Nomenclature
In 1944-5 the Germans changed their system of artillery designations from the old "year" system. Each weapon was to have a number showing their caliber group, a letter denoting ammunition group, and the last two digits were from the weapon drawing number. In this case 7 denoted 75 mm caliber using the M group of ammunition. The shells were all to be designated as M with a 4 digit number, the first three were the drawing number and the last was the shell's category from the following list:
| # | Shell type | # | Shell type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | high explosive | 5 | gas |
| 2 | hollow charge anti-tank | 7 | incendiary |
| 3 | armor-piercing | 8 | leaflet |
| 4 | high explosive, high capacity | 9 | practice |
| 5 | smoke | 10 | proof projectile |
Read more about this topic: 7.5 Cm FK 7M85