The 7.5 cm Feldkanone 18 (7.5 cm FK 18) was a field gun used by Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 in World War II. It was designed to replace the 7.5 cm FK 16 nA

7.5 cm FK 16 nA

The 7.5 cm Feld Kanone 16 neuer Art was a field gun used by Germany in World War II. Originally built as the World War I-era 7.7 cm FK 16, surviving guns in German service were rebarreled during the early Thirties in the new standard 7.5 cm caliber...

, which was a World War I-era 7.7 cm FK 16

7.7 cm FK 16

The 7.7 cm Feldkanone 16 was a field gun used by Germany in World War I. Surviving examples in German service were rebarreled postwar as the 7.5 cm FK 16 nA .-History:...

 rebarreled in 75 mm during the early Thirties. The development of the FK 18 had a low priority and it wasn't until 1938 that the gun was issued to the Heer

Heer (1935-1945)

The Heer was the Army land forces component of the German armed forces from 1935 to 1945, the latter also included the Navy and the Air Force...

.

Design

The FK 18 was significantly lighter than the older gun, but was otherwise an unimpressive weapon. It used a modern split trail carriage, with the rear section and spades folding upwards for travel. It used the typical German recoil system where the hydraulic buffer was housed in the cradle underneath the barrel and the hydropneumatic recuperator in a cylinder above the barrel. For some reason the FK 18 was unusually prone to bore damage from cartridge debris and the barrel had to be inspected after every shot to ensure that it was clear.