Artillery

10.5cm leFH 18

Also known as
  • 10.5 cm leFH 18
  • 10.5 cm leichte Feldhaubitze 18
  • leFH 18
  • leFH 18M
  • 10.5 cm leFH 18M
  • 10.5 cm leFH 18/40
  • 105 H 33
  • 105 H/33
  • Haubits m/39
  • Obus K 10,5 cm/28 m/941

The 10.5cm leFH 18 was Germany's standard Second World War light field howitzer, a Rheinmetall-designed 105 mm split-trail gun that replaced the leFH 16 and then branched into the muzzle-braked leFH 18M and lighter leFH 18/40. The cataloged conflict row focuses on its unusual survival into the Syrian Civil War, where opposition footage and specialist reporting documented leFH 18-family guns being fired after capture or transfer through Syrian stocks.

10.5cm leFH 18, 105 mm towed light field howitzer, Artillery
Image source: Wikimedia Commons leFH 18 MWP 03

Role in Conflicts

Profile / Specs

Profile

Origin
Germany
Built by
Rheinmetall
Type
105 mm towed light field howitzer
Service note
1930s German design with postwar foreign-service survivals
Designer
Rheinmetall
Designed
1929-1930
Unit cost
16,400 Reichsmark for a leFH 18M in 1943, according to Weaponsystems.net
Produced
1935-1945
Number built
About 6,925 leFH 18/leFH 18M wartime guns plus 10,265 leFH 18/40 variants, with other totals depending on variant grouping

Specifications

Caliber
105 mm
Configuration
Towed split-trail light field howitzer
Crew
5 to 6
Combat weight
1,985 kg for the original leFH 18
Travel weight
3.49 t with horse-drawn ammunition limber
Barrel
105 mm L/28 howitzer; 2.94 m gun length
Ammunition
Separate-loading 105x155 mmR cased ammunition
Ammunition types
High-explosive, smoke, anti-tank, illuminating, propaganda, and gas shells listed by Weaponsystems.net
Maximum range
10,675 m for the original leFH 18 with HE shell; about 12,325 m for leFH 18M
Muzzle velocity
470 m/s for original leFH 18 HE shell; 540 m/s for leFH 18M
Elevation
-5 degrees to +42 degrees
Traverse
56 degrees total
Rate of fire
About 6 rounds per minute
Sights
Direct-fire and indirect-fire sights
Towing
Horse drawn, light truck, or half-track; half-tracks such as Sd.Kfz. 10 were preferred for motor towing
Design And Mobility Notes

The leFH 18 was a conventional towed howitzer, but its split-trail carriage gave it a broad traverse for a light divisional gun. The same carriage and limber arrangement also made the system heavy for horse-drawn artillery units, a limitation that the muzzle-braked leFH 18M and PaK 40-carriage leFH 18/40 tried to address in different ways.

Fire-control role

Direct and indirect sights supported field-artillery fire; Weaponsystems.net lists high-explosive, smoke, anti-tank, illuminating, propaganda, and gas shell types.

Mobility

The gun could be horse drawn, truck towed, or half-track towed; the horse-drawn limber carried ammunition and crew seats but nearly doubled travel weight.

Syria caveat

The Syrian Civil War row is based on identified footage and specialist reporting, not a comprehensive inventory of surviving Syrian leFH 18-family guns.

Sources: Weaponsystems.net leFH-18; History of War leFH 18; Oryx Syrian Civil War leFH 18M; Washington Post Syria leFH 18.

Variants

The leFH 18 family kept the same 105 mm divisional howitzer role while wartime variants tried to increase range or reduce carriage weight.

VariantConfigurationDesignation notes
10.5cm leFH 18MMuzzle-brake range-improvement model

The 18M added a double-baffle muzzle brake and used more powerful ammunition to increase maximum range to about 12.3 km.

Sources: Weaponsystems.net leFH-18

10.5cm leFH 18/40Lighter wartime carriage model

The 18/40 combined leFH 18M ordnance with a carriage using PaK 40-derived components and became the largest wartime subvariant.

Sources: Weaponsystems.net leFH-18, History of War leFH 18/40

Design Lineage

The leFH 18 family is cataloged alongside the earlier German 105 mm light howitzer it replaced.

Compatible itemItem typeCompatibility evidence
10.5 cm leFH 16, 105 mm towed light field howitzer, Artillery10.5 cm leFH 16Predecessor German 105 mm light field howitzer

History of War describes the leFH 16 as the standard German howitzer of the late First World War and interwar period, while Weaponsystems.net notes that the leFH 18 replaced the older leFH 16 as Germany's standard light howitzer.

Sources: History of War leFH 18, Weaponsystems.net leFH-18

Timeline

10.5cm leFH 18 Key Events

  1. German service adoption

    The leFH 18 entered German service in 1935 after Rheinmetall design work in 1929-1930.

    Sources: World War II Database leFH 18

  2. Muzzle-brake variant appears

    The leFH 18M upgrade added a muzzle brake and extended the gun family's range by using more powerful charges.

    Sources: World War II Database leFH 18, Weaponsystems.net leFH-18

  3. leFH 18/40 deliveries begin

    History of War reports the first ten leFH 18/40 guns delivered in March 1943, with 418 in service by the start of the Battle of Kursk.

