Canon de 75 modèle 1897

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Canon de 75mm Modele 1897

Canon de 75 Modèle 1897 on display in Les Invalides.
Type Regimental artillery field gun
Place of origin France
Service history
In service 1897–1945
Used by France, United States, Poland, Belgium, Romania, Germany, Finland
Wars Boxer Rebellion,World War I,
Polish-Bolshevik War,
World War II
Production history
Designed 1891–96
Produced 1897–1940?
Number built 21,000+
Specifications
Weight 1,544 kilograms (3,400 lb)
Barrel length 106 inches (2,700 mm) (36 calibres)
Crew 6
Shell High-explosive, shrapnel, anti-tank (5.97-7.25 kg)
7.24 kg / 15.96 lb shrapnel shell
Caliber 75 mm / 2.95 in
Carriage Horse-drawn (6 horses),
Artillery tractors
Elevation -11° to +18°
Traverse 6°
Rate of fire 15/min
Muzzle velocity 500 metres per second (1,600 ft/s)
Effective range 9,350 yards (8,550 m) shell
7,440 yards (6,800 m) shrapnel
Maximum range 7,500 yards (6,900 m)
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Rifling of a 75 modèle 1897
Rifling of a 75 modèle 1897

The French 75mm field gun was a quick-firing field artillery piece developed in 1894 and which saw widespread service in World War I and served into World War II. It was commonly known as the French 75, simply the 75 and Soixante Quinze. It was one of the most important developments in field artillery, as it introduced for the first time in the history of field artillery a dual hydraulic (or "long") recoil system which kept the gun's carriage perfectly still when it fired. Because it did not have to be resighted between shots, the French 75 could fire twenty to thirty rounds per minute. When it appeared in 1894, the French 75 was ahead of its time, and the German and British military did not produce a field gun of comparable performance until just before World War I.

The French 75 was entirely manufactured at State-controlled arsenals, principally at Atelier de Construction de Puteaux near Paris. The French 75's official designation was Matériel de 75mm Mle 1897; it is not to be confused with the Schneider manufactured "Canon de 75mm Mle 1912" used by French cavalry and the Serbian army, and its 1914 modification. Although they used the original French 75's ammunition, these privately manufactured Schneider guns were lighter, smaller, and mechanically different.

Contents

[edit] Development

The forerunner of the French 75 was an experimental 57mm gun which was first tested in September 1891 at the Bourges arsenal. It assembled a number of the most advanced artillery techniques available at the time:

1) Vieille's smokeless powder, invented in 1884.
2) Self-contained ammunition: the powder charge sat in a brass case which also held the shell.
3) An early hydro-pneumatic recoil mechanism designed by Major Louis Baquet.
4) A rotating screw breech, soon to appear on the 75mm field gun, built under licence from Thorsten Nordenfelt.

In 1890, General Mathieu, Director of Artillery at the Ministry of War, was informed that Konrad Haussner, an Austrian engineer working for Krupp, had patented a gun with a long recoil cylinder and that after a series of tests Krupp was considering to manufacture the new gun. However Krupp finally rejected Haussner's design due to problems caused by hydraulic fluid leakage. Haussner then turned to other potential buyers for his patent which was already on open file in European patent offices. After reviewing the public blueprints,the French artillery engineers recommended to proceed on their own without purchasing the Haussner patent. Accordingly, General Mathieu sent for Lt Colonel Albert Deport (1846-1929), at the time the Director of the Atelier de Construction de Puteaux, and asked him whether he could construct a gun on the principle of the long cylinder recoil.[1]

It took five more years under the leadership of Mathieu's successor, General Deloye, to perfect and finally adopt the Deport long-recoil field gun. Various deceptions, some of them linked to the Dreyfus Case, had been implemented by General Deloye and French counter-intelligence to distract German espionage.[2]

The new 75mm field gun was functional by the summer of 1894, using an oleo-pneumatic recuperator based on the earlier design of Colonel Locard, but difficulties persisted in keeping the recoil mechanism pressure tight. Hydraulic fluid leakage was typical of this experimental phase of artillery development.

