FAW01 75mm Mle 1897

The French 75mm field gun was a quick-firing field artillery piece adopted in March 1898. The French entered WWI in August 1914 with more than 4,000 Mle 1897 75mm field guns (batteries of 4 guns each). Each battery was manned by highly trained crews. Enlisted men from the countryside took care of the 6 horses that pulled each gun and its first limber. Another 6 horses pulled each additional limber and caisson which were assigned to each gun. Over 17,500 Mle 1897 75mm field guns were produced during World War I, over and above the 4,100 French 75’s which were already deployed by the French Army in August 1914.
The US Army adopted the French 75 mm field gun during World War I and used it extensively in battle.
Despite obsolescence, large numbers of 75s were still in existence in 1939. Poland had used them to fight the Bolsheviks, where they were known as 75mm Armata Polowa wz.1897/17. In 1940, with many British field guns having been lost in the Battle of France, some 600 M1897 field guns were purchased from the US Army. The basic, unmodified gun was known in British service as the “Ordnance, QF, 75mm Mk 1” fitted to converted or updated mountings.
With crew