Category Archives: Artillery
Artillery Evolutions: Anti-Tank Guns and their German Origins
From World War I until the end of World War II, from the standpoint of doctrine, the preferred way to deal with enemy tanks was an anti-tank gun. During World War I, only one of the belligerents developed a significant … Continue reading
Howitzer Fire: M777
Caption: Soldiers from 3rd Howitzer Section, Alpha Battery, 2-8th Field Artillery fire the M777 at COP Wolverine in Zabul Province, Afghanistan. Poetry in motion…
Filed under Afghanistan, Artillery
Artillery Evolutions: More French – Grande Puissance Filloux
Can we say that without getting a mature rating? Sure! Grande Puissance Filloux is the “friendly” name given by the French to the “Canon de 155mm mle 1917 G.P.F.” In the last Artillery Evolutions post, I mentioned the French 155mm … Continue reading
Filed under Artillery
Artillery Evolutions: Counter Battery Fire with the 4.7-inch Gun
As mentioned earlier, when the U.S. expanded the field artillery arm to support American Expeditionary Force (A.E.F.) going to France in 1917, planners saw the need for a medium caliber gun to provide counter-battery fire. Unlike the other artillery types, … Continue reading
Artillery Evolutions: A Little Something for the Infantry
Take a close look at this often reproduced photo of US troops in action during World War I: The weapon in this scene is a M1916 37mm Infantry Gun, sometimes called a “1-pounder” by U.S. authorities. While technically a “gun” … Continue reading
Artillery Evolutions: The 155mm Schneider Howitzer
Thus far discussing the US Army’s field artillery of World War I, I’ve focused on the divisional field guns. These were the more important weapon, in terms of numbers. But as was custom (indeed even up through World War II) … Continue reading
Artillery Evolutions: Light Guns from the British
As I’ve discussed in earlier posts, finding enough guns to arm the A.E.F. during World War I proved a challenge. The Army lacked sufficient quantities of guns in 1917 to meet the massive need. Focusing for this thread of posts … Continue reading
Artillery Evolutions: Putting the French 75 in Production
Recapping from earlier posts, upon entry into World War I, the United States had insufficient quantities of a 3-inch field gun. In order to meet the massive projected demand for divisional artillery, the Army turned first to a domestic design. … Continue reading
Artillery Evolutions: Let’s Talk French – “Soixante-quinze”
I left off last month pointing out the situations that forced the Americans to adopt foreign artillery types upon entering World War I. The best known of these foreign types was the French Canon de 75 modèle 1897 – often … Continue reading
Artillery Evolutions: Expanding Field Artillery for World War I
As outlined in the last post on this thread, the American M1916 field gun, be it a 3-inch or 75mm caliber, was a design project disaster. As mentioned in the scope of the M1916 development crisis, upon entry to war … Continue reading
Artillery Evolutions: The Crime of 1916
It’s been nearly a month since I (Craig) took up writing about how the US Army’s artillery evolved from the start of the 20th century. Real world stuff distracts me from this important work! In that first post I outlined … Continue reading
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Craig Swain
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