Original German WWII 10.5 cm leFH 18 Light Field Howitzer “leichte FeldHaubitze” Ammunition Loading Set Original Items

Original Items: Only One Set Available. This is a most unusual offering. As seen in the HBO series BAND OF BROTHERS, the 10.5 cm leFH 18 was the standard divisional field howitzer used by the Wehrmacht during the Second World War. It was designed and developed by Rheinmetall in 1929–30 and entered service with the Wehrmacht in 1935. Generally it did not equip independent artillery battalions until after the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943.

What we offer here is not the Howitzer itself but the ammunition and loading accessories that came with every gun. Smothered in original German WW2 labels and markings the set comprises of 8 (eight) separate crates in all each fully marked with assorted contents also fully marked.

The 10.5 cm leFH 18 Light Field Howitzer fired non-fixed ammunition meaning it did not take what one can describe as one cartridge or shell, it took three different components to load the weapon.

• Firstly the projectile that each came in a wooden crate.
• Bags of propellant (powder) that were contained in large lidded tins that came four to a crate.
• A steel breech casing into which was screwed the primer. This allowed various different ranges to be possible by varying how many bags of propellant were employed.

In addition by being broken down to such component form transportation was then a whole lot simpler. Large Naval ships have used the same system back to the early 1900s and still do today.

This set is comprised of the following:

• 6 x Wood projectile crates (empty) fully marked with labels indicating manufacture in 1943 and 1944.
• 1 x Wood crate containing four (4) lidded steel cans fully marked that carried the propellants (bags of powder) offered empty.
• 1 x Wood framed wicker basket with steel lid to carry breech casings.
• 6 x well stamped steel breech casings (contained in the wicker carry basket).

A remarkable set of eight separate crates and containers that have stayed together since the end of World War Two. All still retaining Original Wehrmacht paper labels (some worn) and no post war markings. Just what you need to complete your WWII German artillery collection!