Artillery
Fortress of Liege
Fort Loncin, near Liege, destroyed by 42cm howitzers during the advance through Belgium. Western Europe was a beehive of activity in August 1914. France mobilized 78 infantry and 10 cavalry divisions for the heroic charge into the “martyred provinces” of Alsace- Lorraine. These “pioneers in the great war of revenge,” as Chief of Staff General Joseph Joffre called them, under…
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Artillery Development 16th-18th Century
Cornelius Redlichkeit’s disappearing gun carriage; on recoiling, the small carriage runs down to inclined plane, counterbalanced by the heavy roller. From Scheel’s Memoirs d’Artillery published in Denmark, 1777. After the Restoration, artillery appears to have vanished from sight in England, for Macaulay tells that when William of Orange landed (1688)…
Grinding into the Mountainside: Italy on the Isonzo
The Obice da 105/14 modello 18 was a howitzer used by Italy during World War II. The howitzer was designed by Schneider in 1906. It was chosen by the Italian Regio Esercito to serve as their new field gun, but licence production by Ansaldo was slow. The Cannone da 381/40…
75-mm field gun – Cannone da 75/27 modello 11
Italian Field Artillery Although its Turin Arsenal manufactured a limited number of mountain guns, before World War I, Italy acquired its artillery from foreign sources, including Krupp of Germany, the Austro – Hungarian Skoda factory, and the French Deport firm. These included the Krupp-designed 75mm 75/27 Mo. 06, which also…
WWI: Technology, Logistics, and Tactics – An Overview I
The history of the two sides’ strategies from 1915 to spring 1917 was one of frustration and failure. To explain why, it is necessary to re-examine how the battles were fought: how the troops and their equipment were deployed, and what weapons were available. An impasse at the level of…
WWI: Technology, Logistics, and Tactics – An Overview II
Such results were even less likely from tanks, which the British used on the Somme in September 1916 and at Arras, and the French in the Nivelle offensive. Tanks were initiated independently in Britain and France, the Germans making no move until they saw the Allied weapons in action. In…
15-cm Kanone 16
L-R s.15-cm SKL/40 i.R, 15-cm K.16 Krupp et 15-cm K.16 Rheinmetall au MusĂ©e de l’Artillerie de l’École de Fontainebleau. Both these pictures Krupp model. The inclusion of a gun with a calibre of only 150 mm (5.9 in) may seem out of place in a description of heavy artillery, but…