French 75

The new HaT 75mm cannon is the famous "French 75." US Army troops used these in great numbers all during the Great War. After the war, US Army horse cavalry units continued to use these unchanged from the First World War appearance until about 1942.

Other US Army units used them at least until 1939. I have photos of them in use with the Georgia National Guard. The gun shield has been removed and the wooded spoked wheels have been replaced with a dished steel wheel with a rubber rim for towing by motor vehicle. They use a small two axle hard cab truck to tow them.

These guns are organized into firing batteries of four guns. Then a company of three batteries, of 12 guns. Then four batteries of guns, for a total of 48 in the division. This was the World War One square division where most parts were in elements of four parts. The concept for trench warfare was to have two units forward, and two units back in reserve.

There were also three cassions per gun. The six horses would two a cassion and a gun. Then six other horses would tow a cassion with a cassion behind it for each gun. Ammo gets used up quickly, particularly in the offensive so that was not a lot when firing a round every thirty seconds.

I plan on getting 16 sets of these, for a total of 48 guns. I will probably also get one set of the French as they often worked closely with the Americans in WWI.