–26 May 1904 across a two-mile-wide defense line across the narrowest part of the Liáodōng Penins ...

. The

Japanese Army The , , also referred to as the Japanese Army, is the land warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Created on July 1, 1954, it is the largest of the three service branches. New military guidelines, announced in December 2010, direct t ...

successfully attacked the hill and captured several 42-line siege guns. Due to the lack of heavy artillery the Japanese took the guns in service during the rest of the conflict. Montenegro used a few guns of this type up to

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and Finland used weapons of this type until the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Era. Many of the 42-line siege guns were captured by the

Imperial German Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the leadership of Kingdom o ...

and reissued to nine Landwehr Foot Artillery Battalions, equipping 22 Batteries. The 42-line siege gun M1877 should not be confused with the 42-line field gun M1877, a field gun version which had a shorter barrel and lower muzzle velocity.

Literature

*Shirokorad A. B. - ''Encyclopedia of the Soviet Artillery'' - Mn. Harvest, 2000 (Широкорад А. Б. Энциклопедия отечественной артиллерии. — Мн.: Харвест, 2000., )

External links

Images of a 42-line siege gun M1877

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 107 mm artillery World War I artillery of Russia Russo-Japanese war weapons of Russia World War I artillery of Germany