The French cannon - 120mm, model 1878

[Florin]

There is a photo in the collection shown at www.worldwar2.ro about a 120 mm howitzer, model 1878, having a breech of De Bange screw type.

The explanation is: "Although it seems incredible, the 120 mm De Bagne model 1878 howitzer was used in 1944".

For whoever read this, it sounds almost strange that the Romanian Army used 66 years old equipment. Well, it was not quite like that.

First of all, the system is "De Bange", not "De Bagne". This is not important, but if you start an Internet search using "De Bagne", the only site you'll get is www.worldwar2.ro

The French Army used this howitzer a lot during World War I, and that was "only" 26 years before 1944. In the World War I, all nations used older guns with rigid mounts.
Germany had to dismantle her artillery after 1918, but France was the winner and kept hers. Because of that, in 1940 Germany had new artillery pieces. Between the wars France did not invest too much in artillery and in 1940 still relied on her artillery as inherited from 1918. I wouldn't be surprised if in some French positions some 120 mm howitzers, model 1878, were still used before the German invasion of May 1940.
The main problem of the weapon was the lack of a modern system of recoil. The gun had to be re-laid after each shot, greatly reducing the rate of fire.
A gun is much more than its recoil system, and although the carriage was definitively old-fashioned, the howitzer could throw a special shell of 18 kilograms at a maximum of 12.4 kilometers, satisfactory even for 1944. The normal range was 8-10 kilometers. The cannon could use eight different types of shells, including shrapnel, HE, gas and incendiary. The charges were bagged - which was an advantage, as it saved on the brass or copper used to shell cartridges.

It is interesting to know how the Romanian Army got these pieces, as there are only 3 possibilities:
1. Purchased on peacetime, sometime long before 1914.
2. Received in 1917, among the other material sent by France, in the same time with the arrival of the general Berthelot and the French advisers.
3. Obtained from Germany, which got it as captured French equipment in 1940. This last one doesn't sound too realistic.

On the following site: http://www.landships.freeservers.com/120mm...le1878_info.htm
you'll see why the French Army had to use older artillery after 1914, even though it also had some of the most modern pieces in the world. You'll also find more technical data about the French 120mm cannon, model 1878, and interesting photos about the subject.
In addition to that, here is a reminder of the qualities involving the various artillery units used during World War II:

Mortar: A low velocity weapon, with barrel elevating more than 45 degrees. Usually a portable infantry weapon - with some notable exceptions, as few special huge German pieces.

Gun: Fires to an optimum trajectory with a fixed amount of propellant for each missile. Most heavy artillery is like this. Some guns can be used as howitzers too.

High velocity gun: It has a flat trajectory needed for shooting at aircraft and for penetrating armor. To obtain that, the barrel has to be long, thus expensive in manufacturing. The required explosive is in bigger quantity, compared with other cannons of the same calibre. The structure is strong and heavy.

Howitzer: It uses varied amount of explosive to give low-velocity "plunging fire" at different ranges. Structure is less strong for these weapons, so the weight of the piece is less. Howitzers have carriages permitting high elevation.

Florin

PS: Who of you had the chance to see the history books printed in Communist Romania for the usage of primary school children? One of the most used photo had the following explanation: "German artillery piece captured in the fight near Bucharest after August 23, 1944". The thing looked impressive - huge, I would say. But with what do I know now, I think it was just an 88.

[dragos]

Florin, thanks for the info.

Some info on artillery:

http://www.winterwar.com/Weapons/artyinfo.htm

[Victor]

The typo is mine. Thank you for bringing it up.
The French did use these guns during 1940.

PS: the photo is not from 1944, but from May 1937. It was taken by my grandfather at Dadilov, during some exercises.