Canon de 155mm GPF


The Canon de 155 Grande Puissance Filloux mle.1917 was a WWI-era French-designed 155 mm gun used by the French Army and the United States Army during the first half of the 20th century in towed and self-propelled mountings.

History

The gun was designed during the First World War by Colonel Louis Filloux to meet an urgent need for modern heavy artillery and became the standard heavy field gun of the French Army from 1917 until the Second World War. It was also adopted by the United States as the M1917 and a close derivative of it was made in and used by the US as the M1918 through the Second World War.
The gun was also manufactured in the United States from 1917, after the US switched to metric artillery based on French patterns. It was used by the United States Army and United States Marine Corps as their primary heavy gun as the 155 mm Gun M1917 or M1918 until 1942, when it was gradually replaced by the 155 mm M1A1 Long Tom. US Army forces in the Far East, including the 301st FA Regiment, the 86th FA Regiment and also US Coast Artillery units, used this gun against the Japanese in the Philippines Campaign. Some of the guns were originally emplaced in "Panama mounts" on Corregidor, Caballo and Carabao islands at the entrance of Manila Bay. Some guns were dismounted and used as roving batteries and gave effective counter-battery fire. The gun was later mounted on the M12 Gun Motor Carriage and saw action in 1944–45.
During the Second World War, some US-made guns were used for coast defense of US and Allied territories, such as Australia and Bermuda, typically on "Panama" mountings - circular concrete platforms with a raised centre section, with the carriage tires pivoting around the center section and the split trails spread out on rails at the edge of the platform.

''Grande Puissance Filloux'' (GPF)

This gun was designed by Colonel L. J. F. Filloux to fill a vital French Army requirement for a heavy artillery piece. The design proved a success and became the standard heavy field gun of the French from 1917 to the end of World War I. The weapon was pressed into service quickly, to remedy the shortage of such weapons in the French inventory. This weapon became the "Canon de 155 Grande Puissance Filloux mle 1917", named by French Army as the Canon de 155mm GPF. During the First World War, the gun was eventually taken on by the American Expeditionary Force as a standard long-range artillery piece. At the beginning of the Second World War the French guns were taken out of storage and 24 of these guns were operational in May–June 1940.

M1918 155 mm GPF

The US M1918 155 mm GPF was a copy of the French 1917 field gun and used by the US Army, Philippines and US Marines up to 1945. The United States Army paid for and subsequently copied, the Model 1918 gun. During the Second World War the 155 mm guns were taken out of storage and used for coast defense on American shores and in Allied territories such as the Philippines and Australia. They were also used in the Philippines, Guadalcanal and North Africa until more modern artillery was available. Ultimately, both the US Army and Marine Corps phased out their M1918 guns for the 155 mm M1A1 "Long Tom" beginning in 1942. The M1918 was also fitted to the M12 Gun Motor Carriage as a self-propelled gun and used from 1944 to 1945.

15.5 cm K 418(f)

In 1940, France fielded 450 of these guns. Many of them were captured and used by Germany for the rest of the war. In German service it was known as the 15.5 cm K 418; it served with heavy artillery battalions in the Afrika Korps and on coast defense duties. On D-Day in 1944, the German Army had over 50 of the 155 mm French guns in sites on the northern French beaches. A battery of six of these guns near four empty emplacements for larger guns was the cause of the actions at Pointe du Hoc in June 1944.

Surviving examples

Many of these weapons survive as memorials. The following list is not exhaustive:

Weapons of comparable role, performance and era