Historic context :

In 1893, the German army wass not satisfied anymore with the performance of its siege and fortress 12 cm guns, and requested studies on new guns using the 10.5 cm calibre, already in service in the Navy. The very first barrel derivated from this design was dedicated to the fortress artilelry and appeared in 1897.

The name of this weapon, the first of a long generation of land guns using this new 10.5 cm calibre,describes its important characteristic : the '10 cm K.i.S.L.' (Kanone in Schirmlafette) designate '10 cm guns on shielded carriage', designed by Krupp in 1897. They were short recoil 105 mm guns, mounted inside 40 to 80 cm thick steel plates shieldings inspired from the Navy manufactures.

This assembly was linked to the fortress ground via a massive steel pivot base. The total weight of this weapon was around 20 tons, 12 tons of it being the shield only. The fire rate allowed by this material were very good with up to 9 shots per minute. The recoil recuperation system was minimum, as in most fortress guns of this period, the shot energy being mainly absorbed by the massive mounting and its static link to the fortress ground.

46 such guns were built, 10 of them being integrated into the Feste Wilhelm II in Mützig.

Technical data :

• Complete description : 10cm gun in armoured shield
• Design year : 1897
• Calibre : 105.00 mm
• Weight in firing position : 19050 kg including 12550 kg for the shield, 2580 kg for the axle box, and 3920 kg for the barrel and the carriage
• Weight for transportation :
• Tube length in calibres : 35.00 (total tube length), 27.1 for the rifled part
• Grooves : 32 progressive angle 4 to 7 degrees
• Projectile weight : 18.75 kg (explosif) - 16.06 kg (shrapnell)
• Initial speed : 585 m/s
• Fire rate :
• Range : 13100 m (high explosive) - 10800 m (shrapnell)
• Elevation range :
• Direction range :

• German Artillery of World War One           Herbert Jager                   Crowood   2001