| Canon de 155 C mle 1917 Schneider | |
|---|---|
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| General information | |
| Place of origin: |  France
|
| Category: | Howitzer |
| Operators: | |
| Elevation: | 0 to +42° 20' |
| Traverse: | 6° |
| Rate of Fire: | 3rpm |
| Artillery battery: | Yes (2 - 3 - 5 guns) |
| Position 1: | Gunner |
The Canon de 155 C mle 1917 Schneider (abbreviation for Canon de 155 Cour modéle 1917 Schneider) howitzer was the prime heavy howitzer of the French army during the Great War. It began as a private development of Schneider, in hopes of coming to an agreement with the Russian army. The design was being developed in order to equip the Russian army with heavy field howitzers. When the Great War broke out in 1914, the French army quickly had to face the fact that it urgently needed this modern kind of field howitzers. They had put to much trust in their famous "75", coming to the conclusion that it just wouldn't be enough in this war. The first model, the MLE 1915, used brass cases for the propellant, which was seen however as an impairment of the firing behaviour, and a new model, the LCL 1917, finally fixed the errors of the first model. The only real difference between the two models were some changes on the barrel lock. After the improvements, the 155mm C MLE 1917 Howitzer became an excellent artillery piece. The gun itself was relatively light, weighting in at only 1.245kg. It's range was about 11.500m when using the universal 43,5 shells. There were five different kinds of shells for the 155mm C MLE 1917, amongst which were high explosive, shrapnel and gas shells. The 155mm C MLE 1917 Howitzer was still in use with the French army when World War 2 broke out (there were also some numbers still in use with other countries, such as Finland, which used this gun to great effect during the winter war). After the capitulation of France in Juny 1940, the Germans will use the gun as the 15.5 cm schwere Feldhaubitze 414(f). Also in FHSW you can use the captured howitzer.
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