In December 1894, Lt Colonel Albert Deport was passed over for promotion and resigned to join a private armaments firm. Two young engineers who had worked under him, Captains Ste Claire Deville (1857-1944) and Emile Rimailho, carried on with the project and brought it to fruition in 1896. Their essential contribution was a leak-proof, oleo-pneumatic, long-recoil mechanism they called "Frein II." It kept high internal pressures almost indefinitely and under the worst field conditions. Captain Deville designed additional features of importance such as a device for piercing the fuzes of shrapnel shells automatically during the firing sequence (an "automatic fuze-setter"), thus determining the desired bursting distance. The independent sight had also been perfected for easy field use by the crews and a nickel-steel shield protected the gunners. The gun was adopted on March 28, 1898 under the official name of "Materiel de 75mm Mle 1897". It was shown to the public for the first time during the Bastille Day parade of July 14,1899 but no one then had any idea of the technical progresses that had been achieved.

[edit] Description

The gun had a barrel which could slide back but which was attached to a piston in an oil-filled cylinder. When the gun barrel recoiled, the piston pushed the oil through a small orifice into a second cylinder, the oil pushing back a floating piston in the second cylinder that compressed air in the dead end of that cylinder. Forcing the oil out of the first cylinder absorbed much of the energy of recoil, and compressing the air into the second cylinder created a back pressure that returned the gun to its original position. Other valuable features of the 75 were wheel brakes, a trail spade, and a gun shield to protect the crew against small-arms fire. At a weight of 3,400 pounds (1,500 kg) the 75 could be transported with ammunition in its first caisson by a team of 6 horses or even 4 in exceptional situations.

[edit] Ammunition

The French 75 fired two types of shells, with a muzzle velocity of 500 metres per second (1,600 ft/s) and a maximum range of 6,900 metres (7,500 yd).

  • A 5.3 kilograms (12 lb) impact-detonated, thin-walled steel, high-explosive (HE) shell with a time delay fuse. The delay lasted five hundredths of a second, designed to explode at a man's height after bouncing forward off the ground. A melted explosive called trinitrophenol, picric acid, or "Melinite", used since 1888 by French artillery, filled the HE shell.
  • A 7.24 kilograms (16.0 lb) time-fused shrapnel shell containing 290 lead balls. The balls shot forward when the fuse's timer reached zero, ideally bursting high above the ground and enemy troops. Later, during World War I, several new shells and fuses were introduced due to the demands of trench warfare, including a shell that could reach out to 11,000 metres (12,000 yd). Every shell, whether it be a high explosive or shrapnel shell, was fixed to a brass case which automatically ejected when the breech opened.

[edit] Rapid fire capability

The French 75 introduced a new concept in artillery technology: rapid firing without realigning the gun after each shot. The old artillery had to be resighted after each shot in order to stay on target and thus fired no more that two aimed shots per minute. The French 75 easily delivered fifteen aimed rounds per minute and could fire even faster for short periods of time. This rate of fire, the gun's accuracy, and the lethality of the ammunition against personnel, made the French 75 superior to all other regimental field artillery at the time. When made ready for action, the first shot buried the rear spade and the two wheel anchors into the ground, following which all other shots were fired from an entirely stable platform. Bringing down the wheel anchors system ( which is visible on the Invalides Museum picture displayed at the top of this page) was called "abattage".The gun was unable to elevate beyond eighteen degrees, unless the rear spade had been deeply buried into the ground, but the 75mm field gun was not designed for plunging fire. The gun could be traversed laterally 3 degrees to the right or 3 degrees to the left by sliding the trail on the wheel's axle.

[edit] World War I Service

"Our glorious 75mm gun", propaganda postcard
"Our glorious 75mm gun", propaganda postcard

The French artillery entered the war in August 1914 with more than 4,000 Mle 1897 75mm field guns (1,000 batteries of 4 guns each). Each Mle 1897 75mm field gun battery was manned by highly trained crews led by 4 officers recruited among graduates of engineering schools. Enlisted men from the countryside took care of the 6 horses that pulled each gun and its first limber. Another 6 horses pulled each additional limber and caisson which were assigned to each gun. A battle ready French 75 battery was manned by 170 men and included 160 horses, most of them pulling ammunition as well as repair and supply caissons. Over 17,500 Mle 1897 75mm field guns were produced during WWI, over and above the 4,100 French 75's which were already deployed by the French Army in August 1914.

