The Obusier de 155 mm C modèle 1881 was a medium heavy, French gun, which was developed after the German-French war and was intended for the French fortresses.
On 11 May 1874, shortly after the lost war against Germany, the French army was given the order to develop heavy artillery guns of 120 mm, 155 mm and 240 mm calibre.
The design was based on Colonel Charles Ragon de Bange, who planned the corresponding successor for the obsolete Canon de 155 mm L Model 1877.
Like the other new guns, the 155mm was made entirely of steel to reduce wear and increase stability. The gun was equipped with a breech, also developed by de Bange. However, no recoil mechanism was built into this gun, so it had to be repositioned and aligned after each shot.
As one of the few guns in the French army, the Obusier de 155 mm C modèle 1881 was not designed for a high range, but instead for accuracy, whereby the range was very limited.
For transport, the gun could be equipped with two wooden wheels on steel spokes and pulled by horses. However, the strategy of the French army was to use these guns in the fortresses rather than at the front.
When World War I broke out in Europe, the French army had a total of 237 155 mm calibre guns. However, these were used almost exclusively in the fortresses, so that these were only brought to the front with the beginning of the position war.
Although the guns proved to be particularly suitable for destroying German positions due to their accuracy, they had to be removed close to the front because of their short range, which made them easy targets for German artillery.
Until the end of the war they were used only occasionally.
Obusier de 155 mm C modèle 1881
French 155 mm guns at the front near the Argonne forest
Data sheet:
| Designation: | Obusier de 155 mm C modèle 1881 |
| Manufacturing country: | France |
| Introductory year: | 1881 |
| Number of pieces: | 240 pieces |
| Calibers: | 155 mm |
| Tube length: | 2,4 meters |
| Range: | Max. 6.800 meters |
| Weight: | 2,49 tons |
You can find the right literature here:
Flesh and Steel During the Great War: The Transformation of the French Army and the Invention of Modern Warfare
Flesh and Steel During the Great War: The Transformation of the French Army and the Invention of Modern Warfare Hardcover – October 30, 2018
Michel Goya’s Flesh and Steel during the Great War is one of the most thoughtful, stimulating and original studies of the conflict to have appeared in recent years. It is a major contribution towards a deeper understanding of the impact of the struggle on the Western Front on the theory and practice of warfare in the French army. In a series of incisive, closely argued chapters he explores the way in which the senior commanders and ordinary soldiers responded to the extraordinary challenges posed by the mass industrial warfare of the early twentieth century.
In 1914 the French army went to war with a flawed doctrine, brightly-colored uniforms and a dire shortage of modern, heavy artillery How then, over four years of relentless, attritional warfare, did it become the great, industrialized army that emerged victorious in 1918?
To show how this change occurred, the author examines the pre-war ethos and organization of the army and describes in telling detail how, through a process of analysis and innovation, the French army underwent the deepest and fastest transformation in its history.
Breaking Point of the French Army: The Nivelle Offensive of 1917
Breaking Point of the French Army: The Nivelle Offensive of 1917 Hardcover – November 2, 2015
In December 1916 General Robert Nivelle was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the French armies fighting the Germans on the Western Front. He had enjoyed a meteoric rise to high command and public acclaim since the beginning of the war - he was a national hero. In return, he proclaimed he ‘had the formula’ that would ensure victory and end the conflict in 1917. But his offensive was a bloody and humiliating failure for France, one that could have opened the way for French defeat.
This is the subject of David Murphy’s penetrating, in-depth study of one of the key events in the history of the Great War. He describes how Nivelle, a highly intelligent and articulate officer, used his charm to win the support of French and British politicians, but also how he was vain and boastful and displayed no sense of operational security. By the opening of the campaign, his plan was an open secret and he had lost the ability to critically assess the operation as it developed. The result was disaster.
They Shall Not Pass: The French Army on the Western Front 1914-1918
They Shall Not Pass: The French Army on the Western Front 1914-1918 Hardcover – May 19, 2012
This graphic collection of first-hand accounts sheds new light on the experiences of the French army during the Great War. It reveals in authentic detail the perceptions and emotions of soldiers and civilians who were caught up in the most destructive conflict the world had ever seen.
Their testimony gives a striking insight into the mentality of the troops and their experience of combat, their emotional ties to their relatives at home, their opinions about their commanders and their fellow soldiers, the appalling conditions and dangers they endured, and their attitude to their German enemy. In their own words, in diaries, letters, reports and memoirs - most of which have never been published in English before - they offer a fascinating inside view of the massive life-and-death struggle that took place on the Western Front.
Ian Sumner provides a concise narrative of the war in order to give a clear context to the eyewitness material. In effect the reader is carried through the experience of each phase of the war on the Western Front and sees events as soldiers and civilians saw them at the time. This emphasis on eyewitness accounts provides an approach to the subject that is completely new for an English-language publication.
The author’s pioneering work will appeal to readers who may know something about the British and German armies on the Western Front, but little about the French army which bore the brunt of the fighting on the allied side. His book represents a milestone in publishing on the Great War.
Artillery in the Great War
Artillery in the Great War Hardcover – May 18, 2011
Artillery was the decisive weapon of the Great War - it dominated the battlefields. Yet the history of artillery during the conflict has been neglected, and its impact on the fighting is inadequately understood. Paul Strong and Sanders Marble, in this important and highly readable study, seek to balance the account.Their work shows that artillery was central to the tactics of the belligerent nations throughout the long course of the conflict, in attack and in defense. They describe, in vivid detail, how in theory and practice the use of artillery developed in different ways among the opposing armies, and they reveal how artillery men on all sides coped with the extraordinary challenges that confronted them on the battlefield. They also give graphic accounts of the role played by artillery in specific operations, including the battles of Le Cateau, the Somme and Valenciennes.Their work will be fascinating reading for anyone who is keen to understand the impact of artillery
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