| Bofors 75 mm mountain gun | |
| Origin: | Sweden |
| Type: | Mountain gun |
| Is Ranged: | YES |
| Is Artillery: | YES |
| Used By: | See users |
| Wars: | World War II |
| Designer: | Krupp |
| Design Date: | 1919-1920 |
| Manufacturer: | Bofors |
| Production Date: | 1923 onwards |
| Variants: | L/20 L/22 |
| Weight: | Combat: 790kg (1,740lb) Travel: 1000kg (2,000lb) |
| Part Length: | 1.5m (04.9feet) L/20 1.6m (05.2feet) L/22 |
| Width: | 0.95m (03.12feet) |
| Crew: | 4 |
| Cartridge: | Fixed QF 75 x 212mm R Fixed QF 75 x 241mm R[1] |
| Cartridge Weight: | 6.5kg (14.3lb) |
| Caliber: | 750NaN0 |
| Rate: | 25 rpm |
| Velocity: | 470m/s |
| Max Range: | 10.5km (06.5miles) |
| Breech: | Horizontal sliding-wedge |
| Recoil: | Hydro-pneumatic |
| Carriage: | 2-wheeled box trail |
| Elevation: | -10° to +50° |
| Traverse: | 6° |
The Bofors 75 mm mountain gun was a German-designed and Swedish-built mountain gun of the interwar years that was used during the Second World War.
In 1919–1920 Krupp designed a new 7.5-cm L20 mountain gun, but the Treaty of Versailles and German disarmament banned manufacturing guns under 170 mm in calibre at the company, so it licensed the product to Bofors[2] (also, since 1920 Krupp held 31.8% of Bofors stock through its Swedish subsidiary AB Boforsintressenter despite a 1916 law prohibiting foreigners from having over 20% stock of a Swedish business[3]). Under an 1921 agreement the company agreed not to export any Krupp-derived materiel to the victors of WWI: the UK, US, France, Italy and Japan.[4]
Bofors, which had never build mountain guns before, had to set up a saddler's workshop which worked until 1980s, and buy donkeys and mules to carry the pack guns. After a Swedish-made prototype passed field tests in Java, KNIL became the first customer in 1923, ordering 30 guns with ammunition and other auxiliary equipment; orders from Turkey and other countries followed starting from 1928.[5]
The Bofors 75 mm mountain gun was built in two main versions, one had a barrel of 20 calibers in length and the other a barrel of 22 calibers in length. Both had a two-wheeled single-axle box-trail carriage with shield, which could be towed by a horse team or broken down into eight mule loads for transportation. In addition to its use by Sweden it was widely exported.