Czechoslovak tree part 2 - Artillery

Introduction:

Czechoslovak army always had strong artillery tradition, that started even before WW1. Škoda howitzers and heavy mortars were renowned throughout the world and rightfully feared, artillery was one of the strongest elements in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire army. After the Treaty of Versailles and Austro-Hungarian breakup, it was only logical for the newly-emerged Czechoslovak republic, who just inherited most of the Austro-Hungarian industrial potential (Pilsen, Prague) to continue following the tradition. Czechoslovakia was always a rather small-ish country (compared to its neighbors - the massive Germany, rebuilding its armed forces throughout the 30's, the vast plains of Poland, which favoured the maneuvers and quick warfare and of course the lowlands of Hungary), but well protected by its mountain ranges on the borders. Its military doctrine reflected that - Czechoslovak army wasn't the lightning strike armored fist of the blitzkrieg, nor was it an army built on horsepower and massed light armor forces, such as the one of Poland. Instead, it relied (in the best Legionnaire traditions) on motorized and train movement of troops and heavy towed artillery. This, along with the essentially defensive nature of the army was the reason there was no urgent need for fast-moving fire support vehicles the Germans had throughout the war. Therefore, pre-war SPG projects are rare and they nearly never left the prototype stage. After all, the Czechoslovak generals thoughts - there are the mountains, there is the impregnable line of border fortifications with heavy artillery installed and there are motorized response units of artillery batallions, what could possibly happen?

After the war, the newly-reformed Czechoslovak army learned its bitter lesson and was determined to keep up with world's trends, when it comes to artillery too. During 1945-1948, quite a few projects were designed and given to consideration. Most were quite interesting, combining the captured technology with Czechoslovak artillery tradition and skill. However, until or short after 1948 all were cancelled in favour of the purchase of Soviet artillery. They can still be seen in the archives however - a testament to the skill of the men behind the drawing boards.

In game

Generally, the Czechoslovak arty line consists of paper projects. There is no way around it and this will be the case of other EU nations too, as a self-propelled gun, useable as WoT artillery was a rather specialised vehicle very few armies had the need to build - until the war at least. All of the projects are also post-war vehicles and most mid-tiers have German guns Czechoslovakia recieved or refurbished after the war (especially the 105mm howitzer was quite common). The artillery is also on the "heavier" end, far from the agile artillery of the French (or British). The biggest cannons however are Czechoslovak-made, such as the 305mm B2 Škoda mortar.

I will again be using Tuccy's concept that can originally be found here, with some modifications I made myself. I hope you'll like it.

A note on the nomenclature: Zb does not specifically mean project description, rather it's an archive number of the drawing, on which the project was found. Most of these projects remained on the company proposal stage, they didn't recieve an army designation (which is "Samohybná houfnice" or ShH - "self-propelled howitzer", followed by the gun pattern). Also, the brackets - showing what type of hull the vehicle is based on - are not official, I added those myself for easier orientation.


Here's the basic layout:

Tier 2 - Zb 16051-P (Hetzer)
Tier 3 - Zb 16050-P (Hetzer)
Tier 4 - Zb 16064-P (T-22)
Tier 5 - ShH vz.18/47
Tier 6 - Zb 16063-P (Panther)
Tier 7 - Zb 16057-P (Panther)
Tier 8 - Zb 16053-P (Panther)


Tier 2 - Zb 16051-P (Hetzer)



History:

As mentioned in the introduction and in the thread, post-war Czechoslovakia sought to quickly expand its SPG branch, especially by using resources available from the German occupation. A large number of Hetzer vehicles remained in Czechoslovakia after the war's end and some designers sought to used that fact to its full potential. This is one of the early projects. It was introduced on 4.11.1946 by Škoda and it consisted of the modified Hetzer hull, with a limited traverse 105mm German leFH 18 howitzer, now re-designated as "vzor 18 N" (Pattern 1918, German). The gun could be traversed 7,5 degress from the axis and elevated to up to 35 degrees. The project was introduced to the commanding officer of VTÚ (military technical institute), who refused it outright. The army artillery branch itself on the meeting of 15.2.1947 showed some interest to actually test such a vehicle, but otherwise the project had very little support and was cancelled soon after.

