Infantry support guns were the first type of artillery employed by armed forces, initially in China, and later brought to Europe by the Mongol invasion. In their initial form, they lacked carriages or wheels, and were simple cast barrels called pots de fer in French, or vasi in Italian.[1] These weapons were relatively small, immobile, and fired large bolts or quarrels. Along with increases in the sizes of ordnance (the barrels) came the requirement of easier transportation. This led to two divergent approaches, the very light hand-gun, and eventually the arquebus, while another avenue of development led to the light ordnance, now on wheeled carriages, such as the 2-pounder Culvern moyane, the 1-pounder falcon, and the 3⁄4-pounder falconet.[2] These lighter Renaissance pieces eventually led to the development of the 3-pounder and 4-pounder regimental guns of the 17th century as well as the leather cannon, notably in the army of Gustavus Adolphus.[3] The light field guns of the 17th century, commonly known as a drake in England, came in almost 100 different calibres,[4] with each having its own distinct name, some of which were:[5]
The saker and falcon had point-blank ranges of 330 and 290 metres (360 and 320yd), and 1,980 and 1,760 metres (2,170 and 1,920yd)extreme ranges respectively.[5]
Although oxen were used to haul the heavier field and siege ordnance, some on wagons rather than limbers, they were too slow to keep up with the infantry, and so horses were used to pull the lighter pieces, leading to the development of the artillery carriage and horse team that survived until the late 19th century.
17th- to 19th-century development
The first School of Artillery in Venice was opened early in the 16th century,[6] and by the late 17th century the different old names of the lighter ordnance were abandoned, and replaced with the French canon, or cannon.
The first regimental guns in English service were ordered by King James II in 1686; two 3-pounders for each of the seven regiments (of one battalion each) encamped in Hyde Park.[7] Attachment of guns to the infantry had practical reasons also. While the allocation of horses was reckoned at one for each 350–500 pounds of ordnance and its carriage, this was only true for availability of good horses and good roads, both in short supply due to unscrupulous civilian contractors and lack of road building technology.[8] In cases where the work was excessive for horses alone, infantry would join them in pulling the guns, calculated at 80lbs per infantryman,[9] a load which remains at the upper limit of the average light infantry unit requirement today.
The 3-pounder Grasshopper cannon was in use with British forces in the 18th century. Each British infantry battalion had an officer and 34 non commissioned officers and other ranks trained by the Royal Artillery to handle the two 3- or light 6-pounder guns battalion guns.[10]
Frederick the Great of Prussia was the first to introduce artillery tactics for the regimental guns which were to accompany the infantry units as part of his reform of the Prussian artillery as a whole before and during the Seven Years' War.[11] This included the determination that canister shot was only effective at a range of 100 yards, same as that of the musket range, and therefore put the gunners into the environment of direct infantry combat due to Frederick's insistence that artillery should participate in the infantry attack.[12]
In 1732 Florent-Jean de Vallière standardized French artillery ordnance (barrels) into five calibers. The lightest piece was the Vallière 4-pounder and the heavier cannons were 8-, 12-, 16- and 24-pounders. The 4-pounder proved too heavy to be employed as a battalion gun so Swedish 4-pounders were used for that purpose beginning in 1757. Two years later the French began using the 1-pdr Rostaing gun but it only had limited service.[13]
Manufacture of the ordnance was also revolutionised by the early-18th century invention of the boring mechanism by the Swiss gun-founderMoritz of Geneva which allowed for a far greater precision achieved in the casting, in essence creating a huge lathe on which the barrel casting turned instead of the boring tool.[14] Manufacture of cannonballs was also improved so the projectiles were now well-fitted to the bore of the ordnance, and after conducting experiments with gunpowder, the powder charges were determined to be one-third the weight of the shot (cannonball).[15]
Frederick's artillery doctrine influenced the development of the French artillery troops, and after 1764 Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval, the first Inspector of Artillery, after conducting trials in Strasbourg, reorganised French artillery units to provide them with greater mobility, changing length of the barrels to standard 18-calibre length, including the regimental 4-pounders. These were now pulled by four horses and used large six-wheeled vehicles that also included the caissons. The system of ordnance, carriages, ball, and powder charges introduced by de Gribeauval remained virtually unaltered through the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars.
