page_title: 15 cm sFH 18
section_title: Operators
hierarchical_section_title: 15 cm sFH 18 / Operators
context_page_description: The 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze 18 or sFH 18, nicknamed Immergrün, was the basic German division-level heavy howitzer during the Second World War, serving alongside the smaller but more numerous 10.5 cm leFH 18. Its mobility and firing range and the effectiveness of its 44 kilogram shell made it the most important weapon of all German infantry divisions. A total of 6,756 examples were produced.
  It replaced the earlier, First World War-era design of the 15 cm sFH 13, which was judged by the Krupp-Rheinmetall designer team of the sFH 18 as completely inadequate. The sFH 18 was twice as heavy as its predecessor, had a muzzle velocity increase of forty percent, a maximum firing range 4.5 kilometers greater, and a new split-trail gun carriage that increased the firing traverse twelvefold. The secret development from 1926–1930 allowed German industry to deliver a trouble-free design at the beginning of German re-armament in 1933. It was the first artillery weapon equipped with rocket-assisted ammunition to increase range. The sFH 18 was also used in the self-propelled artillery piece schwere Panzerhaubitze 18/1.
context_section_description:  Albania – post war use
   Bulgaria – post war use, known as D-30 "Krup" 150mm
   Republic of China
   Czechoslovakia – post war use
   Finland – 48 pieces, known as 150 H/40
   Nazi Germany
   Italy – known as Cannone da 149/28
   Portugal – post war use
   Soviet Union – post war use
   Spain – 1937–39 and Blaue Division
   Yugoslavia – post war use
   Indonesia – post war use
   People's Republic of China – post war use
caption: German forces with a 15 cm sFH 18 howitzer on the Eastern Front.
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