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6cm Landing Gun from the SMS Königsberg
SMS Königsberg
6cm Gun, Rufiji Delta, c1915
Photo
©
Frankfurt University Koloniales Bildarchiv
The SMS Königsberg
carried a 6cm L/21
C98 gun
with its own wheeled carriage, intended as close artillery support for landing
parties of sailors. On the outbreak of war the SMS Königsberg sent
its 6cm gun ashore to serve with the
Schutztruppe as the she went out on her brief
raiding career in the Indian Ocean.
The photograph above is
captioned in "Die Deutsche Schutztruppe 1889/1918"
by Werner Haupt as
"6cm Schiffs-kanone
von SMS Königsberg am Simba-Aranga im Südlichen Teil
des Schutzgebietes, 1916", being a 6cm ship's gun from the SMS Königsberg at Simba-Aranga
(Simba-Uranga is in
the Rufiji Delta), in the southern part of the
colony.
The
Schutztruppe already had two 6cm guns of their own
and two more were sent to East Africa on the
blockade running ship, the Rubens in 1915. These
guns had minor variations and were known by
different titles such as 'Ship's Landing Guns' or
'Colonial and Mountain Guns' ("Boots-Landungs-Kanone",
Schnellade-Boots-Kanone" "Schiffs-Kanone"
and "Kolonial und Berg-Kanone") depending
on their usage but appear to have been essentially
similar Krupp guns and on similar Krupp carriages.
The exact
history of the 6cm gun from the Königsberg is not
yet known but as with all Schutztruppe artillery, it
was eventually abandoned during the course of the
campaign in East Africa, after probably being
disabled by its crew.
According to Holger and
Oliver's research, the five Schutztruppe
6cm guns were lost at
Latema Nek on 22 March 1916, Mombo on 6 June 1916,
Kato on 3 July 1916, Mkapira on
30 October 1916 with the last one being used to fire
at Portuguese positions at across the River Rovuma
before being left behind
as the Schutztruppe crossed the river to
invade Portuguese Mozambique on
28 November 1917. It is not yet known which of these
guns was the one from the SMS Königsberg. None of
these guns are known to have survived into the
modern day.
6cm
Gun
in action with the Schutztruppe at Tschunjo, German East Africa c1916
Eyewitness
Illustration by Walther Rehfeldt from published in "Bilder
vom Kriege in Deutsch-Ostafrika" published by
Charles Fuchs, 1920. Now shown on
ReichsKolonialamt.de
Sources
NavWeaps page on the 6cm Gun
"Die Deutsche
Schutztruppe 1889/1918" by Werner Haupt, Dörfler
2001
"Blockade and Jungle" by Nis Kock, edited by
Christen P Christensen, Battery Press 2003
"Königsberg- A German East African
Raider" by Kevin Patience, Zanzibar Publications,
Bahrain 1997
"Meine
Erinnerungen aus Ostafrika" by Paul von
Lettow-Vorbeck, KF Koehler Verlag, Leipzig 1920
"The First
World War in Africa" by Hew Strachan, Oxford
University Press 2004
Axis History Forum Discussion on the SMS Königsberg
Guns in English
Panzer Archiv Forum Discussion on the SMS Königsberg
Guns in German |