General Augustin Lespinasse on battalion guns: "If you want to prevent your troops from manouevering, embarrass them with guns... A line of infantry supported by good, properly established batteries retains its order of battle better"[16]
Infantry support guns drew much interest in course of World War I because of the developments in trench warfare. In addition to the usual requirements that they needed to be portable enough to be carried by infantry, two separate capabilities were desired. First, it needed to engage in high angle indirect fire, especially given the prevalence of trenches. Second, it needed to be capable of low angle direct fire, while being carried by assault infantry, to engage strongpoints, bunkers, and other fortifications. Some infantry support guns that appeared between world wars, such as the German 7.5 cm leichtes Infanteriegeschütz 18 and Japanese Type 92 battalion gun were designed to meet all these requirements simultaneously and saw action during WWII.[17]
The Canon de 76 FRC was a Belgian infantry support gun, produced by the Fonderie Royale des Canons (FRC). The gun was typically of 76mm calibre; however, an optional 47mm barrel could be fitted instead. The gun was designed for transport via a trailer towed by a vehicle. In 1940, the Wehrmacht redesignated these as 7.6cm IG 260(b).
The Canon d'Infantrie de 37 modele 1916 TRP (37mm mle.1916) was a French infantry support gun, first used during World War I. The gun was used by a number of forces during and after the war. The US acquired a number of these guns, which they designated 37mm M1916; however, by 1941 the US Army had put these into storage (or scrapped them). Poland fielded a number. In 1940, the Wehrmacht began using these as 3.7cm IG 152(f). During the First World War, the Japanese Type 11 was based on this design.
Most pack guns (guns designed to be disassembled into multiple parts for easier movement over terrain) and airborne guns (guns designed for use by paratroopers by being either disassemblable for deployment or especially light, or both) are infantry support guns, but these types are also obsolete.
The Corps of Royal Engineers, Aide-mémoire to the Military Sciences: Framed from Contributions of Officers of the Different Services, Volume II, Lockwood & Co., London, 1860
Deane, John, Deanes' Manual of the History and Science of Fire-arms ..., Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans & Roberts, London, 1858
Haythornthwaite, Philip J. & Fosten, Bryan Wellington's Specialist Troops Osprey Publishing, 24/11/1988
Hicks, James Ernest, What the Citizen Should Know about Our Arms and Weapons, Andre Jandot (illustrator), W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1941
Rogers, H.C.B., Col., Artillery Through the Ages, Seeley, Service & Co., Ltd, London, 1971
The Canon d'Infanterie de 37 modèle 1916 TRP was a French infantry support gun, first used during World War I. TRP stands for tir rapide, Puteaux. The tactical purpose of this gun was the destruction of machine gun nests.
The 7.5 cm leichtes Infanteriegeschütz 18 was an infantry support gun of the German Wehrmacht used during World War II.
The 7.5 cm Infanteriegeschütz 37 was an infantry support gun, used by Germany during World War II. The guns were originally designated 7.5 cm PaK 37. The IG 37s were manufactured from carriages of 3.7 cm Pak 36s and a barrel designed originally for the IG 42 infantry support gun. As an anti-tank weapon it used a hollow charge shell with 0.5 kg of explosives to penetrate up to 85 mm (3.3 in) with a velocity of 395 m/s (1,300 ft/s). The first 84 guns were delivered in June 1944. By the end of the war 1,304 guns were operational.
The Ordnance QF 18-pounder, or simply 18-pounder gun, was the standard British Empire field gun of the First World War-era. It formed the backbone of the Royal Field Artillery during the war, and was produced in large numbers. It was used by British Forces in all the main theatres, and by British troops in Russia in 1919. Its calibre (84 mm) and shell weight were greater than those of the equivalent field guns in French (75 mm) and German (77 mm) service. It was generally horse drawn until mechanisation in the 1930s.
The cannone da 65/17 modello 13 was an artillery piece developed by Italy for use with its mountain and infantry units. The designation means 65 mm calibre gun, barrel length 17 calibres, which entered service in 1913. The designation is often shortened to cannone da 65/17.
The Ordnance Quick-Firing 6-pounder 7 cwt, or just 6-pounder, was a British 57 mm gun, serving during the Second World War as a primary anti-tank gun of both the British and United States Army. It was also used as the main armament for a number of armoured fighting vehicles.
The Ordnance QF 2-pounder, or simply "2 pounder gun", was a 40 mm (1.575 in) British anti-tank gun and vehicle-mounted gun employed in the Second World War.
Field artillery in the American Civil War refers to the artillery weapons, equipment, and practices used by the Artillery branch to support the infantry and cavalry forces in the field. It does not include siege artillery, use of artillery in fixed fortifications, or coastal or naval artillery. Nor does it include smaller, specialized artillery classified as small arms.
