7.5 cm FK 7M85

7.5 cm Feldkanone 7M85
Type	Field gun
Place of origin	Germany
Service history
In service	1945
Used by	Nazi Germany
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designed	1944–45
Produced	1945
Number built	10
Specifications
Weight	1,788 kg (3,942 lbs)
Barrel length	3.7 m (12 ft)
Shell	fixed
Shell weight	5.4 kilograms (12 lb) (HE) 6.8 kilograms (15 lb) (AP)
Caliber	75 mm (2.95 in)
Breech	semi-automatic horizontal sliding block
Carriage	split trail
Elevation	-5° to +42°
Traverse	30° 30'
Rate of fire	12–15 rpm
Muzzle velocity	550 m/s (1,804 ft/s)
Maximum firing range	10,275 m (11,237 yds)
Filling	TNT or amatol

The 7.5 cm Feldkanone 7M85 (7.5 cm FK 7M85) was a field gun used by Germany in World War II.

Design

The FK 7M85 was designed to a requirement issued in 1944 for a dual-purpose anti-tank and artillery gun that could be produced quickly. The gun, cradle and recoil system from the 7.5 cm PaK 40 anti-tank gun was adapted to the 10.5 cm leFH 18/40 carriage. Interestingly the leFH 18/40 carriage had been itself adapted from the PaK 40 so this design essentially returned the gun to its original carriage, albeit modified with an extra 20° of elevation.

Nomenclature

In 1944–45 the Germans changed their system of artillery designations from the old "year" system. Each weapon was to have a number showing their caliber group, a letter denoting ammunition group, and the last two digits were from the weapon drawing number. In this case 7 denoted 75 mm caliber using the M group of ammunition. The shells were all to be designated as M with a 4-digit number, the first three were the drawing number and the last was the shell's category from the following list:

No.	Shell type	No.	Shell type
1	high explosive	5	gas
2	hollow charge anti-tank	7	incendiary
3	armor-piercing	8	leaflet
4	high explosive, high capacity	9	practice
5	smoke	10	proof projectile

References

* Engelmann, Joachim and Scheibert, Horst. Deutsche Artillerie 1934-1945: Eine Dokumentation in Text, Skizzen und Bildern: Ausrüstung, Gliederung, Ausbildung, Führung, Einsatz. Limburg/Lahn, Germany: C. A. Starke, 1974

• Gander, Terry and Chamberlain, Peter. Weapons of the Third Reich: An Encyclopedic Survey of All Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the German Land Forces 1939-1945. New York: Doubleday, 1979 ISBN 0-385-15090-3
• Hogg, Ian V. German Artillery of World War Two. 2nd corrected edition. Mechanicsville, PA: Stackpole Books, 1997 ISBN 1-85367-480-X