The Skoda 38 cm Haubitze L/17 M 16 was a heavy howitzer which was designed and produced by Austria-Hungary and used by the Austrian Army during the First World War. It would also be employed by the German Army during World War II. It was first fielded on the Western Front in 1917. It was mounted on a rotating plate platform, with ball bearings.
The Skoda 38 cm Haubitze L/17 was a 380-mm-caliber howitzer, which the German would call it "Mörser" (mortar), but, technically speaking, it was a heavy howitzer. It fired 740-kg shells to a maximum range of 15 km. However, using 600-kg fragmentary shells, it had a range of more than 16 km. This artillery piece was the farthest reaching steep trajectory gun of the First World War. The muzzle velocity was 459 m/s.
Below, the Skoda 38 cm Haubitze being used by the Werhmacht on the Eastern Front in WW2.
