User:SASH155/sandbox

The photo used in this article is actually that of the larger and more powerful “Canon de 155 Long mle. 1917 Schneider” (aka. L17S), NOT of the lighter and more compact L18S, which was based on the carriage of the ubiquitous 155mm C17S field howitzer. This particular photo is interesting, however, in that it shows U.S. soldiers firing this gun, possibly at the artillery test range at Aberdeen, MD sometime after the war. The U.S. apparently received a very, very small quantity of L17S’ from France, most likely for trials only, as the U.S. would adopt the superlative 155mm GPF as it’s primary long range counter battery heavy gun. This particular L17S has had its shield removed for whatever reason, which is probably why this gun was confused with the L18S, which itself lacked a shield. Unlike its bigger L17S stablemate, the later L18S also never had solid rubber tires, as it was designed essentially to be horse drawn. The L18S was never used by the U.S. military, as it was essentially too late for the war, only one 4 gun battery entering service before November 1918.