The M2 Howitzer barrel
M2 Howitzer barrel is quickly become the dtandart of the U.S. Army artillery gun, used on all fronts in Europe as in the Pacific.
American troops busy on a M2 Howitzer in the 1950s, war of Korea
It was in 1917 that the U.S. Army between war and dispute the last battles of the first world war. They are then not comparable artillery gun to the French or the Germans. They then had to use canon borrowed the English and the French (including guns of 75 mm French, used until 1942) to deal with the German gun.
30 Years mark the urge to modernize an army aging and little able to distinguish if a conflict is triggered for the US Army. This is why the Westerveldt Board decided to develop a 105 mm gun, which will be ready as early as 1939. Early 1940 first "105 mm Howitzer M2A1" parts out plants.
Produced mostly by the "Rock Island Arsenal" in Illinois, this heavy artillery gun very quickly became the standard gun of the American army, that is found on all the theatre of operation, either in Europe or in the Pacific. Used in large quantity upon its release against the Japanese, this gun was very appreciated for his excellent precisioneven at long range.
M2 Howitzer fired 105 mm shells and had an average range of 11 200 metres, which was perfect for support the infantry. It was very robust, but the setback was that he was also very heavy, making difficult to handle it.
Its mass production became so notable that its 105 mm ammunition became the standard ammunition for artillery.
After war and was renamed "M101 Howitzer" and production continued to equip the army in the conflicts in Korea, to the Viet Nam... it was also used in conjunction with modern canon M102. But he was also at the base of the equipment of army allied to the US such as the France, the Canada, China, Taiwan, the Austria.
Technical specifications:
| Type | Average Canon |
| Calibre | 105 mm |
| Weight of the shell | 14,97 kg |
| Maximum range | 11 430 metres |
| Mass | 1934 kg in travel and action |
| Crew | 6 men |
| Length | 2,574 m |
| Elevation | -5 ° to 65 ° |
| Rotation | 46 ° |
| Initial speed | 472 m/sec |
Photos:
Left: A M2 Howitzer in action on the Bismarck Archipelago, New Britain (Solomon Islands), in December 1943
Right: A M2 in action at Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands, to January - February 1944
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