This wooden wheeled First World War German howitzer, known as a Feldhaubitze, was captured by the Canadian Expeditionary Force in France, likely in 1918. Date stamped both 1904 and 1917, it was the first artillery piece in the German Army to use a modern recoil system, making it somewhat of a pathfinder.
German First World War 15-cm schwere Feldhaubitze 1902 (15-cm sFH 02), (Serial Nr. 86), A.G. Essen, 1904. This sFH 02 was likely captured ca 1918 by a Battalion of an Infantry Brigade in a Canadian Division with the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF), in France. It was originally allocated to Charlottetown. The sFH 02 is on display outside the Kensington Veteran’s Memorial Military Museum, next to Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 9.
The 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze 1902 (15 cm sFH 02) was a German heavy field howitzer introduced in 1903. It was the first artillery piece to use a modern recoil system in the German Army. Some 416 were in service at the beginning of the war. Its mobility, which allowed it to be deployed as medium artillery, and fairly heavy shell gave the German army a firepower advantage in the early battles in Belgium and France in 1914 as the French and British armies lacked an equivalent.
From Silverhawk Author