as replacements to field artillery regiments. Design The sFH 93 was a short barreled breech-loading cannon on a rigid two-wheeled box trail carriage. The barrel was a typical built-up gun of the period with all steel construction. The gun had an early form of horizontal sliding-block breech and it fired separate-loading, bagged charges and projectiles. The sFH 93 fired a wide variety of different projectiles which are listed here. The advantage the sFH 93 had over its predecessors was that it was made from nickel-steel of much greater strength than previous guns of cast iron construction. This meant that the sFH 93 could be much smaller in diameter and lighter in weight than its predecessors which meant it was easier for it to keep pace with infantry divisions on the march. It also meant that unlike previous guns it could be transported in one piece and was light enough to be part of maneuvering forces to overcome local strong points rather than relegated to the slower siege train. However, the cavalry still felt the sFH 93 was too heavy for their use so they were assigned to heavy howitzer battalions of the infantry. For travel, the gun could be attached to a limber and towed by a six-horse team and each battery consisted of four guns with four batteries per battalion. Like many of its contemporaries, its carriage did not have a recoil mechanism. For prolonged use a spot of ground could be leveled and a wooden firing platform could be laid for the guns. The guns could then be connected to an external recoil mechanism which connected to a steel eye on the firing platform and a hook on the carriage between the wheels. A set of wooden ramps were then placed behind the wheels and when the gun fired the wheels rolled up the ramp and was returned to position by the combined effect of the recoil mechanism and gravity. In the field only ramps were used. There was also no traversing mechanism and the gun had to be levered into position to aim. A drawback of this system was the gun had to be re-aimed each time which lowered the rate of fire. Users Wars Boxer Rebellion Herero Wars Russo-Japanese War Balinese Intervention Italo-Turkish War Balkan Wars World War I Photo gallery References World War I guns World War I artillery of Germany Artillery of the Ottoman