Hosta

The 120 mm howitzer Model 1901 – was a German howitzer used by the Imperial Russian and Romanian Armies during the First World War.^[1]

Design

The model 1901 was a short ranged field howitzer capable of both direct and indirect fire.^[2] The model 1901 had a short steel barrel, a box trail carriage, two wooden spoked wheels with steel rims, a horizontal sliding-block breech, it fired cased separate-loading ammunition and had a spring-loaded recoil spade. For transport, the trail of the carriage could be connected to a limber and caisson for towing by a six-horse team.^[2]

Orange Free State – The Boers used an unknown number of model 1901 howitzers during the Second Boer War.^[3]
Russian Empire – An unknown number of model 1901 howitzers were used by the Imperial Russian Army. The photos in the gallery below are of a model 1901 that was captured from the Russians during the Finnish Civil War and is displayed at the Hameenlina artillery museum.
Romania – In 1902 two batteries of four guns were assigned to the 2nd artillery regiment in Bucharest. This was followed by three more batteries assigned to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd regiments.^[1] In 1915 the Romanians added a gun shield to protect the gunners. In 1916 the Romanian Army had 31 of these howitzers when they entered the First World War.^[4]

^ ^a ^b Stroea, Adrian (2010). Artileria Română în date şi imagini. Băjenaru, Gheorghe. București: Editura Centrului Tehnic-Editorial al Armatei [CTEA]. p. 44. ISBN 9786065240803. OCLC 895490826.
^ ^a ^b "Krupp 120mm 1901_Hb_Romania". www.bulgarianartillery.it. Retrieved 2018-07-01.
^ "South African Military History Society – Journal- Guns in South Africa 1899–1902". samilitaryhistory.org. Retrieved 2018-07-01.
^ Romania in World War 1916–1919. Volume I. Documents-Annexes. Official Gazette and State Imprints, Bucharest, 1934–1940. p. 56.