Soon after the start of the First World War, the Germans realizes that their standard field artillery piece, the FK 96 n.A had some serious drawbacks, against the field artillery of their opponents, which often had both a greater range and a greater effect. Development work was soon started on a new Field Gun and in 1916 the Feld-kanone 16 (FK16) was introduced in to the German Army. Although slightly heavier it provided a greater range and by the end of the war the German Army had 3,020 FK16 in service. It was one of the few models the German Army were allowed to retain after the Armistice.