Post by Karl Welteke on Mar 25, 2021 12:25:28 GMT 8
155mm GPF Artillery Gun (Cannon de 155mm GPF)
I searched the forum and I cannot find a dedicated page to this important artillery piece. It played an important role in the defense of the Philippines during WWII.
Have no fear, Wikipedia did not forget this artillery and has this page dedicated to the gun:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_de_155mm_GPF
Here are two pictures from the above page.
U822. 155 mm GPF gun in travel position. Picture taken by myself, Mark Pellegrini, at the United States Army Ordnance Museum (Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD) on August 14, 2007. This picture is from Wikipedia.
U823. US gun and crew, France 1918, this is a Wikipedia image from the above URL. This picture is from Wikipedia.
Here are some of the descriptions from Wikipedia:
The gun was designed during the First World War by Colonel Louis Filloux to meet an urgent need for modern heavy artillery and became the standard heavy field gun of the French Army from 1917 until the Second World War. It was also adopted by the United States as the M1917 and a close derivative of it was made in and used by the US as the M1918 through the Second World War.
US Army forces in the Far East (USAFFE), including the 301st FA Regiment (Philippine Army), the 86th FA Regiment (Philippine Scouts) and also US Coast Artillery units (91st and 92nd CA Regiments, Philippine Scouts), used this gun against the Japanese in the Philippines campaign (1941–1942). Some of the guns were originally emplaced in "Panama mounts" on Corregidor, Caballo and Carabao islands at the entrance of Manila Bay. Some guns were dismounted and used as roving batteries and gave effective counter-battery fire. The gun was later mounted on the M12 Gun Motor Carriage and saw action in 1944–45.
During the Second World War, some US-made guns were used for coast defense of US and Allied territories, such as Australia and Bermuda, typically on "Panama" mountings - circular concrete platforms with a raised centre section, with the carriage tires pivoting around the center section and the split trails spread out on rails at the edge of the platform.[1]
The Army Lt. Chester K. Britt Research Team sent these two pictures with one description and this was John’s comment:
Karl, came across this pretty neat shot and caption in FOLD3 about these 155mm GPF guns being used by Filipino troops. These were the biggest guns on Bataan and Chester Britt was in charge of at least one of them. Recently I did a Google Earth look at the Mt Samat shrine (one of our must-see places when we go there) and was really happy to find a photo of one displayed up there. If you know anyone there you might want to send them that photo for their possible display. How entirely appropriate that after the Japanese captured one of these guns on Bataan, the unconquerable Filipinos turn it right back on them at the end of the war. Those things were beasts to move around and operate.
John
U824. A recaptured 155 gun, by the 43rd Inf. Div., and an all Filipino Crew is paying the Japanese back in 1945 for invading their soil.
Picture U825 is available in high resolution in at this URL:
www.flickr.com/photos/44567569@N00/albums/72157715590015061
U825. The description for the previous image.
U826. A great picture of the cross on Mount Samat with the 155mm gun displayed under it.
The people of the Army Lt. Chester K. Britt Research Team are:
First is Dave Britt, LTC USAF (Ret), son of Chester K Britt, Vickie Graham CMSGT USAF (Ret), and John Duresky. They all graduated from Logan High School in La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1967, and are doing it as a team. Chester Britt graduated from Logan in 1933 and his mother Grace in 1934. Dave wrote most of the manuscript, John editing what he wrote and doing most of the research, and Vickie is the final editor with about 20 years of professional writing in her resume, largely with Airman Magazine.
They are planning to write a book about Army Lt. Chester K. Britt soon!