Skoda 220 mm howitzer

The Škoda 220 mm howitzer was a siege howitzer design which served with Germany, Poland, and Yugoslavia before and during World War II.

Description
The 220 mm howitzers were a compromise designs for their time, with decent capability to destroy fortifications and yet mobile enough. Constructively, design has shared many features with the 149 mm Skoda Model 1928 Gun. The howitzer used only immobile, fully traversable siege mount which must be offloaded from the transport platform into shallow (0.5m deep) pit before firing. Typical preparation time was 3 hours. The Skoda 220 mm howitzer utilized a hydro-pneumatic recoil system. Loading was manual, with separate shell and the bags of the propellant allowing 9 different propelling charges. For transport, howitzer was disassembled into three loads and each was towed by a separate 8-ton tractor. The maximal towing speed was 30 km/h.

History
The K-series was an entirely new design by the Škoda Works company of Czechoslovakia. Although the exact development schedule is unknown, the first contract to deliver 12 artillery pieces was signed with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1928. The howitzers were locally designated as M.28. In October 1929, the Polish delegation has also evaluated design. The contract to deliver 27 artillery pieces to Poland was signed in 1933, with actual deliveries happening in 1934-1935 period. At least 14 Škoda 220 mm howitzers were captured by German forces from Poland in September 1939 and designated 22 cm Mörser 538(p). Also, some howitzers were captured in April 1941 from Kingdom of Yugoslavia and designated 22 cm Mörser 538(j). Finally, 7 howitzers were captured by Soviet Union from Poland and were re-used against Finland during the Winter War. Army of Czechoslovakia has also considered adopting gun, but the plans were abandoned. The fragmentation (anti-personnel) shell for howitzer was developed in Poland by June 1939, and at least 60 fragmentation shells were produced under German occupation.

Known German coastal batteries using 22 cm Mörser 538

 * Battery 47/977 in Kroken and Hetlefloten, 6 pieces
 * Battery 6/975 in Klinga, 3 pieces
 * Battery 4/974 in Reitan, 3 pieces