    Sources: History of War leFH 18/40

  4. Syrian rebel use reported

    Oryx and Washington Post reported video evidence of Syrian rebel fighters using a leFH 18-family howitzer during the Syrian Civil War.

    Sources: Oryx Syrian Civil War leFH 18M, Washington Post Syria leFH 18

Media

10.5cm leFH 18 Images

10.5cm leFH 18, 105 mm towed light field howitzer, Artillery - view 1
Source: Wikimedia Commons leFH 18M Saumur
10.5cm leFH 18, 105 mm towed light field howitzer, Artillery - view 2
Source: Wikimedia Commons leFH 18/40 Sapun
Related Weapon Systems
152 mm D-1 gun-howitzer, Towed 152 mm howitzer, ArtilleryArtillery152 mm D-1 gun-howitzerTowed 152 mm howitzerThe 152 mm D-1 gun-howitzer is a Soviet towed heavy howitzer that put a short 152.4 mm ordnance on a lighter split-trail carriage. Its modern record is mostly residual-use evidence: Russia drew D-1 guns from stocks during the full-scale phase of the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War, while open loss records tie the same World War II-era system to Armenian/Artsakh equipment in 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh and Syrian government artillery losses in the 2011 Syrian Civil War.
L118 Light Gun, 105 mm towed light howitzer, ArtilleryArtilleryL118 Light Gun105 mm towed light howitzerThe L118 Light Gun is a British 105 mm towed howitzer built for airborne, commando, and light-force artillery. It can be towed by a medium-weight vehicle or carried underslung by a Chinook helicopter, and BAE Systems says its 105 mm ammunition family includes HE, illumination, target-marking, smoke, and propelling-charge options. This family record also covers the L119 branch, the NATO/M1-ammunition variant supplied to Ukraine, while the U.S. M119 derivative has its own linked entry.
Rheinmetall Rh-120, 120 mm smoothbore tank gun family, ArtilleryArtilleryRheinmetall Rh-120120 mm smoothbore tank gun familyThe Rheinmetall Rh-120 is Germany's 120 mm smoothbore tank-gun and ammunition family, developed from Rheinmetall's 1965-1975 smoothbore weapon-ammunition work and fielded through Leopard 2 and licensed Abrams M256 applications. The family runs from the original L44 to the longer L55 and high-pressure L55A1 branches; this relationship-only component page documents the gun lineage, barrel-length variants, ammunition interface, and modernization context rather than making independent conflict-use claims apart from host tanks.

Sources

TM E9-325A German 105-MM Howitzer MaterielPublisher: United States War Department | Note: Supports primary 1944 technical-manual context for German 105 mm howitzer identification, use, maintenance, and available technical information. | Accessed: 2026-07-13World War II Database leFH 18Publisher: World War II Database | Note: Supports leFH 18 origin, Rheinmetall design timing, 1935 service adoption, baseline specifications, export context, and the leFH 18M/leFH 18/40 development summary. | Accessed: 2026-07-13Weaponsystems.net leFH-18Publisher: Weaponsystems.net | Note: Supports detailed specifications, design features, variant distinctions, range values, travel weight, carriage notes, aliases, production totals by variant grouping, unit-cost context, ammunition types, towing context, and leFH 16/Wespe/PaK 40 relationship notes. | Accessed: 2026-07-13History of War leFH 18Publisher: HistoryOfWar.org | Note: Supports leFH 18 development from late-1920s German requirements, Rheinmetall design work, leFH 16 predecessor context, recoil-system description, and baseline range/mobility discussion. | Accessed: 2026-07-13History of War leFH 18/40Publisher: HistoryOfWar.org | Note: Supports leFH 18/40 variant context, production timing, lighter travel configuration, and the March 1943 delivery milestone. | Accessed: 2026-07-13Oryx Syrian Civil War leFH 18MPublisher: Oryx | Note: Supports 2011 Syrian Civil War direct conflict-use context: identifies a German 10.5 cm leFH 18M light field howitzer used by Ahrar al-Sham to target regime-held positions near Ariha, south of Idlib. | Accessed: 2026-07-13Washington Post Syria leFH 18Publisher: The Washington Post | Note: Supports 2011 Syrian Civil War direct conflict-use context: reports footage of Islamic Front fighters loading and firing what appeared to be a 10.5 cm leFH 18 and cites ARES assessment that Syrian Army stocks were known to include limited leFH 18M holdings. | Accessed: 2026-07-13Wikimedia Commons leFH 18 MWP 03Publisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Supports image provenance and reuse terms for the primary image: a 10.5 cm leFH 18 displayed at the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw, photographed by Zala and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. | Accessed: 2026-07-13Wikimedia Commons leFH 18M SaumurPublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Supports image provenance and reuse terms for a 10.5 cm leFH 18M displayed at the Musée des Blindés, Saumur, photographed by Alan Wilson and licensed CC BY-SA 2.0. | Accessed: 2026-07-13Wikimedia Commons leFH 18/40 SapunPublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Supports image provenance and reuse terms for a 10.5 cm leFH 18/40 displayed at the Sapun Mountain Memorial complex, photographed by George Chernilevsky and released to the public domain. | Accessed: 2026-07-13Lone Sentry TM E9-325A leFH 18Publisher: Lone Sentry | Note: Supports archival U.S. War Department technical-manual context for the German 105 mm howitzer identification and wartime technical-reference trail. | Accessed: 2026-07-13