The 155 mm Fiiyu gun of the 1917 model

The gun was developed during World War I by Colonel Louis Filloux to meet the urgent need for modern heavy artillery and became the standard heavy field gun of the French army from 1917 until World War II. It was also adopted by the United States under the symbol M1917 , and its modification was used by the United States under the symbol M1918 during World War II.

The gun was also produced in the United States since 1917, after the United States switched to metric artillery on the French model. It was used by the US Army and the Marine Corps as the main heavy gun called the 155 mm M1917 gun (French) or M1918 (American) until 1942, when it was gradually replaced by the long-range 155 mm M1A1 Long Tom gun. United States Army Forces in the Far East ( USAFFE ), such as the 301st Regiment (Philippine Army), the 86th Regiment (Philippine Scouts), and the United States Coastal Artillery (91st and the 92nd coastal artillery regiment, Philippine scouts) used this weapon against Japan in a campaign in the Philippines (1941–42). Some guns were originally deployed in the Panama Mountains (a type of coastal artillery platform) on the islands of Corregidor , Caballo and Carabao at the entrance to the Gulf of Manila . Some guns were dismantled and used as mobile batteries for counter-battery fire. The gun was later mounted on the M12 Gun Motor Carriage self-propelled chassis and was used in battles in 1944-45.

During World War II, some American guns were used for coastal defense of the United States and allied territories, such as Australia and Bermuda , usually on the Panama piers - round concrete platforms with a raised central section, with carriage tires rotating around the central section. ^[one]

Grande Puissance Filloux (GPF)

This gun was developed by Colonel Louis Fiyu to satisfy the urgent need of the French army for a long-range heavy cannon. The design was successful and became the standard heavy French field cannon from 1917 until the end of World War I. .. ^[2] The gun was quickly put into operation to make up for the shortage of such a gun. This gun became known as the Canon de 155 Grande Puissance Filloux mle 1917 ( 155 mm high-power gun of the Fiille system of the 1917 model ), briefly designated by the French army as the Canon de 155mm GPF . During World War I, American expeditionary forces in Europe adopted this weapon as a standard long-range artillery weapon. ^[3] At the beginning of World War II, the French guns were removed from storage, and 24 of these guns were used in May - June 1940.

M1918 155 mm GPF

The 155 mm US GPF was a replica of the 1917 French field gun and was used by the U.S. Army, Philippines, and U.S. Marines until 1945. ^[4] The United States Army bought and subsequently copied a 1918 model gun (M1918). During World War II, the 155-mm guns were removed from storage and used for coastal defense on American shores and in Union territories such as the Philippines and Australia. They were also used in the Philippines, Guadalcanal and North Africa until more modern artillery became available. In the end, both the US Army and the Marine Corps gradually stopped using the M1918 guns, receiving in return the 155-mm M1A1 Long Tom , starting in 1942. The M1918 was also mounted on the M12 Gun Motor Carriage as a self-propelled gun (SPG) and was used from 1944 to 1945.

15.5 cm K 418 (f)

In 1940, France put up 450 such cannons against the Wehrmacht . ^[5] Many of them were captured and used by Germany until the end of the war. In the German nomenclature guns were designated as 15.5 cm K 418 (F); she served in the heavy artillery divisions of the Africa Corps and performed coastal defense duties. On D-Day in 1944, German troops had more than 50 units of 155-mm guns 15.5 cm K 418 (f) on the northern French beaches. A battery of six such cannons, along with four empty carriages for larger cannons, turned out to be participants in hostilities in Pointe du Ouc in June 1944. ^{[6] [2]}

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  At Fort de la Pompelle near Reims (France)

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  Moltke Battery (German “ Atlantic Wall ”) on Jersey Island ( Channel Islands )

• 15 cm Kanone 16
• 6-inch Mark XIX gun

• van der Vat, Dan; Eisenhower, John SD D-Day: The Greatest Invasion - A People's History Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, ISBN 1-58234-314-4
• Gander, Terry and Chamberlain, Peter. Weapons of the Third Reich: An Encyclopedic Survey of All Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the German Land Forces 1939-1945 . New York: Doubleday, 1979 ISBN 0-385-15090-3
• Touzin, Pierre. Les Matériels de l'Armée Française: Les canons de la victoire, 1914-1918. Tome 1: L'Artillerie de Campagne. - Paris: Histoire et Collections, 2006. - ISBN 2-35250-022-2 .
• 155-Millimeter Gun Materiel, Model of 1918 (Filloux) Handbook of artillery: including mobile, anti-aircraft and trench matériel (1920) US Army Ordnance Dept, May 1920. Pages 229-245.

• Cutler, Frederick Morse. The 55th artillery (CAC) in the American expeditionary forces, France, 1918 (1920)
• List and pictures of WW1 surviving 155 mm GPF guns
• Handbook of the 155 mm Filloux gun materiel
• FortWiki.com, lists all US and Canadian forts
• Complete list of US forts and batteries at the Coast Defense Study Group
• 588th Field Artillery Battalion (155) European Tour, 1944-1945