Krupp C/73 9 cm Shell

[Gildwiller1918]

Here is a Krupp made shell (Kp initials on shell stood for Krupp Essen) used on the 9 cm Kanone C/73, which was developed after the Franco-Prussian war and used from 1873-1922. Although it is actually an 88 mm, the German States and Austro-Hungarians at the time rounded up to the nearest centimeter. The C/73 was made from steel and had a rifled barrel, but did not have any recoil mechanism. The gun used a single bag of propellent for each shell fired. The shells were either shrapnel or high explosive and weighed about 16.5 pounds. These guns seem to have been used up till 1915 on the Western Front, after which many were sold or given to Turkey. The Dopp Z.91 fuse was introduced in 1891. The gun was updated in 1891 with a new barrel to prevent premature explosions from shells that used picric acid. The shell in the picture below is missing the driving band closest to the fuse and the end cap which was able to be unscrewed. A not often encountered early World War shell.