75mm field gun demonstration for Commanders' Conference

Strasbourg (France), 15th May 2008

Today a demonstration team from the 57th Artillery Regiment of Bitche (France) surprised the members of the Commanders' Conference.

A 75mm artillery gun appeared on the parade ground, pulled by six horses and manned by 7 soldiers, fully dressed in French World War I uniforms.

On order the gun was pushed into battery and loaded.

Lieutenant General PITARCH, Commanding General Eurocorps, had the honour to pull the wire and fire a shell.

The French 75mm field gun was a quick-firing field artillery piece developed in 1894 and which saw widespread service in World War I and served into World War II.

It was commonly known as the French 75, simply the 75 and Soixante Quinze.

It was one of the most important developments in field artillery, as it introduced for the first time in the history of field artillery a dual hydraulic (or "long") recoil system which kept the gun's carriage perfectly still when it fired.

Because it did not have to be resighted between shots, the French 75 could fire twenty to thirty rounds per minute.

When it appeared in 1894, the French 75 was technically ahead of its time, and the German and British military did not produce a field gun of comparable performance until just before World War I.

 

Pictures: OR4 DENIL

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