Canon de 105 mle 1913 Schneider

The Canon de 105 mle 1913 Schneider was a French artillery piece used in World War I and World War II by many European countries.

History

In the early 1900s, the French company Schneider et Cie began a collaboration with the Russian company Putilov. For this collaboration, it had developed a gun using the Russian 107 mm round, which was ordered by the Russian Army to be produced in Russia (though the initial batch of guns was made in France). Schneider then decided to modify the design for the French 105 mm round and offer it to France as well. Initially the French army were not interested in this weapon as they already had plenty of 75 mm field guns. However in 1913 the french army purchased a small number under the designation Canon de 105 mle 1913 Schneider; it was also known by the service designation L 13 S.

The lighter 75 mm guns were of limited use against trenches, so once the western front in World War I had settled down to trench warfare, the French army ordered large numbers of the L 13 S, which with its larger 15.74 kg (34.7 lb) shell was more effective against fortified positions.

After the end of World War I, France sold or gave many Schneider 105 mm guns to various other countries, including Belgium, Italy, Poland, and Yugoslavia.

Between the wars, Poland modified its guns to take a new split trail; this version was called the wz. 29.

The German conquests of Poland, Belgium, France and Yugoslavia during World War II gave them large numbers of captured 105 mm Schneider guns. Many of these were installed in the Atlantic Wall system of coastal defences.

Designations

Because the gun was used by a large number of countries, it had a large number of official designations.

• Canon de 105 mle 1913 Schneider - French designation
• L 13 S - designation by French army during World War I
• The Italian designation was Cannone da 105/28 modello 1913, often shortened to Cannone da 105/28
• Armata 105 mm wz. 13 Schneider and Armata 105 mm wz. 29 Schneider were Polish designations for the original gun and a modernised version respectively
• German designations include:
  • 10.5 cm K 331(f) for guns captured from France
  • 10.5 cm K 333(b) for guns captured from Belgium
  • 10.5 cm K 338(i) for guns captured from Italy
  • 10.5 cm K 338(j) for guns captured from Yugoslavia
  • 10.5 cm K 13(p) and 10.5 cm K 29(p) for guns captured from Poland

References

• Artillery by Chris Chant, ISBN 1-84509-248-1, pages 31, 50-51.

External links

• Cannone da 105/28 on Italian Army website
• Commando Supremo
• Flames of war
• List and pictures of WW1 surviving 105 Mle 1913 Schneider guns