All the essential parts, including the gun's barrel and the oleo-pneumatic recoil mechanisms were manufactured by French State arsenals: Puteaux, Bourges, Chatellerault and St Etienne. A truck-mounted anti-aircraft version of the French 75 was assembled by the automobile firm of De Dion-Bouton and adopted in 1913.

The total production of 75mm shells during WWI exceeded 200 million rounds, mostly by private industry. In order to ramp-up shell production from 20,000 rounds per day to 100,000 in 1915, the government turned to civilian contractors and, as a result, shell quality deteriorated. This led to an epidemic of burst barrels which afflicted 75mm artillery during 1915. Colonel Ste Claire Deville confronted the crisis (defects in the base of the shells, due to shortcuts in manufacturing) and the problems were corrected. Shell quality came back by September 1915, but never to the full exacting standards of pre-war manufacture. The French 75 gave its best performances during the Battle of the Marne in August-September 1914 and at Verdun in 1916. The contribution of 75mm artillery in these two battles, and thus to the French victories that ensued, was perceived at the time as quantitatively important.[citation needed] In the case of Verdun, over 1,000 French 75's (250 batteries) were constantly in action, night and day, on the battlefield during a period of nearly nine months. The total consumption of 75mm shells at Verdun during the period February 21 to September 30,1916, is documented by the public record at Service Historique de l'Armee de Terre to have been in excess of 16 million rounds, or nearly 70% of all shells fired by French artillery during that battle. The French 75 was a devastating anti-personnel weapon against waves of infantry attacking in the open, as at the Marne and Verdun. However its shells were comparatively light and lacked the power to obliterate trench works, concrete bunkers and deeply buried shelters. Thus,eventually, the French 75 batteries became routinely used to cut corridors, with high-explosive shells, across the belts of German barbed wire. Finally, after 1916, the 75 batteries became the carriers of choice to deliver toxic gas shells, including mustard gas and phosgene.

The French Army had to wait until 1917 to receive the modern heavy field artillery ( e.g. the 155 mm Schneider howitzer and the long range Canon de 155mm GPF) that was virtually absent in 1914. In the meantime it had to do with the old de Bange 155mm converted siege artillery, without recoil brakes, that was inferior in rate of fire and mobility to the modern and more numerous German heavies. The excessive reliance on the 75mm field gun, a doctrine developed by the General Staff during the pre-war years, cost hundreds of thousands of French lives that were lost during the unsuccessful Joffre offensives ( Artois/Champagne) that took place during the year 1915.

"75mm PAK 97/38"
"75mm PAK 97/38"
"75mm PAK 97/38"
"75mm PAK 97/38"

[edit] World War II Service

Despite obsolescence brought on by new developments in artillery design, large numbers of 75s were still in existence in 1939 (4,500 in the French army alone) and they eventually found their way into a number of unlikely places. Some had been delivered to Poland in the 1920's, together with infantry ordnance, in order to fight the Bolsheviks. They were known as 75mm Armata Polowa wz.1897/17. In 1939 the Polish army had 1374 of these guns, making it by far the most numerous artillery piece in Polish service.

Some French guns were modernised between the wars, in part to adapt it for anti-tank fire, resulting in the Canon de 75 Mle 1897/33 which fired a special armor piercing shell. Many were captured by Germany during the Fall of France in 1940, in addition to many Polish guns captured in 1939. Over 600, renamed 7.5 cm PaK 97/38, were mounted on a 5 cm PaK 38 carriage and put to use by the Wehrmacht in 1942 as an emergency weapon against the Soviet Union's T-34 and KV tanks. Its relatively low velocity and a lack of updated armor piercing ammunition limited its effectiveness as an anti-tank weapon. When the German 7.5 cm PaK 40 became available in sufficient numbers, most remaining PAK 97/38 pieces (modified French 75's)were returned to France to reinforce the Atlantic Wall defenses.

