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Dutch artillery May 1940

Introduction

In order to shape a clear picture of the state and status of the Dutch artillery in May 1940, we first introduce a brief overview of the general artillery status before we introduce the 10,5 mm field gun/howitzer itself.

The ratio of the number of artillery pieces [excluding AT-guns, 6-veld and 8-staal and excluding coastal and navy guns] versus the strength of the army is an indication of the support capacity of armies. The Dutch army had 1 gun to every 400 men [700 guns, 280,000 men strength]. That was similar to the German and British ratio, slightly better than the Belgian ratio [1:460]. Only the French had a much better ratio with about 1:300.

All armies had a mix of old, older and modern guns. The French superiority was specifically concentrated in the higher component, the guns of over 15 cm calibre. That arsenal was a direct heir of the WWI productions and hardly utilised on the battlefields of WWII. The Dutch, Belgian, British and German arsenals (in Europe) comrpised mainly guns in the light, medium and medium heavy [up to and including 15 cm] spectrum. 

The Dutch artillery in May 1940

The Dutch artillery was organised in three divisions. Two of these divisions were totally Field Army dedicated; the third division was created to house all other artillery units.

The divisional artillery [DA] comprised sixteen artillery regiments which were all assigned to a division or a brigade. These units were equipped with 7,5 cm field guns and medium and heavy howitzers [12 cm and 15 cm].

The five army corps artillery [CA] regiments were assigned to the corps artillery commander. It was composed of four regiments with 12 [or 16] of the 10,5 cm Bofors field howitzers [in the Dutch army designated as Field Guns] and one regiment with 32 of the Vickers heavy howitzer of 15,2 cm.

The third and last division was the so called army artillery division, which comprised all other units. Some of these were complete regiments; some were only piece-batteries. Apart from a few modern guns assigned to a number of units, the majority of these regiments and batteries had only old guns at their disposal. Some of the units [12,5 cm guns] were assigned to CA command due to non-delivery of newly ordered guns for field army units.

The below listed table shows an overview of the Dutch artillery in May 1940:

Regiment Battl. Quantity guns Calibre Manuf. Dutch type Assigned to
1 RA I 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld 7th div
  II 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld 7th div
  III 12 120 mm Bofors 12 hw l 14 8th div
2 RA I 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld 1st div
  II 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld 1st div
  III 12 120 mm Bofors 12 hw l 14 1st div
3 RA I 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld 5th div
  II 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld 5th div
  III 8 150 mm Krupp 15 hw l 17 5th div
4 RA I 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld 2nd div
  II 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld 2nd div
  III 12 120 mm Bofors 12 hw l 14 2nd div
5 RA I 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld 8th div
  II 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld 8th div
  III 12 150 mm Krupp 15 hw l 17 7th div
6 RA I 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld 3rd div
  II 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld 3rd div
  III 8 150 mm Krupp 15 hw l 17 3rd div
7 RA I 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld 6th div
  II 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld 6th div
  III 12 120 mm Bofors 12 hw l 14 6th div
8 RA I 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld 4th div
  II 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld 2nd div
  III 12 150 mm Krupp 15 hw l 17 4th div
9 RA I 12 105 mm Bofors 10-veld 4th corps
10 RA I 12 105 mm Bofors 10-veld 1st corps
11 RA I 12 105 mm Bofors 10-veld 3rd corps
12 RA I 16 105 mm Bofors 10-veld 2nd corps
13 RA I 12 125 mm Krupp 12 l 24 Group Merwede
  II 12 125 mm Krupp 12 l 24 Group Merwede
  III 12 125 mm Krupp 12 l 24 Group Merwede
14 RA I 12 125 mm Krupp 12 l 24 Group Spui
  II 12 125 mm Krupp 12 l 24 Group Spui
  III 12 125 mm Krupp 12 l 24 Group Kil
15 RA I 8 152 mm Vickers 15 hw l 15 2nd corps
  II 12 152 mm Vickers 15 hw l 15 2nd corps
  III 8 152 mm Vickers 15 hw l 15 4th corps
16 RA I 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld Brigade B
  II 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld Brigade B
17 RA I 8 75 mm Krupp 7-veld Group Kil
  II 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld Territorial Cmdr Zeeland
  III 12 84 mm Krupp 8 staal Territorial Cmdr Zeeland
18 RA I 12 125 mm Krupp 12 l 24 4th corps
  II 12 125 mm Krupp 12 l 24 4th corps
  III 12 125 mm Krupp 12 l 24 8th div
19 RA I 12 125 mm Krupp 12 l 24 2nd corps
  II 12 125 mm Krupp 12 l 24 2nd corps
  III 12 125 mm Krupp 12 l 24 Brigade A
20 RA I 12 84 mm Krupp 8 staal Peel - Schaik
  II 12 84 mm Krupp 8 staal Peel - Erp
  III 12 84 mm Krupp 8 staal Peel - Weert
21 RA I 8 75 mm Krupp 7-veld Light Div
  II 8 75 mm Krupp 7-veld Light Div
22 RA I 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld Brigade A
  II 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld Brigade A
23 RA I 12 75 mm Krupp 7-veld Group Kil
  II 8 75 mm Krupp 7-veld Group Kil
24 RA I 12 150 mm Krupp 15 l 24 Group Merwede
25 RA I 12 150 mm Krupp 15 l 24 Group Kil
26 RA I 12 150 mm Krupp 15 l 24 Group Spui
27 RA I 8 120 mm Krupp 12 hw l 12 Group Merwede
         
