Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

116 The OrganizaTiOnal hisTOry Of field arTillery
then available, both in the Regular Army and National Guard. Therefore, during
World War I, the Coast Artillery Corps manned artillery materiel above the 6-inch
(155-mm.) howitzer level, most of the trench mortar artillery, and the antiaircraft
artil lery units. 67
At the beginning of the war, there was only enough artillery to equip about three
and a half reduced-strength army corps, and much of that equipment was obsolete.
Ammunition was also in short supply, and production facilities for both artillery
and ammunition were limited. Even if the ammunition had been forthcoming, the
existing pieces were too few in number to fully use it. Upon entering the war, the
Army had only five hundred forty-four 3-inch (1902 model) guns; sixty 4.7-inch
guns; and about three hundred other pieces of various calibers. This materiel had
to be distributed immediately among the field artillery regiments being organized
for the war. One result was that some of the divisional artillery brigades had only
one to four guns for their regiments. Because the 75-mm. gun was already in production
and in action on the front, steps were taken to purchase arms from France.
The abandonment of the 3-inch gun, which was an excellent weapon (especially
its carriage), caused much criticism; but, in addition to easing the supply problem,
the adoption of uniform weapons in the American and French armies simplified
training. France, in exchange for metal and other materials, supplied the AEF with
3,128 field pieces (eighteen hundred sixty-two 75-mm. guns, two hundred thirtythree
155-mm. guns, seven hundred ninety-six 155-mm. howitzers, and two hundred
thirty-seven trench mortars), other artillery materiel, ammunition, and balloon and
airplane units. After the war, the 75-mm. French gun became the standard American
divisional field piece, although the National Guard continued to use the 3-inch gun
as late as 1920. 68 Production in quantity of the 75-mm. gun in the United States
followed the end of the war. The U.S. Army later improved the weapon by adding
its own panoramic sight and by equipping the carriage with rubber tires.
Prior to 1914, the French had failed to develop adequate medium or heavy
artillery. As a result, they initially had only about 300 pieces of higher-caliber
artillery opposing about 3,500 heavier German weapons. The French promptly
took measures to correct this deficiency, and by early 1918, the GPF (Grande puissance
Filloux “Great power Filloux”) 155-mm. gun was in production. In addition
67 Annual Reports of the War Department, 1917, 1:929. Information on these units will be included
in a forthcoming Air Defense Artillery volume.
68 United States Army in the World War, 14:82–84; William J. Snow, “Wartime Procurement of
Field Artillery Materiel,” Field Artillery Journal, March 1941, pp. 167–70; idem, “Gun Procurement,”
Field Artillery Journal, May 1941, pp. 299–304; Ltr, Munitions Board to SecWar Newton D. Baker,
28 Dec 16, sub: Data on Manufacture of Munitions, 1916, box 13, Summer all Papers, Ms Div, LC; H.
A. DeWeerd, “American Adoption of French Artillery, 1917–1918,” Journal of the American Military
Institute 3 (Summer 1939): 104–16; U.S. Congress, House, Army Appropriation Bill for 1917: Hearings
Before the Committee on Military Affairs, 64th Cong. 1st sess., 4 Apr 1916, pp. 721–94; Conrad H. Lanza,
“Army Artil lery, American First Army,” pt. 1, p. ii, copy in CMH files; Annual Reports of the War Department,
1919, 1:3911–14; Benedict Crowell, America’s Munitions, 1917–1918 (Washington, D.C.: U.S.
Government Printing Office, 1920), pp. 69–71. See also Edward M. Coffman, The War To End All Wars
(1968; reprint, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1986), pp. 40–42, concerning the adoption of the
French gun rather than the 1902 3-inch field gun.