15cm sFH 18/1 "Hummel" Sd.Kfz.165 (Late Production)

(Google Translate)

The German-Soviet War, which began in June 1941, suddenly exposed many of the problems the German army had been hiding. One of these was the lack of self-propelled guns. The German army had already reached the limits of its capabilities at that point! They promoted the conversion of the Panzer IV, Panzer II, and 38(t) to self-propelled guns, and also began the development of a self-propelled gun equipped with large-caliber howitzers using the chassis of the Panzer III and Panzer IV, which were larger than these tanks.

The result was the self-propelled howitzer "Hummel" equipped with a 15cm heavy howitzer.

Hummel means "bumblebee," but this was later cancelled by ??????, who hated insects, and a new name was given, but the nickname "Hummel" continued to be used in the field.

The maximum range of the 15cm heavy howitzer reached 13,000m under certain conditions, and due to the enormous size of the shells, the total number of shells that could be carried was only 18.

The Hummel served as the backbone of German artillery from its first battle at the Battle of Kursk until the end of the war.

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1941年6月に始まる独ソ戦はそれまで隠されていたドイツ軍の抱える諸問題を一挙に顕在化させます。その一つが自走砲の不足。そこでドイツ軍はその時点で性能的限界を迎えてしまった！号戦車、II号戦車、および38(t)戦車の自走砲化を推進するとともに、これらの戦車より大柄なIII号戦車とIV号戦車の車台を用いた大口径榴弾を搭載した自走砲の開発に着手します。

こうして完成したのが15cm重榴弾砲を搭載した自走榴弾砲「フンメル」です。

フンメルは「マルハナバチ」の意味ですが、これは後に虫嫌い(?)のヒトラー総統により取り消され新名称が与えられましたが、現場では相変わらず「フンメル」の愛称が使われ続けました。

15cm重榴弾砲の最大射程は条件付きながら13,000mにも達し、あまりにも巨大なサイズの砲弾のため、搭載可能な総弾数はわずか18発にすぎませんでした。

フンメルは初陣のクルスクの戦いから終戦まで、ドイツ砲兵隊の主軸として戦い続けることとなります。