Characteristics:

Gun - 105mm leFH 18, relatively high speed, but very limited traverse. For the sake of balance, the armor could be reduced (as added weight of the howitzer would surely strain the suspension). Limited mobility would also be an option - a fully armored and mobile Hetzer would otherwise be pretty overpowered for tier 2.

Note for tier 2 - Tuccy's proposal for this tier suggests another vehicle: there was apparently a MU-4 tankette prototype, armed with a 70mm BA-1 gun (something like a SU-18). However, I haven't been able to find any info about it - probably because my books on this topic are an older edition. Also, putting a nerfed Hetzer on this tier would make the T2 - T3 transition easier, given the nature of the tier 3 vehicle.

Tier 3 - Zb 16050-P (Hetzer)



History:

This is a sister project to the one set on tier 2. It was introduced to the VTU command on 4.11.1946 along with the other project. The goal was to put the Škoda-manufactured 150mm StuH 43 howitzer (manufactured in Czechoslovakia for the Sturmpanzer IV vehicles) into the Hetzer chassis and use the result as direct or indirect fire support vehicle. This project was cancelled outright - it had some serious flaws, most notable of which being the low carried shell capacity (only 10 rounds) and very limited traverse and elevation (traverse - 3,5 degrees from axis on each side, elevation max 25 degrees).

Characteristics:

The gun would be quite powerful for tier 3, making this a Czechoslovak equivalent of the WoT Sturmpanzer I.  The armor would have to be taken into consideration also, but again, there is space for nerfs in this direction (a regular Hetzer armed with a 150mm gun would be pretty nasty).

Note for tier 3 - essentially, tier 2 and 3 vehicles could be switched, depending on the game balance. Tuccy has both of these vehicles combined at tier 3. It is my belief however that (considering its severe traverse limits) this vehicle wouldn't be overpowered for tier 2, especially if it recieved a special MM value, like the Stupa I has.

Tier 4 - Zb 16064-P (T-22)



History:

Along with the abovementioned projects, the Škoda company introduced this project to the army on 4.11.1946. The basis for it is the obsolete Czechoslovak medium tank project designated T-22 (from late 30's, prototype finished in 1941) - a prototype of which could still be found back then in the Škoda factory. The howitzer was to be mounted in the frontal part of the vehicle. It is documented that the project was considered until 20.5.1947 (the drawing is dated to this day), but the hull and the whole concept was considered very obsolete and the project was cancelled quickly.

Characteristics:

Yet again the ubiquitous 105mm leFH gun (upgradeable to its slightly improved Czechoslovak copy, or even the German 150mm howitzer, as seen on another project drawing, Zb 10404-P, in fact this could be the combination of both projects), this time mounted on a fairly fast hull (50km/h). The elevation and traverse are decent this time (15 degrees to each side, 40 degrees up), but the vehicle is relatively unarmored (cca 30mm armor max). Ammo capacity (26 rounds) is a notable improvement over the Hetzer projects.

Tier 5 - ShH vz.18/47 ("Hummel")



History:

