It was superior in caliber to its early opponents in the war, with adequate range and firepower, but the modern split trail gun carriage that provided it with more stability and traverse also rendered it overly heavy for a mobile role in the largely horse-drawn artillery battalions of the German army, particularly in the mud and snow of the Eastern Front.

Beginning in 1942, self-propelled versions were created by fitting the howitzer on a Panzer II, H35, Char B1 or 37L chassis.

[6] Rheinmetall and Krupp were the initial manufacturers, but by 1942 demand was exceeding output so they relocated all production to six firms in Plzeň, Altona, Elbing, Magdeburg, Dortmund and Borsigwalde.

A completely new three-point split trail gun carriage provided more stability and increased the traverse to 56 degrees.

[10] A barrel brake containing a water jacket and a fluid equalizer in the upper carriage also checked the recoil.

[15] A motorized leFH 18 battery had a radius of action 10 times greater than a horse-drawn one and required 49 fewer personnel.

[16] After trials, the field howitzer was officially introduced into Wehrmacht service on 26 July 1935 and replaced the leFH 16 in artillery battalions beginning in 1937.

[19] The leFH 18 had a superior caliber compared to its opponents early in the war[6] and performed well as the supporting arm of the panzer divisions.

[20] While not ideally suited to it, the howitzer could in the right circumstances be effective in anti-tank combat, particularly in the North African Campaign where the motorized batteries of the 33rd Artillery Regiment of the 15th Panzer Division played an important role in defeating British armoured units at Sidi Rezegh on 23 November 1941 during Operation Crusader.

[19] During the Soviet counterattack in the Battle of Moscow, the retreating German horse-drawn artillery vehicles often had to be abandoned due to heavy snows and exhaustion.

[20] The desire to create a lighter carriage that would not hinder mobility to such a drastic extent led directly to the development of the leFH 18/40.

[6] Also, 32 were to be exported to Estonia between December 1940 to June 1941, but due to the breakout of World War II, the orders were not fulfilled.