[edit] British Service

In 1915 Britain acquired a number of "autocanon de 75 mm mle 1913" anti-aircraft guns, as a stopgap measure while it developed its own anti-aircraft alternatives. They were used in the home defence of Britain, usually mounted on de Dion motor lorries using the French mounting which the British referred to as the "Breech Trunnion". Britain also purchased a number of the standard 75 mm guns for which the Coventry Ordnance Works developed a mounting, the "Centre Trunnion", for AA use on British vehicles.[3] At the Armistice there were 29 guns in service in Britain.[4]

[edit] US Service

The US Army adopted the French 75 mm field gun during World War I and used it extensively in battle. There were 480 American 75mm field gun batteries (over 1,900 guns) on the battlefields of France in November 1918 (Crowell,1919). The US Army also kept a large inventory of the gun after WW-1 and used it extensively for training purposes until 1942. The first US artillery shots in action were fired by Battery C, 6th Field Artillery on October 23 1917 with a French 75 named "Bridget" which is preserved today at the United States Army Ordnance Museum. Manufacturing of the French 75 by American industry began in the Spring of 1918 and quickly built up to an accelerated pace ( Crowell ,1919 ).Carriages were built by Willys-Overland,the hydro-pneumatic recuperators by Singer Manufacturing Co and Rock-Island Arsenal,the cannon itself by Symington-Anderson and Wisconsin Gun Company. One thousand and fifty (1,050) French 75s were built by American industry during WW-1 but only 143 had been shipped to France by November 11,1918.

During the 1930's many of those were equipped with rubber tires. Others were mounted on a split trail permitting plunging fire: the French 75 M2A1,A2 and A3. Furthermore, M3 Half-Track mounted French 75's were used in the Pacific theater for quite a while, following Pearl Harbor, and later during the landing operations in North Africa and Italy. One of the more ingenious uses for the old gun was its mounting in B-25 Mitchell bombers for attacking Japanese shipping. Otherwise the French 75 was replaced by the more powerful and more versatile U.S. 105mm M101 split-trail Howitzer by 1941.

[edit] Variants and derivatives

[edit] Field artillery

  • canon de 75 mm mle 1897 modifié 1938
motorized artillery variant with wooden wheels replaced by metallic wheels with tyres, altered shield

[edit] Anti-aircraft

  • autocanon de 75 mm mle 1913
self-propelled anti-aircraft variant, on De Dion-Bouton chassis.
  • canon de 75 mm contre-aéroplanes sur plateforme mle 1915
static anti-aircraft variant on rotating platform
  • canon de 75 mm contre-aéroplanes mle 1917
anti-aircraft variant on 1-axle trailer with stabilizer legs.

[edit] Anti-tank

  • Canon de 75 mm mle 1897 modifié 1933
similar shield and wheels as the standard version, but split-trail carriage allowing 58° traverse. Used in the anti-tank role

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Menne, Bernard (2007). Blood and Steel - the Rise of the House of Krupp. READ BOOKS, p. 185. ISBN 1406755338. 
  2. ^ Doise, Jean (1994). Un secret bien garde: Histoire militaire de 1'Affaire Dreyfus. Paris: Editions du Seuil. ISBN 2-02-021100-9. 
  3. ^ Hogg & Thurston 1972, Page 48.
  4. ^ Routledge 1994, Page 27

[edit] References

  • Alvin, Colonel; André, Commandant (1923). Les Canons de la Victoire (Manuel d'Artillerie). Paris: Charles Lavauzelle & Cie. 
  • Benoît, Lt-Col. Christian (1996). Le Canon de 75: Une gloire centenaire. Vincennes, France: Service Historique de l'Armée de Terre. ISBN 2-86323-102-2. 
  • Challeat, J. (1935). Histoire technique de l'artillerie en France pendant un siècle (1816-1919). Paris: Imprimerie Nationale. 
  • Crowell, Benedict (1919). America's Munitions, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: U.S.Government Printing Office. 
  • Demaison, Gérard (1997). Le centenaire d'une arme légendaire: Le canon de 75 Mle 1897, Cahiers ? 24, A.N.S.B.V.. Verdun: Musée Memorial de Verdun. 
  • Doise, Jean (1994). Un secret bien gardé: Histoire militaire de l'Affaire Dreyfus. Editions du Seuil. ISBN 2-02-021100-9. 
  • I.V.Hogg & L.F. Thurston, British Artillery Weapons & Ammunition 1914-1918. London: Ian Allan, 1972.
  • Brigadier N.W. Routledge, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. Anti-Aircraft Artillery, 1914-1955. London: Brassey's, 1994.
  • Touzin, Pierre; Vauvillier, François (2006). Les Matériels de l'Armée Française: Les canons de la victoire, 1914-1918. Tome 1: L'Artillerie de Campagne. Paris: Histoire et Collections. ISBN 2-35250-022-2. 

[edit] External links