The Canon de 220 L mle 1917 was a heavy, French gun which was developed at the end of the First World War and still used in the Second World War.
During the First World War and especially at the beginning of the Positional War, it became apparent that the French army was insufficiently equipped with heavy artillery to destroy the strong fortifications of the German army.
Thus, in 1917, a design by General Frédéric-Georges Herr, who had developed a 220 mm calibre gun originally intended for the French navy, was used.
The military leadership hoped that the large calibre would provide sufficient force for the front. In order to make the heavy gun mobile, it was designed in such a way that it could be divided into 2 platforms with 4 wheels each. The platforms could then be towed by tractors or trucks.
The construction of the gun was kept very simple. For this it was only necessary to lift the wheels of the platform and place the gun on the ground. The hydraulic recoil system then ensured that the gun remained in its position after each shot and did not have to be re-aligned.
Production began at the end of 1917. It was delivered to the 151st and 166th Fortress Artillery Regiment. After the war, the guns were combined in the 172nd Artillery Regiment.
Until the beginning of the Second World War, 48 of the former 68 guns remained in the French army. With the mobilization in 1939, these were divided between the 173rd and 174th Artillery Regiments and used against the German Wehrmacht.
After capitulation, the Germans captured 40 guns and put them into service under the designation 22 cm cannon 532 (f). 16 guns were finally used on the occupied Channel Islands and the rest in the Atlantikwall.
4 of the guns were transferred from Germany to Italy.
Data sheet:
Designation: | Canon de 220 L mle 1917 |
Manufacturing country: | France |
Introductory year: | 1917 |
Number of pieces: | 68 pieces |
Calibers: | 220 mm |
Tube length: | 7,67 meters |
Range: | Max. 22.800 meters |
Weight: | 30,12 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
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
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
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 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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