After the war ended, a Czechoslovak army committee visited a former SS training camp, located in Vrchotové Janovice, where a number of German armored vehicles (including a Hummel SPG) were situated. This was the first time the Czechoslovak army showed interest in the Hummels, the one situated there was too damaged however and was scrapped. But there were more - during 1946-1947, 12 vehicles considered destroyed were salvaged from the countryside. At first they weren't even considerd to be activated, but in early 1948, the lack of heavy armor and self-propelled guns forced the army command to press these machines once again into service. Their general repair and refit was carried out in the ČKD Prague factory in the spring of 1948 and by June, first vehicle was transferred to the army test committee - re-armed with the refitted 152mm howitzer (18/47 pattern, basically the original German sFH 18, refitted to fire Soviet 152mm shells). During the summer and fall it was tested and by the october 1948, it was transferred to a regular army unit. The rest of the salvaged vehicles was repaired and refitted until May 1949 and soon after, it was officially accepted into service under the designation "ShH vz.18/47" - in November 1949, a 12 of them in total officially served. They were in active service until the end of 1954 - in 1955, one of them was taken to be stored for testing, the other 11 were salvaged for spare parts (Czechoslovak army was still using captured Panzer IV's back then) and scrapped.

Characteristics:

Well, it's a Hummel - with a small twist. The 152mm howitzer packs quite a punch, but ultimately its game performance shouldn't be that different from the German original.

Tier 6 - Zb 16063-P (Panther)



History:

This was one of the post-war projects to utilise the Panther hulls and a number of available German 150mm howitzers, which were refitted to fire the Soviet and Czechoslovak 152mm ammunition. On 15.2.1947, a meeting took place at the Czechoslovak army HQ. One of the decisions taken there was to explore the possibility of mounting a 150mm howitzer on one of the available Panther hulls. It was to be made by Škoda, who was asking for the proper platform to try this out since 1946. The army first tried to actually sell one of the Panthers to Škoda for a very high price, but Škoda refused and in 1947 a decision was made to simply give one of the Panthers to Škoda for free. On 16.6.1947, Škoda and the Army Technical Institute (VTU) agreed on building two prototypes of the vehicle. There were several versions concieved - with a fully rotating turret, with a 150mm, 152mm and a 105mm howitzer. In the end, one of the two prototypes was to be built with a 150mm turret, one was to have the 105mm one. It was also decided that the initial prototype trials were to be made on 28.6.1949, but by then, the Panther hull wasn't even delivered to the company. The Panther was to be delivered from the possession of ČKD Sokolovo on 10.1.1949 - that didn't happen and the fate of the project is unclear, it was probably scrapped when the Czechoslovak army decided to adopt the Soviet technology in the early 50's.

Characteristics:

Even though the picture doesn't show it as such, the turret superstructure is supposed to be fully traverseable (360 degrees turret). The guns consist of the 105mm, 150mm and the 152mm vz.18/47 versions. The vehicle was fairly heavy and the Panther hull is well armored, so I assume it would find its niche in World of Tanks.

Tier 7 - Zb 16057-P (Panther)



History:

This in fact isn't a new project per se, it's a stage of the tier 6 project (was a part of the documentation agreed upon on 16.6.1947 by Škoda and the army), only with a different - enclosed - fully traverseable turret. This project suffered the same fate as the 16063-P.

Characteristics:

Considering the game performance, both vehicles on tier 6 and 7 are probably interchangeable. It would be possible to remove the top 152mm howitzer from tier 6 and add it only to the tier 7 vehicle, but that is a game balance issue. It also "looks better".

Tier 8 - Zb 16053-P (305mm Panther)



History:

On 4.11.1946, this project was presented along with several others by Škoda to the army representatives. It is a Panther hull with 305mm B-20 mortar (developed by Škoda during the war) mounted. The weapons was truly massive, which led to the removal of a part of the Panther armor in order to save weight. The spare ammunition (9 pieces) was situated over the engine. The bracing part of the Mortar was lowered thru the bottom of the tank. Although the work on the mortar itself continued for some time, this project was cancelled very soon.

Characteristics:

The B-20 mortar was a monster. It would be a nice tier 8 arty and perhaps even tier 10, if pushed that far. The mortar could traverse 20 degrees on each side (40 in total).

Is there more?

Yes. There were several more projects, for example a 105mm howitzer based on the Hungarian Turán chassis - and I am not even considering yet the Soviet projects with modifications. All in all, this could make for a nice branch of arty and a worthy addition to the EU tree.