WW1 artillery shell casings.

[Richard Minter]

While cleaning out an elderly relatives attic I have come across two German artillery shell casings.

each has been engraved with the following:-

solr-le-chateau

375

POWCOY

I wonder if anyone here can shed some light on the meaning of these inscriptions.

on the base of one casing is stamped :- St G 305 DEZ 1917 67%Cu HL 31

the other has :- St G AUG 1917 HL 25

 

any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Alan24]

A probable reference to No. 375 (Prisoner of War) Company which would have been part of the Labour Corps. Their role would have been guarding German P.o.W.s. 

Solre-le-Chateau is a small town in the rolling countryside to the east of the Nord department of northern France and just a few kilometres from the French border with Belgium.

Edited 15 June by Alan24

[Richard Minter]

Thank you Alan.

Do you know anything about the type/calibre of gun that would have fired those shells?

[peregrinvs]

Pictures / measurements would assist, but they sound like German cases for the 7.7cm FK.96 field gun:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7.7_cm_FK_96_n.A.
 

St - Stark - Strengthened 

G - Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik of Geislingen 

305 - batch number

DEZ 1917 - December 1917

AUG 1917 - August 1917

67% Cu - Brass made from 67% copper

HL 31 / HL 25 - Hauptlaboratorium Ingolstadt  inspector 31 / 25

[Richard Minter]

The shell casings are approximately 18.3 mm in diameter and 200mm long.

i think they may have been shortened because they have been turned into ornaments.

 

[mancpal]

Richard,

are you sure 18.3mm is correct? Should it be 183mm?

Simon

[Richard Minter]

Yes, my mistake, 183mm it is.

[peregrinvs]

If 183mm is the width across the base, then they may be 17cm cases.

[Richard Minter]

Thank you.

[trajan]

On 15/06/2024 at 12:59, peregrinvs said:

 

67% Cu - Brass made from 67% copper

 

A useful reminder of raw metal shortages in Germany at this stage of the Great War!

[AOK4]

4 minutes ago, trajan said:

A useful reminder of raw metal shortages in Germany at this stage of the Great War!

Huh? All brass (yellow copper) only has about this much cupper... Red copper (like used in driving bands) is pure copper.

The Germans did use iron shell casings though, but these didn't work out as well as the brass ones.

Jan

[trajan]

My understanding - and happy to be corrected! - is that shell cases up to and early years of GW were with 72% copper. 

[MikB]

High-copper brass has better ductility and hardness. Normal cartridge brass is around 70% copper and the rest zinc. Germany was trying to reduce its copper consumption under pressure from Allied blockade, so arrived at a working compromise at 67%.

Ordinary machine-shop brass is around 60/40 Cu/Zn. It's easily - and cheaply - machined to accurate sizes and good finish, but isn't tough enough to stand most internal ballistic obturation pressures.

[trajan]

Clearly the need to mark these 'compromise' ones as such indicates a needed change in case manufacture/components -why else mark them? But how did this effect e.g., the power of the charge? Or did it simply made them more corrosion prone than 'brass' if not properly stored? 

[Chasemuseum]

The issue would have been work hardening of the brass when fired making the brass brittle. Impacting the ability to heat treat and reuse the casing a second or third time before scrapping it and using the metal to remanufacture an entirely new case.