The 37 mm gun M3 is the first dedicated anti-tank gun fielded by United States forces in numbers. Introduced in 1940, it became the standard anti-tank gun of the U.S. infantry with its size enabling it to be pulled by a jeep. However, the continuing improvement of German tanks quickly rendered the 37 mm ineffective and, by 1943, it was being gradually replaced in the European and Mediterranean theaters by the more powerful British-developed 57 mm gun M1. In the Pacific, where the Japanese tank threat was less significant, the M3 remained in service until the end of the war, but some 57mm guns were issued.
37-mm trench gun M1915 was a Russian battalion gun employed in World War I.
The Ordnance QF 4.5-inch howitzer was the standard British Empire field howitzer of the First World War era. It replaced the BL 5-inch howitzer and equipped some 25% of the field artillery. It entered service in 1910 and remained in service through the interwar period and was last used in the field by British forces in early 1942. It was generally horse drawn until mechanisation in the 1930s.
The 7.5 cm Infanteriegeschütz 42 was an infantry support gun, used by Germany, during World War II. The requirement for this weapon came out of combat experience in 1940 when the existing IG 18 was felt to be outdated.
The 37 mm gun M1 was an anti-aircraft autocannon developed in the United States. It was used by the US Army in World War II.
The Gribeauval system was an artillery system introduced by Lieutenant General Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval during the 18th century. This system revolutionized French cannons, with a new production system that allowed lighter, more uniform guns without sacrificing range. The Gribeauval system superseded the Vallière system beginning in 1765. The new guns contributed to French military victories during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. The system included improvements to cannons, howitzers, and mortars. The Year XI system partly replaced the field guns in 1803 and the Valée system completely superseded the Gribeauval system in 1829.
The Canon de 8 Gribeauval or 8-pounder was a French cannon and part of the Gribeauval system developed by Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval. The Old French pound was 1.07916 English pounds, making the weight of shot about 8.633 English pounds. The 8-pounder was the medium weight cannon of the French field artillery; the others were the light Canon de 4 Gribeauval and the heavy Canon de 12 Gribeauval. Replacing the older Vallière system, the Gribeauval system was introduced in 1765 and the guns were first employed during the American Revolutionary War. The most extensive use of Gribeauval guns was during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. The 8-pounder could be found in divisional reserves, advanced guards or army artillery reserves. Emperor Napoleon began to phase out the 8-pounder by increasing the proportion of 12-pounders in his artillery. The emperor began switching calibers to the handier 6-pounder piece, utilizing captured guns as well as newly designed French cannons. The Year XI system began in 1803, but it only partly replaced the Gribeauval system which was not entirely suppressed until the Valée system was introduced in 1829.
The Ordnance QF 95-mm howitzer was a British howitzer built in two versions during the Second World War. The tank howitzer version was accepted for service use, but the infantry version was not.
The Canon de 4 Gribeauval or 4-pounder was a French cannon and part of the artillery system developed by Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval. The Old French pound was 1.079 English pounds, making the weight of shot about 4.3 English pounds. In the Gribeauval era, the 4-pounder was the lightest weight cannon of the French field artillery; the others were the medium Canon de 8 Gribeauval and the heavy Canon de 12 Gribeauval. The Gribeauval system was introduced in 1765 and the guns were first employed during the American Revolutionary War. The most large-scale use of Gribeauval guns occurred during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. At first a pair of 4-pounders were assigned to each infantry battalion and were often called battalion pieces. Later, Emperor Napoleon took the guns away from the infantry units and began to replace the 4-pounder with the 6-pounder, using captured guns as well as newly cast French cannons. However, as the French infantry declined in quality after 1809, the 4-pounders were reintroduced in order to provide direct support for formations of foot soldiers. All Gribeauval cannons were capable of firing canister shot at close-range and round shot at long-range targets. The Gribeauval system supplanted the older Vallière system, was partly replaced by the Year XI system in 1803 and completely superseded by the Valée system in 1829.
The 3.7 cm Tankabwehrkanone 1918 in starrer Räderlafette or 3.7 cm TAK 1918, was an anti-tank gun built by Rheinmetall for the Imperial German Army near the end of the First World War. This was the world's first cannon that was purpose-designed for the role of an anti-tank gun.
The 3.7 cm Infanteriegeschütz M.15 was an Austro-Hungarian cannon developed for use in the trenches during the First World War. The name indicates the caliber in centimeters, the gun's role Infanteriegeschütz which in German means infantry support gun and the model according to the year of introduction. Captured Austrian guns and Italian produced copies were first designated Cannon 37F and later as 37/10 F. Mod. 1915 in the 1930s.
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