Zvezda 6121 1/72 (Snap-Fit) German 105mm Howitzer LeFH 18/18M with Crew

This is a plastic snap fit model kit, which comes unassembled and unpainted. So model paints and other basic modelling tools are additionally required. This "snap fit" model can be assembled without glue.

This kit includes one plastic model German artillery piece with two soldier crewmen.

Developed in 1929 and entering service in 1935, the Leichte FeldHaubitze 18 ("light field howitzer") became the standard divisional howitzer of the German military, and was exported to German allies like Hungary, Spain, and Finland. This excellent 105mm gun continued to see service in the Swedish army until 1982. More than 6,000 of these guns were manufactured by Germany by the end of the war.

This gun proved very successful against the more numerous but smaller calibre French artillery during the early months of the war, but German artillerists recognized a need for additional range. So, by the time Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, the leFH 18 was fitted with a distinctive muzzle brake that extended its range to over 10,000 meters. It could fire both high explosive and armour piercing shells, each weighing more than 14 kilograms.

This heavy weapon was often mounted on a carriage equipped with wooden-spoke wheels that were only suitable for pulling by horse teams, but many had pressed steel wheels and could be towed behind a truck or halftrack. The sheer weight of the weapon proved to be a major problem in the infamous mud of the Russian steppe, and after 1942 production shifted to a lighter version: the 10.5 cm leFH 18/40.