Canon de 105 L mle 1936 Schneider

Canon de 105 L mle 1936 Schneider
Type	heavy field gun
Place of origin	France
Service history
In service	1936-1990's
Used by	France Nazi Germany Romania
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designer	Schneider
Manufacturer	Schneider
Variants	Horse- or Truck-drawn
Specifications
Weight	3,920 kg (7,253 lbs) tractor 3,540 kg (7,804 lbs) horse-drawn
Barrel length	L/37.6
Shell	separate-loading, cased charge
Caliber	105 mm (4.13 in)
Carriage	box trail
Elevation	0° to +47° 48'
Traverse	50°
Rate of fire	4 rpm
Muzzle velocity	725 m/s (2,379 ft/s)
Effective firing range	16,000 m (17,498 yds)

The Canon de 105 L modèle 1936 Schneider was a field gun used by France in World War II. 159 were in service in 1939. Captured examples in World War II were placed into German service as the 10.5 cm schwere Kanone 332(f) where they mainly served on coast defense duties.

It was built in two versions, one with steel wheels and pneumatic tires for tractor towing and the other with wooden spoked wheels for horse towing.

The Romanian Army ordered 180 pieces, but received only 132 before World War II broke out. It was the longest ranged gun used by Romania in the war. During the 1980s the surviving guns were upgraded with modern wheels and used for training until the ammunition stocks ran out in the mid 1990s, when the gun was finally retired from service.

References

• Chamberlain, Peter & Gander, Terry. Light and Medium Field Artillery. New York: Arco, 1975
• 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