122 mm howitzer M1909 / 37 122 mm howitzer M1909 / 37 ( ) was a Soviet 121 . 92 mm ( 4 . 8 inch ) howitzer , a modernization of World War I era 122 mm howitzer M1909 . The gun saw combat in the German - Soviet War . Development and production history . The gun resulted from a modernization of the Russian 122 mm howitzer M1909 , initially developed by Krupp . The M1909 was employed by the Imperial Russian Army during World War I and remained in service after the revolution . From late 1920s the RKKA sought to upgrade its First World War - era artillery pieces . The modernization of the M1909 , handled by " Perm Plant " in 1937 , included : The resulting gun was adopted as 122 - mm howitzer M1909 / 37 . About 800 - 900 old M1909 guns were upgraded to the M1909 / 37 standard . The M1909 / 37 was a typical short - barrel howitzer , intended mostly for shooting with elevations from + 20° to + 43° . Shell could be fired with six propellant loads ( no . 1 to 5 and full ) . The gun had horizontal sliding breechblock , hydraulic recoil buffer and spring - driven recuperator . The carriage was of single trail type with unsprung wooden wheels and limited traverse . Organization and employment . Red Army . The M1909 / 37 was a divisional level howitzer . According to the organization of 1939 , each rifle division had two artillery regiments - light regiment ( a battalion of 76 mm guns ; two mixed battalions with one battery of 76 mm guns and two batteries of 122 mm howitzers ) and howitzer regiment ( a battalion of 122 mm howitzers and a battalion of 152 mm howitzers ) , giving 28 122 mm howitzers per division . In June 1940 one more battalion of 122 mm howitzers was added to the howitzers regiment , bringing the number to 32 . In June 1941 the howitzers regiment was removed and the number of howitzers dropped to 16 . This organization was used throughout the war , except in guard rifle divisions which from December 1942 had three artillery battalions ( two batteries of 76 mm guns and one battery of 122 mm howitzers each ) , totaling 12 howitzers . From December 1944 they received howitzer regiment ( 5 batteries , 20 howitzers ) . From June 1945 rifle divisions were reorganized identically . Mountain rifle divisions in 1939 - 40 had one battalion of 122 mm howitzers ( 3 batteries , 9 guns ) . From 1941 they received instead one artillery regiment ( 2 battalions , each from 3 four - gun batteries ) with 24 howitzers . From early 1942 only one battalion ( 2 batteries , 8 howitzers ) remained . From 1944 howitzers were removed from mountain rifle divisions . Motorized divisions had two mixed battalions ( battery of 76 mm guns , two batteries of 122 mm howitzers ) , totaling 12 howitzers . Tank division had one battalion with 12 howitzers . Cavalry divisions until August 1941 had two batteries of 122 mm howitzers , totaling 8 , then the divisional artillery was removed . Until late 1941 rifle brigade s had a battery of four 122 mm howitzers . 122 mm howitzers were also used by the howitzer brigades of the Reserve of the Main Command ( 72 - 84 pieces ) . The M1909 / 37 started to replace the M1909 in 1937 . By 1 October 1936 RKKA possessed 920 M1909 howitzers ; until the beginning of the German - Soviet War all of them were replaced . The modernized gun saw combat in the Winter War and the German - Soviet War . On 1 June 1941 RKKA possessed about 800 pieces . Due to combat losses , by the middle of the war only a limited number of pieces remained in service . Other operators . A number of M1909 / 37s fell into the hands of Wehrmacht in 1941 - 42 and were adopted as 12 , 2 cm le . F . H . 386 ( r ) . Finnish Army captured a few in the Winter War and further 21 in the Continuation War . In Finnish service the gun was designated 122 H / 09 - 30 . The howitzers were used against their former owners ; a few were lost in combat . Finns also modernized in a similar way M1909 howitzers they possessed since the Civil War , resulting in a gun designated 122 H / 09 - 40 ( about 30 pieces ) ; the guns were used in the Continuation War . Summary . The M1909 / 37 was a relatively minor upgrade of a World War I - era howitzer , which didn ' t address the main flaws of the latter , namely : The short barrel meant short range , smaller than that of its main adversaries , such as the German 10 . 5 cm leFH 16 ( 8 , 9 km vs 10 , 7 km ) . Low muzzle velocity and small traverse also made the gun helpless against enemy armor . Although in 1943 a HEAT shell was developed , the aforementioned deficiences meant that a chance of hitting small moving target was slim . On the other side , the M1909 / 37 was rugged and reliable . It was also lighter than the newer M - 30 or the 10 . 5 cm le . F . H . 16 . It was similar in most characteristics to another modernized World War I - era howitzer in Soviet service , the M1910 / 30 , except slower rate of fire . In 1937 the Soviet Union still did not possess a modern 122 - mm howitzer design ready for mass production , so upgade of old ones was a reasonable decision . Ammunition . Although the M1909 / 37 has slightly longer barrel and slightly smaller maximum elevation than the M1910 / 30 , according to Shirokorad these guns had identical ballistics .