World War II Database

Country of Origin	France
Type	Field Gun
Caliber	75.000 mm
Barrel Length	2.690 m
Weight	1544.000 kg
Ammunition Weight	5.40 kg
Rate of Fire	15 rounds/min
Range	6.900 km
Muzzle Velocity	500 m/s

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe Canon de 75 modèle 1897 field guns were designed by Albert Deport, Etienne Sainte-Claire Deville, and Emile Rimailho between 1891 and 1896. They were designed for firing time-fused shrapnel shells on enemy infantry, and were the first modern field guns to use a hydro-pneumatic recoil mechanism, which increased the firing rate by not having to re-aim between every shot. They entered production in 1897 and were adopted for French Army service in Mar 1898. France entered WW1 with about 4,100 guns in service, and that number would grow by about 17,500 by the end of the war; during the Great War, they mainly fired high explosive and toxic gas shells, and saw some limited use as anti-aircraft guns. These guns were the guns mounted on the later model St Chamond tanks. The American Expeditionary Forces also operated 2,000 of these 75 mm Gun M1897 guns during WW1, as did the British, though with a smaller quantity.

At the start of the European War, 1,374 Canon de 75 modèle 1897 field guns were in service with the Polish Army. At the same time, on the other side of Germany, the French Army still had guns in service, updated with new wheels and tires for truck towing, some with new high explosive anti-tank shells. Germany captured a great number of Canon de 75 modèle 1897 field guns after the conquest of Poland and France, and adopted 600 of them under the designation of 7.5 cm FK 231(f) for service on the Eastern Front; once more modern guns were available, they were returned to France for coastal defense duty. As the British Expeditionary Force lost a great number of field guns in France in 1940, the British Army purchased 895 of these guns and a million shells from the US Army; these "Ordnance, QF, 75mm Mk 1" guns served as coastal defense guns in Britain and mounted on M3 Gun Motor Carriage halftracks in France, Germany, and Italy, not declared obsolete until Mar 1945. US Army likewise operated them at its entry into the war, with thousands of 75 mm Gun M1897 guns in service in tank destoyer units by Dec 1941, some purchased from France and some built domestically. Most of the US guns were either mounted on M2A3 carriages with split trail and rubber tires or mounted on M3 Half-Track vehicles, seeing combat with US Army and US Marine Corps in North Africa, Italy, and the Philippine Islands until 1944.

Over 21,000 Canon de 75 modèle 1897 guns were built during its long production life.

Source: Wikipedia ww2dbase

Last Major Revision: Jun 2014

Photographs

See all 13 photographs of Canon de 75 modèle 1897 Field Gun

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