Type 19 Handcannon
| Type 1919 Handcannon | |
|---|---|
 A Handcannon in use by Dericanian troops, 1936 | |
| Type | Infantry Support Gun |
| Place of origin | Faneria |
| Service history | |
| Used by | Faneria |
| Production history | |
| Designer | National Arms Foundry |
| Designed | 1919 |
| Produced | 1919-1937 |
| Specifications | |
| Caliber | 1.5" |
| Rate of fire | up to 10 rpm |
| Muzzle velocity | 1200 ft/s |
| Effective firing range | 3100 ft (950 m) |
| Maximum firing range | 8000 ft (2440 m) |
The Type 19 Cannain an Lámh (Ang. Cannon of the Hand/Handcannon) was a man-portable infantry support gun developed in Faneria during the military buildup of the 1910s-1930s. While other countries had produced infantry support guns, the Handcannon was the first natively produced in Faneria. The Handcannon was designed to attack machine gun nests and could be used in in an anti-armor role against light tanks, and saw service in the Fhainnin and various Dericanian armies during the Second Great War, as well as captured examples being used by Fiannrian, Burgundine and Caeric forces.
Design
The need for heavy artillery pieces in the National Army and major railway expansions across the country to improve military logistics greatly reduced the available steel supply for smaller-caliber field guns similarly to how armor production was stifled; however, Faneria remained a leading nation in ballistics technology and sought to compensate by mitigating the need for low level calls-for-fire through the development of an exceptionally small, portable artillery piece. This lead to the development of the Type 1919 Handcannon, essentially a modernized and stripped-down version of a light field artillery piece. Chambered in 1.5" ammunition, the gun required at least three men to move the 190lbs of gun and kit but ideally was served by a crew of five to carry the gun and spare ammunition if done without a cart, as was usual in combat; wheels could also be attached to the tripod and the legs lifted to allow the gun to be moved along flat terrain. The gun only required one man to fire, but ideally used both a gunner and loader. Ammunition was made available in explosive, fragmentation, AP, and mustard gas rounds, with chemical smoke appearing late in the war for artificial cover.
Service History
The Type 19 proved useful as an entrenched weapon, capable of effectively clearing structures and wooded areas with shrapnel and gas, as well as being a welcome improvement over handheld grenades for combating tanks when proper AT was unavailable. However, its weight remained an issue, as the gun was very exposed during setup and handled rapid forward action poorly, relegating it to a role in entrenched fighting and urban sieges, and it was reliant on ammunition which detracted from heavy artillery production, meaning the weapon became a burden both on resources and supply as it was one of two weapons in regular use (the other being a dedicated AT gun) to use 1.5" rounds. The Type 19 was replaced with a 1" variant (The Type 40) which was portable by two men and only featured HE rounds, relegating it to a direct fire assault support role as originally envisioned.
Patron 28 Mle 37 Cannon Anti-Blindee
An almost identical gun the Patron 28 Mle 37 Cannon Anti-Blindee was produced in Yonderre and Burgundie in 37mm (1.45in) from 1928-1943. It is considered by many to be an act of intellectual property theft but to date there has been no evidence of theft beyond the mechanism itself being almost identical. It owes it's longer service life in the Army of Burgundie because of its utility in asymmetric warfare in the far flung reaches of the Burgoignesc thalattocracy.