America's Munitions 1917-1918United States. War Department
History
America's Munitions 1917-1918
United States. War Department
United States. Army -- Supplies and stores; Weapons; World War, 1914-1918 -- United States -- Equipment and supplies
The smallest weapon of all the field guns we built was the French
37-millimeter gun, the diameter of its bore being about 1½ inches
in our measurements, the figure being 1.45669 inches. This was the
so-called infantry field gun, to be dragged along by foot soldiers when
they are making an advance. Its chief use in the war was in breaking
up the German concrete pill boxes, machine gun nests, and other strong
points of enemy resistance. In service it was manned by infantrymen
instead of artillerists, a crew of eight men handling each weapon,
the squad leader being the gunner. One of the men of the crew was the
loader, and he was likewise able to fire the piece. The other six men
served as assistants.
The 37-millimeter outfit as it exists to-day consists of the gun,
with a split trail, mounted on axle and wheels. By means of a trailer
attachment on the ammunition cart it can be drawn by one horse or one
mule. The ammunition cart itself is merely a redesigned machine-gun
ammunition vehicle. The wheels and axle can easily be removed and left
a short distance in the rear of the place where it is desired to set up
the gun. The whole outfit weighs only 340 pounds and is about 6 feet
long.
The gun rests on its front leg which is dropped to form a tripod with
the two legs of the split trail. The gun proper can be removed from the
trail and the sponge staff can be inserted in the barrel through the
opened breech. Two men can bear this part of the weapon in advancing
action. Two other men are able to carry the trail, when its legs are
locked together, while the four other members of the squad bring along
the boxes of ammunition.
The ammunition cart holds 14 ammunition boxes, each containing
16 rounds. A spare-parts case, strapped to the trail, contains a
miscellaneous assortment of such parts as can readily be handled in the
field. A tool kit in a canvas roll is also transported on the cart,
along with entrenching tools and other accessories.
Equipped with a telescopic sight for direct fire and a quadrant, or
collimating sight, for indirect fire, great accuracy is obtained by
this small piece of artillery. The length of the barrel of the gun
proper is 20 calibers, which means that it is 20 times 37 millimeters
in length, or about 29 inches. The length of the recoil when the gun is
fired is 8 inches.
Two types of ammunition were provided for this gun at first; but,
as the low-explosive type was not so effective as desired, it was
abandoned entirely in favor of the high-explosive type contained in
a projectile weighing 1¼ pounds. This projectile is loaded with 240
grains of T. N. T. and detonated by a base percussion fuse. The range
of the gun is 3,500 meters, or considerably more than 2 miles. Only
three to six shots from this gun were found to be necessary to demolish
an enemy machine gun emplacement or other strongly held position.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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