Section   2 105 mm Krupp 10.5 l 30 Territorial Cmdr Zeeland
Section   2 75 mm Krupp 75 l 35 4th Div [Rhenen]
Battery   4 84 mm Krupp 8 staal Delfzijl
Section   1 84 mm Krupp 8 staal Den Helder
Sections   29 84 mm Krupp 8 staal Overrijssel (35RI - I-43RI - II-43RI)
Section   1 84 mm Krupp 8 staal Vak Weert
Sections   2 84 mm Krupp 8 staal Vak Erp (15GB)
Sections   4 84 mm Krupp 8 staal Vak Bakel (III-26RI - I-41RI)
Sections   2 84 mm Krupp 8 staal Vak Asten (2 GB - III-41RI)
Sections   3 84 mm Krupp 8 staal Vak Schail (II-26RI)
Sections   3 84 mm Krupp 8 staal Brigade A (8GB - III-43RI)
Sections   4 84 mm Krupp 8 staal Brigade B (I-26RI - 11GB)
         
2 battl   36 150 mm Krupp 15 l 24 Spare guns Group Kil

Artillery specifics

The Dutch had ordered new guns in the period 1937-1940. It all started with endeavours to expand the number of Bofors 10,5 cm field guns. The order for these new guns was however stalled due to Swedish export restrictions which followed the start of the first Finnish-Russo war. The Dutch than decided that German guns from Rheinmetall had to be ordered, and as such 120 off 10,5 cm leichte feldhaubitze FH18 were ordered [the standard light field howitzer of the German army]. Eight of these were delivered in 1939 - but without ammunition. The Germans decided not to deliver any more, which made perfect sense bearing in mind their [near] future plans ...

Due to the fact that new guns were not delivered the Dutch army command decided that old and sometimes obsolete guns had to be reinstalled in the lines, and as such numerous antique weapons were taken out of the arsenals and even from museums. The old 6-veld [1894; 5,7 cm light field gun] was still in service anyway, but the 8-staal [1884; 8,4 cm field gun], the 12-lang-staal [1880; 12,5 cm fortress gun] and 15-lang-staal [1880; 15 cm fortress gun] were reinstalled in active outfits.

These guns were all manned by recruits from the Artillery Depot or older reservists. The majority of these units were assigned to stationary artillery positions along the fixed Fortress Holland south front and the outer defence-lines. The 12,5 cm units however were mainly assigned to the CA since the new field howitzers had not arrived [yet]. The old 8-staal guns were used to compensate for the lack [or shortage] of anti-tank weapons in the outer defence-lines and as replacement for the removed artillery in the south.

Some unique guns, such as two available test guns "10 lang 30", were assigned to smaller units.

All together - including 108 guns 8-staal - the Dutch had little over 800 guns of a calibre of 7,5 cm and higher. This figure does not yet include 210 guns of 5,7 cm [6-veld], 68 casemate guns [kanon van 5, HIH Siderius 5 cm AT gun] and about 380 PAG [47 mm AT guns], nor does it include AAA or navy and coastal artillery.

Ammunition stocks

The ammunition available for each gun was quite limited. The modern artillery was quite well off, but the older guns had only limited supplies available. The Dutch were capable of producing ammunition for virtually all guns; with exception of the German FH18 gun [Dutch designation "10.5 hw 22"]. The availability of ammo for each gun at the eve of war was as follows:

6-veld: 500 rounds
7-veld: 2,000 rounds
10-veld: 2,500 rounds
12 hw l 14: 1,450 rounds
12 l 24: 500 rounds
15 hw l 17: 1,700 rounds

The ammunition stocks for gun types not mentioned are uncertain and therefore not mentioned.

Gun traction

The majority of the artillery-units were still mounted in 1940. The 15 cm howitzers and the 10-veld units as well as the Light Division artillery units were the only units that were fully motorised.

The old artillery units [12,5 cm and 15 cm units] were not supplied with dedicated traction. The units equipped with these almost obsolete weapons which were assigned to the field army had to make use of motorised traction from other units. The units assigned to the defence-lines along the south front of Fortress Holland were simply towed into fixed and prepared positions and left there. For displacement they required motorised traction to be mobilised elsewhere.

The remainder of the artillery was relying on horse traction. That was quite common though in the European armies in 1940.