Škoda T-25 artillery (10,5cm, 15cm)

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Hello everyone,

to finish the series of obscure Czechoslovak projects, here are two interesting vehicle proposals you might have heard about – but you probably haven’t.

10,5 cm le.F.H. 43 auf Selbstfahrlafette T-25

CzechSPA

This is a proposal (as the name suggests) to mount the 105mm light field gun LeFH43 on the T-25 chassis. LeFH 43 was newly developed Škoda project by the way, not the old 105mm LeFH 18 howitzer. It was created by Škoda as a part of the light artillery competition probably in late 1943 – in this case, its competitors were Krupp (with its Heuschrecke IVb) and Alkett (with its 10,5cm le.F.H. 18/40/2 (Sf) auf GW III/IV). Drawings were made and a wooden mock-up was built, but the project never progressed beyond the mock-up stage. The vehicle was designed to weight 24,2 tons and had between 16mm and 30mm of armor on various places. The howitzer was removable from the mount (much like the German proposals had it). The 105mm howitzer could fire a 14,8kg HE shell at 610 m/s velocity.

Special Panzer Variants by Spielberger state the parameters of this vehicle as such:

Gun:

105mm LeFH 43 L/30, 14,81 kg shell weight, 610 m/s maximum muzzle velocity, -5/+75 elevation, 60 rounds carried

Vehicle designation: Grille 12

Crew: 5
Weight: 24,2 tons
Maximum speed 60 km/h
Engine: 450 hp
Hull armor: 30/20/20
Turret armor: 30/16/16

15 cm s.F.H.43 auf Selbstfahrlafette T-25

This is a “sister” project – a proposal to mount the 150mm howitzer on the same chassis. Technical drawings are confirmed to exist, but a mock-up was probably never made.

30 thoughts on “Škoda T-25 artillery (10,5cm, 15cm)”

  1. Does this fit into a tech tree branch or can we expect it to be a premium?

    Was the 10.5 cm gun able to use the same shells as the old FeFH 18? If so, could we expect the ingame version to have access to AP shells too?

        • A bit higher actually, LEFH 18 AP is slightly underestimated in WOT (we get 500m penetration at 100m)

            • Maybe just a slight grammar malfunction.
              “100 mm at 500 m” is probably the correct way to write it.

              So if we get 100 mm pen with 430 m/s velocity we could expect 130-140 with 610?

          • Mind you the Skoda car manufacturer didn’t actually make any tanks.

            There are two Škoda manufacturers in Czech republic.

            Skoda Auto has HQ in Mlada Boleslav – they are the car manufacturers, formerly known as Laurin & Klement. During WWII they did mostly stuff like trucks, jeeps, some weapon parts, maybe engines for other stuff.

            Then there is Skoda company in Plzen, which specializes in heavy machinery – they are the ones who made the tanks and guns, amoungst various other things.

            Basically, Laurin & Klement got merged with Škoda Works because economical crisis and stuff at some point between the wars and later they split again as Škoda Auto.

      • We had a Skoda fabia VRS: small, economical… and could outrun most BMW and mercs at the stoplights. My father still regrets selling it.