The M1 gun is a 75mm howitzer developed by the United States in the 1920s, and after a series of improvements after World War II, it was renamed the "M116 howitzer".
In the Pacific War, the M1 gun played an important role in the battles on the jungle island battlefield due to its outstanding mountain combat performance.
After the end of the First World War, feeling the powerful destructive power brought about by the war, all countries in the world attached great importance to the development of artillery, especially the improvement of the performance of howitzers.
The U.S. Army commissioned Westveld to develop the next generation of close-support howitzers to meet the needs of complex terrain operations. The requirements of the military are extremely demanding, requiring a firing range of about 4,600 meters, a caliber of 75 mm, and the most demanding is that the artillery can be carried or carried by four soldiers in a disassembled state.
In 1927, Westveld successfully completed a prototype of the gun, which was soon installed and named the "M1 howitzer" by the U.S. Army, although it had not yet been fully tested for performance.
At that time, the formation of the American combat division consisted of three divisional infantry regiments, one of which was armed with M1 howitzers, and the other two infantry regiments were armed with 155mm howitzers.
Before the entry of the United States into World War II, the M1 gun did not receive much attention, and until 1940, it was produced at only 90 units. The M1 gun was officially mass-produced after the start of the Pacific War. Production was discontinued until 1944, with a total of 8400 doors.
The M1 howitzer is a combined artillery piece that can be quickly disassembled into several parts for the artillery to carry around. The full gun weighed only 653 kg and could be towed in a Willis jeep for road maneuvering.
The caliber of the M1 howitzer is 75 mm, the barrel weighs 110 kg, the large elevation angle is 45 degrees, the depression angle is 4 degrees, and the length is 368 meters, width 122 meters, while the height is the lowest in its class, only 094 meters.
When the M1 howitzer is **, due to excessive recoil, the barrel will also leave the ground, so under normal circumstances, it will add some sand to the tail, which can not only prevent the barrel from jumping, but also speed up the reload.
The M1 howitzer uses the M48 grenade, weighs about 7kg, has a full charge range of up to 8778 meters, and only 3 people are needed to complete the actual operation and shooting. Compared with other howitzers in the US military, the M1 howitzer is not well-known, but its role in the Pacific War cannot be ignored.
The M1 howitzer is small in size and highly mobile, making it a very suitable for mountain battles. What the Americans value most is its mobility, whether in the mountains, or in the forests, wherever firepower is needed, it can come in handy.
The M1 howitzer is suitable not only for conventional ground fire support, but also for airborne special operations.
In addition, the M1 gun is also very suitable for all kinds of armored vehicles in the United States, plus in the early days of World War II, the American tanks could not be compared with Germany in terms of quality and quantity, so the carrying of this artillery can greatly alleviate the dilemma of the lack of tanks on the battlefield of the US army.
All this made the M1 howitzer an evergreen in the Allied camp during World War II.
Its structure is relatively simple, so in terms of manufacturing, it occupies an absolute advantage. In order to adapt to mountain operations, the 10th Mountain Division of the US Air Force made a lot of improvements to the M1 gun.
Since it was not possible to use jeeps in the mountains, they simplified the parts of the M1 howitzer, which was carried by four military mules, and also designed a pack with four pylons, which could carry both artillery parts, ammunition and even the wounded.
The M2 howitzer is a 105mm howitzer developed by the United States during World War II, and was renamed the "M101 howitzer" after World War II.
The M2 gun has been favored by various countries due to its low cost, simple design and moderate firepower, and is still adopted by some countries today.
The U.S. Shidao Arsenal began to develop the M1105mm howitzer in 1928, but due to the economic crisis in the following year, the United States ** lacked funds, and this research was shelved.
In 1939, the Shidao Arsenal introduced the M2105mm gun for the first time, and by June 1940, only 14 M2 guns had been built, and the experimental phase was terminated.
After the passage of the Lend-Lease Act in March 1941, the United States began to divert its industrial capacity to military use, and the M2 howitzer was mass-produced and supported by the Allies in 1941, mainly as divisional support firepower in various theaters.
By 1953, when the United States ceased production, a total of 10,202 M2 howitzers had been manufactured, and many M2 howitzers were authorized by the Allies.
After the Second World War, this howitzer and 105mm caliber shells were adopted by the artillery of many countries. In 1962, when the U.S. military renumbered its equipment, the M2 howitzer was renamed the "M101 howitzer". Later, some of the gun mount and gun shield designs were modified and named "M101A1".
In addition to the United States, the howitzer has been armed by more than 60 other countries.
The M2 gun used two longitudinally separated twin tail towed frames and wooden wheels, which were towed by wagons. The gun can fire M1 high-explosive shells, M67 anti-armor high-explosive shells, M84 colored smoke bombs, M84 smoke grenades, M60 smoke grenades, M60 biochemical bombs, M1 training shells and M14 training shells and other ammunition, with a maximum range of 11,270 meters.
The M2 howitzer is not too good for other countries' artillery, but it has a relatively simple structure, relatively easy to produce parts, and the personnel carriers provided by the United States can give the allies an advantage in mobility.
The M198 howitzer is a 155mm howitzer developed by the United States in the 60s of the 20th century, and the main users are the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps. The towed howitzer has been used by the US Army and the US Marine Corps for many years with excellent performance and high reliability.
In the 60s of the 20th century, the United States proposed to develop a 155mm gun that can be carried by the CH-47 and has strategic mobility to replace the M114A1 gun, which has been in service for more than 20 years, and requires that the range of the gun must reach 30,000 kilometers.
The development of a new howitzer began in September 1968, and in 1969 a prototype was produced, called the "XM198". In April 1970, the system qualification of the prototype gun was carried out, and the design work was completed in October of the same year.
Ten prototypes were delivered in April-May 1972, and reliability tests were carried out from October 1972 to early 1975. From February 1975 to October 1976, the No. 4 9 improved model gun was manufactured, and the second stage of development and use tests was carried out.
In December 1976, it was officially finalized as the M198 howitzer. Ten prototypes were delivered between April and May 1972 and a performance test was conducted between October and early 1975.
The improved prototype guns No. 4-9 were completed between February 1975 and October 1976 and entered the second phase of development and application testing. In April 1979, the M198 howitzer began to be officially equipped with infantry divisions, airborne divisions, airmobile divisions, as well as artillery battalions of the Marine Corps and artillery battalions of some military artillery units, with 8 guns per company.
In addition to the United States, Australia, Belgium, Greece, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Turkey, Tunisia, Ecuador, Honduras, Lebanon and other countries also have equipment.
The M198 is a traditional artillery, which includes the M199 gun body, the M45 anti-sitting, the sighting device, and the M39 gun mount and sighting device 4 parts.
Because of the large use of light metal materials, the shelves, box-shaped shelves, and seat rests are made of aluminum alloy, which greatly reduces the weight of the gun.
The tail of the gun is equipped with three different colors of alarm devices, and the shooter can adjust the firing frequency at any time to prevent the barrel temperature from being too high. An alarm is raised when the barrel temperature exceeds 350 degrees Celsius, at which point firing should be stopped immediately.
The double-chamber muzzle brake weighs 1134 kg, the efficiency is 17%, but the overpressure noise in the gunner's working area is large, and the gunner needs to wear a DH-178 type helmet.
When using charge 8, a 7 is requiredThe 5-meter long pull fire rope was pulled at a distance to avoid the gunner being seriously affected by the shock wave. When marching, the gun body needs to be rotated back 180 degrees and fixed on a large frame to shorten the length of the march.