| 37-mm trench gun M1915 | |
|---|---|
 37 mm trench gun M1915 | |
| Type | Infantry support gun |
| Place of origin | Russian Empire |
| Service history | |
| Wars | World War I World War II |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 180.1 kg (397 lbs) |
| Length | 1.6 m (5 ft 3 in) |
| Barrel length | 70 cm (2 ft 4 in) L/19[1] |
| Width | 100 cm (3 ft 3 in) |
| Height | 100 cm (3 ft 3 in) |
| Shell | Fixed QF 37 x 94 mm R HE, APHE, APHE-T, AP, AP-T, Canister[2] |
| Shell weight | .512 kg (1 lb 2 oz) |
| Caliber | 37 mm (1.45 in) |
| Recoil | none |
| Carriage | Box-trail |
| Elevation | -5° to +15° |
| Traverse | 90°[1] |
| Muzzle velocity | 442 m/s (1,450 ft/s) |
| Maximum firing range | 3.2 km (2 mi)[1] |
37-mm trench gun M1915 (Russian: Траншейная 37-мм пушка обр. 1915 года) was a Russian battalion gun employed in World War I.
With World War I switching into a trench warfare phase late in 1914, a need for a highly mobile artillery system to be used against enemy machine gun emplacements and other strongpoints became apparent. In 1915 colonel M. F. Rosenberg, a member of the Artillery Committee, developed such a weapon. The gun was compact enough to fit into machine gun emplacements. It weighed only about 180 kg and could be dismantled into three pieces - barrel (about 74 kg), carriage (82 kg) and wheels (25 kg), making it easy to move around. To protect the crew from enemy fire, the gun was equipped with a shield 6 or 8 mm thick. The weapon was sufficiently accurate at ranges of up to roughly 1 mile or about 1.6 km—this was earlier set out as 1,000-1,200 paces, and a pace is normally the height of the person walking, so this is not a uniform measure.
