M1918 155mm Howitzer - Scottsboro, AL
N 34° 40.309 W 086° 02.063
16S E 588465 N 3837073
M1918 155mm "Schneider" Howitzer located at the southwest corner of the Jackson County Courthouse lawn.
Waymark Code: WMTJ6Q
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 11/28/2016
Views: 2
The M1918 155mm "Schneider" Howitzer was one of the the standard US 155mm howitzers from 1917 until 1942.
Prior to 1917, the United States had used a 6-inch howitzer of a different design, but discarded it as unsatisfactory in favor of a French gun which the US found had withstood the tests of war and had proven in every way to be superior to all other howitzers of the same or similar caliber. The United States purchased 1,503 examples of the Mle 1917 from France and adopted it as the 155 mm Howitzer Carriage, Model of 1917 (Schneider), as the standard or regulation howitzer for the United States Army.
The United States also paid $560,000 for non-exclusive rights to the design and working drawings. In addition to the 1503 examples purchased in France and used there, 626 were manufactured by or for the US in the United States. The Model 1918 follow-on howitzer built in the US differed somewhat from French models, with a straight rather than curved shield, rubber rather than steel tires on wheels, a pivoting spade and a slightly different firing mechanism.
Both the M1917 and M1918 howitzers were upgraded with air brakes, new metal wheels and pneumatic tires during the interwar period and remained the standard American heavy howitzers until superseded by the M1 howitzer beginning in late 1942. They saw combat with both U.S. Army and Marine artillery units throughout World War I.
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