Designed as early as 1906 by Rheinmetall, and only available within a single 5 guns battery from 1908 in the Feldartillerie units, the '13 cm K L35 M09' gun was another ace of the German Artillery arsenal when the war begun.

This long tube (4725mm) cannon, transportable into two separate loads, could sent a shell at more than 16 km, and received therefore a primary mission of anti-artillery and harassment fire, staying out of range of ennemy fire {remember that the French 'wonderful' 75, that was suppose to be the perfect multi-purpose ordnance, could only send its sheels to a maximum distance of 8500 m at the beginning of the war).

The main issue with this gun was its too little availability : only 32 units were in service in July 1914, and the total wartime production was limited to 202 guns, including some 1917 modified design ones, equipped with steel wheels to allow the automobile towing in a single load. The reason for this is the will of the German Headquarters to reserve the industry capacity to the new anti-artillery Krupp guns 15 cm L/30, L/35 and L/40. In 1918, 40 batteries equipped with 120 13cm guns were still in service.

Main characteristics :

• Weight in firing position : 6730 kg (6838 kg for the 1917 design)
• Calibre : 135 mm
• Tube length : 35 calibres
• Projectile weight : 42 kg
• Initial velocity : 695 m/s
• Maximum range : 16500 m
• Elevation range : -5 / +26 degrees
• Direction range : 4 degrees