As early as 1924 the Dutch War Ministry had inquired
with H.I.H. about the possibility to improve the
effective range of the Army’s Krupp 75mm guns. In
July 1926 H.I.H. began work on a huge Dutch Army
order: the modification of the
“7 Veld” or the Krupp 75mm field gun. The Dutch
Army possessed no less than 304 pieces. In 1904 204 of
these guns had been acquired from Krupp, while a
further 100 were produced by the Dutch State Arsenal
or Artillerie Inrichtingen. The carriage was adapted
by H.I.H to create a better elevation of the gun
(approx. 40 degrees) and a new “slender” grenade
was introduced. This all enhanced the effective range
of the gun. Targets up to 10 kilometres could now be
hit (up from 6500 meters before modification). A
grand total of 280 field guns were modified by H.I.H
in this way.
H.I.H. also found another way of improving the
range of the 75mm L30: by lengthening the gun
barrel to 35 calibres! This 75mm L35 was basically
the same gun as before modification with the
difference that the inner tube had been replaced by a
longer one. There is no evidence that any Dutch
Army 7 Veld guns were modified in this way, but
H.I.H. and later H.I.H. Siderius offered this option
commercially.
In 1929 the Dutch War Ministry awarded a contract
to H.I.H. for the production of 200 mortars (81 mm)
after Stokes-Brandt design, including grenades. 100
of these mortars had been purchased in France, while
a further 60 were manufactured by the State Arsenal
or Artillerie Inrichtingen.
H.I.H. also produced an 8cm AA gun (actually
78mm) on request of the Dutch army in 1929. The
Dutch Army tested this gun as well as a Bofors 8cm
AA gun, but no orders materialised. According to the
contract, the Dutch Army would only have been
obliged to order a further 10 guns from H.I.H. if it
accepted the design. Commercially this was probably
not very interesting for H.I.H. On its own initiative it
offered another model, this time a 75mm AA gun,
stating that this gun had also been offered to a
“foreign power”. The Dutch officials rejected the gun.
In August 1931 the Dutch authorities placed a most
interesting order with H.I.H. Siderius as the
company was known by then. Eight pieces of a new
semi-automatic 5cm L50 No.1 gun were to be built
for the army. These guns came with a fixed mount
for use in a bunker (kazemat) as well as with a
carriage (rad), and could fire both anti-tank and anti
personnel grenades. Unfortunately little is known
about this gun, besides the fact that the Artillerie
Inrichtingen produced a simpler version of this gun
later, without the semi-automatic breech. Sixty of
these 5cm L50 No.2 bunker guns were manufactured.
The gun must have been rather successful and as late
as 1940 a further batch of 15 of these 5cm L50 No. 2
guns were under construction at the Artillerie
Inrichtingen.
Continue to page 5 of 8
with H.I.H. about the possibility to improve the
effective range of the Army’s Krupp 75mm guns. In
July 1926 H.I.H. began work on a huge Dutch Army
order: the modification of the
“7 Veld” or the Krupp 75mm field gun. The Dutch
Army possessed no less than 304 pieces. In 1904 204 of
these guns had been acquired from Krupp, while a
further 100 were produced by the Dutch State Arsenal
or Artillerie Inrichtingen. The carriage was adapted
by H.I.H to create a better elevation of the gun
(approx. 40 degrees) and a new “slender” grenade
was introduced. This all enhanced the effective range
of the gun. Targets up to 10 kilometres could now be
hit (up from 6500 meters before modification). A
grand total of 280 field guns were modified by H.I.H
in this way.
H.I.H. also found another way of improving the
range of the 75mm L30: by lengthening the gun
barrel to 35 calibres! This 75mm L35 was basically
the same gun as before modification with the
difference that the inner tube had been replaced by a
longer one. There is no evidence that any Dutch
Army 7 Veld guns were modified in this way, but
H.I.H. and later H.I.H. Siderius offered this option
commercially.
In 1929 the Dutch War Ministry awarded a contract
to H.I.H. for the production of 200 mortars (81 mm)
after Stokes-Brandt design, including grenades. 100
of these mortars had been purchased in France, while
a further 60 were manufactured by the State Arsenal
or Artillerie Inrichtingen.
H.I.H. also produced an 8cm AA gun (actually
78mm) on request of the Dutch army in 1929. The
Dutch Army tested this gun as well as a Bofors 8cm
AA gun, but no orders materialised. According to the
contract, the Dutch Army would only have been
obliged to order a further 10 guns from H.I.H. if it
accepted the design. Commercially this was probably
not very interesting for H.I.H. On its own initiative it
offered another model, this time a 75mm AA gun,
stating that this gun had also been offered to a
“foreign power”. The Dutch officials rejected the gun.
In August 1931 the Dutch authorities placed a most
interesting order with H.I.H. Siderius as the
company was known by then. Eight pieces of a new
semi-automatic 5cm L50 No.1 gun were to be built
for the army. These guns came with a fixed mount
for use in a bunker (kazemat) as well as with a
carriage (rad), and could fire both anti-tank and anti
personnel grenades. Unfortunately little is known
about this gun, besides the fact that the Artillerie
Inrichtingen produced a simpler version of this gun
later, without the semi-automatic breech. Sixty of
these 5cm L50 No.2 bunker guns were manufactured.
The gun must have been rather successful and as late
as 1940 a further batch of 15 of these 5cm L50 No. 2
guns were under construction at the Artillerie
Inrichtingen.
Continue to page 5 of 8
Krupp 75mm L30 field gun after modification.
Krupp 75mm L30 field gun after modification
to L35 calibres.
to L35 calibres.