The two cannons stand behind the oldest church in Summerside, Trinity United Church, which survived the Great Fire of 1906. It is a large, white painted, Gothic Revival building erected in 1893 and enlarged in 1957, 1982 and 2007. Just north of the war memorial, the cannons face south in Memorial Park, which occupies much of the block between Summer and Spring Streets, to the east and west, and Winter and Church Streets, to the north and south.
This cannon, actually referred to by the German Army as a Field Howitzer, is the more easterly of the pair. The two are very similar, but not identical. This cannon, being a howitzer, has the shorter barrel and the shorter range. Stamped with serial number 7419 and the year "1917", it was most likely captured in France by an Infantry Brigade with a Canadian Division, Canadian Expeditionary Force some time in 1918.
German First World War 10.5-cm leichtes Feldhaubitze 16 (10.5-cm leFH 16), (Serial Nr. 7419). This leFH 16 was likely captured ca 1918 by a Battalion of an Infantry Brigade with a Canadian Division, Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) in France. No. 2 of 2 German guns in Memorial Park.
From Silver Hawk
The 10.5cm leFH 16 (light field howitzer) was a Rheinmetall design that became the main German field howitzer during the second half of the First World War, and remained in service until 1945.
The 10.5cm leFH 16 replaced Krupp's 10.5cm leFH 98/09, which had been the main field howitzer at the start of the First World War. The leFH 98/09 was an improved version of the obsolete leFH 98, introducing barrel recoil and a more modern gun carriage, but it had a short barrel, low muzzle velocity and limited maximum range of only 6,300m.
Rheinmetall's design had to use as many components from the older gun as possible. This included the gun carriage, which was almost identical (with a box tail, gun shield and axle seats for the 1st and 2nd gunners, mounted in front of the shield, so they sat facing backwards when the gun was being towed), and the projectiles, cartridges and propellant charges.
The biggest improvements were in the gun barrel. This was made significantly longer, going from 1m 62.5cm to 2m 31cm (L/22). Muzzle velocity with the C-shell rose to 427m/ sec and maximum range with that shell to 9,700m. The rifling in the barrel was increased, increasing the spin imparted to the projectiles. The standard leFH 16 had a sliding wedge type breech block. There were three double spring recuperators mounted below the barrel, which recoiled 1.2m. There was a recoil guard to prevent the gun layer from being hit by the breech as it moved backwards.
The resulting weapon had some of the best ballistic characteristics of any howitzer of the period, and remained one of the best designs until the late 1920s.
From the History of War