LoA - Lore of Artillery (Canon de 75 modêl...
Sotahullu
07 Mar 2012
So, the first ever gun I will write about is the great-great-great-great-grandfather of all modern artillery gun's in use: '
Canon de môdele 1897
So basicly, it is gun from 1890-decade and it was started manufacturing in 1897. And it had some finest technology implented on it, it was very cheap to manufacture and it was easy to make, over 20,000+ was ever manufactureed from 1897-1945 (includes parts). It was also copied by every one else but any of those weren't even close to it!
It was the main artillery gun of the French army during WW1 and WW2 and it was imported to many countries and lisenced build. It was "officially" in French army to '60 and even longer in 3rd-world countries!
So, the story behind Canon was non-other than humilation. After the Prussian-French war during 1870-century (whic involved the birth of German Empire...) The French seriously started to developed their artillery (whic was clearly out-dated) to match their German counter-parts. So, they started to pour money to diffrent manuactures and to develop industry. Of course there was many, many guns before Canon de 75. But none of those weren't enough to give edge over the German one's until it.
So what's so diffrent on Model '87 then, I may hear you ask? Well, basicly it fired faster than anything else! Unlike other pieces during that time, ´Model '97 didn't need to re-calibrate after each shot so it had very high (I mean, ridiculous!) firing speed for it time, even higher than bolt-action-rifles!
And to achieve that was very diffrent thing. Well the secret was it breach. Unlike other breaches during that time, it was designed to force all the gunpowders energy out of the pipe and system called hydro-pneumatic recoil system whic togehter made recoil almost to none. Also, it got "anchoring" system whic stopped gun moving even an inch
(or millimeter). So this basicly made it recoilles gun. While these things were copied later on, Model '97 was king in rapid-fire well into '50.
During WW1, the main problems of Model '97 became clear. To make it so fast firing, the shells were lighter than it would normally be. So the shells had less explosive power whic was very BAD thing in trench warfare. And unfortunatly this became the greatest faults of French army because they didn't have anything bigger until the '17-18.
So basicly: Model '97 was good at devastating infantry in the open but it sucked in destroying fortifations.
During the interwar period, there was projects to prolong Model '97 service (like split-trail system and muzzle flash) for example) but only thing's were replacing wooden wheels with rubber tiers (only adopted with motorised divisions) and improved ammunition and types (like HEAT-ammo). There was also mountain artillery versions of Model '97 produced.
Rubber Tiered version:
During WW2, Poland had 1,000 Model '97 in service and it was first (but not the last time) to fire against Germans. French had 4,500 (some were even from WW1!) in artillery batteries. It was also used in AT-companies as AT-gun. It used AP-ammunition but it had only about 60mm penetration (nothing to sniff at). However, model '97 glory days were over because of the gun development and it's small caliper for artillery was a big fault. However, later during the war, Romanians and Italians formed Model '97 guns in bigger batteries whic, compensated with gun's low caliper. However, gun was replaced if given chance.
Germany used captured gun's as improvised AT-gun in low priority fronts, gun's barrels however were used to make part-time solution gun 7.5cm PaK 97/38 whic used Model '97 HEAT-ammunition. These guns were replaced with PaK 40.
Pak 97/38:
Currently, gun can be found on many museums so you can easily go to see it you're self!
Canon de môdele 1897
So basicly, it is gun from 1890-decade and it was started manufacturing in 1897. And it had some finest technology implented on it, it was very cheap to manufacture and it was easy to make, over 20,000+ was ever manufactureed from 1897-1945 (includes parts). It was also copied by every one else but any of those weren't even close to it!
It was the main artillery gun of the French army during WW1 and WW2 and it was imported to many countries and lisenced build. It was "officially" in French army to '60 and even longer in 3rd-world countries!
So, the story behind Canon was non-other than humilation. After the Prussian-French war during 1870-century (whic involved the birth of German Empire...) The French seriously started to developed their artillery (whic was clearly out-dated) to match their German counter-parts. So, they started to pour money to diffrent manuactures and to develop industry. Of course there was many, many guns before Canon de 75. But none of those weren't enough to give edge over the German one's until it.
So what's so diffrent on Model '87 then, I may hear you ask? Well, basicly it fired faster than anything else! Unlike other pieces during that time, ´Model '97 didn't need to re-calibrate after each shot so it had very high (I mean, ridiculous!) firing speed for it time, even higher than bolt-action-rifles!
And to achieve that was very diffrent thing. Well the secret was it breach. Unlike other breaches during that time, it was designed to force all the gunpowders energy out of the pipe and system called hydro-pneumatic recoil system whic togehter made recoil almost to none. Also, it got "anchoring" system whic stopped gun moving even an inch
(or millimeter). So this basicly made it recoilles gun. While these things were copied later on, Model '97 was king in rapid-fire well into '50.
During WW1, the main problems of Model '97 became clear. To make it so fast firing, the shells were lighter than it would normally be. So the shells had less explosive power whic was very BAD thing in trench warfare. And unfortunatly this became the greatest faults of French army because they didn't have anything bigger until the '17-18.
So basicly: Model '97 was good at devastating infantry in the open but it sucked in destroying fortifations.
During the interwar period, there was projects to prolong Model '97 service (like split-trail system and muzzle flash) for example) but only thing's were replacing wooden wheels with rubber tiers (only adopted with motorised divisions) and improved ammunition and types (like HEAT-ammo). There was also mountain artillery versions of Model '97 produced.
Rubber Tiered version:
During WW2, Poland had 1,000 Model '97 in service and it was first (but not the last time) to fire against Germans. French had 4,500 (some were even from WW1!) in artillery batteries. It was also used in AT-companies as AT-gun. It used AP-ammunition but it had only about 60mm penetration (nothing to sniff at). However, model '97 glory days were over because of the gun development and it's small caliper for artillery was a big fault. However, later during the war, Romanians and Italians formed Model '97 guns in bigger batteries whic, compensated with gun's low caliper. However, gun was replaced if given chance.
Germany used captured gun's as improvised AT-gun in low priority fronts, gun's barrels however were used to make part-time solution gun 7.5cm PaK 97/38 whic used Model '97 HEAT-ammunition. These guns were replaced with PaK 40.
Pak 97/38:
Currently, gun can be found on many museums so you can easily go to see it you're self!
Waroch
08 Mar 2012
That gun was a real technological ( r )evolution on its time, but at the same time a big strategic blunder... But i'll let you write your article =D
Sotahullu
08 Mar 2012
Articles is finshed.
I probaply make article about about howitzers next time
I probaply make article about about howitzers next time
