The 7.5 cm Kanone 1903 L 30 replaced the 8.4 cm Ord. 1879 field gun and was the first gun with a recoil gun carriage used in Switzerland. The barrel and carriage were manufactured in Germany by the Krupp cast steel factory in Essen. Modifications to the carriage led to the 7.5 cm Kanone 03/22 L 30 model in 1922. From 1940 onwards, the barrels were mounted on expansion carriages manufactured by Sulzer in Winterthur (7.5 cm Kanone 03/40 L 30). These modernised guns remained in use until the end of the Second World War.
History
Until the 1870s, the barrels were mounted directly on the carriage. When fired, the gun recoiled and had to be pushed back into the firing position and realigned. In order to increase the rate of fire of the field guns, a way had to be found to prevent them from recoiling. In the early 1890s, attempts were made to achieve this with a movable ground spur attached to the carriage, which slowed the recoil of the gun and brought it back into the firing position using spring force.
In Switzerland, tests were also carried out with this braking system on the 8.4 cm Ord 1879 field gun and other 7.5 cm test guns from Krupp, Rheinmetall, St. Chamond and others. During these tests, Krupp presented its latest development, a 7.5 cm gun with barrel recoil. This made it possible to fire a series of shots that hit the same target without the barrel having to be realigned. The Artillery Commission then recommended the purchase of a complete battery of these weapons for troop trials. On May 1, 1903, the Federal Council proposed equipping the field artillery with 7.5 cm Krupp cannons, which was approved by Parliament on June 23. Due to the higher firing power of these guns compared to their predecessor, their number per battery was reduced from 6 to 4. In return, the number of batteries was increased from 56 to 72, resulting in an initial number of 288 guns to be purchased.
7,5-cm-Feldkanone 03/40 L 30
Although it was obvious that the effectiveness of 7,5 mm field guns was no longer sufficient for massive fire tasks, a number of guns were converted for the 7,5 cm motor cannon batteries. The barrels and upper carriages of the 03/22 gun were mounted on expanding carriages manufactured by K + W. These guns, called 7,5 cm F Kan 03/40 L 30, could be deployed more quickly than the previous variations of the 03/22 model. They also had steel wheels with air chamber tires, as they were towed by trucks for transport. A lowering device allowed the height of fire to be changed; by lowering it to 950 mm, the stability of the gun could be increased.
