Canon de 75 antiaérien mle 1913–1917

The Canon de 75 antiaérien mle 1913–1917 were a family of French 75 mm anti-aircraft guns designed and manufactured by Schneider et Cie at Le Creusot. The guns were used by the French Army during the First World War and Second World War. The origins of the modèle 1913–1917 go back to the Canon de 75 modèle 1897 field gun which was first employed on improvised anti-aircraft mounts, which were typically earthen embankments or scaffolds to get the muzzle pointed skyward. Later in the war, specialized anti-aircraft mounts were developed. These included: Canon de 75 mm antiaérien mle 1913 - a self-propelled version, on the back of a De Dion-Bouton truck chassis. The gun could be brought into action in five minutes, but its traverse and elevation were slow which combined with a lack of fire direction equipment limited its effectiveness. Puteaux completed 20 self-propelled versions in 1913 and by the end of WWI 196 had been completed. Canon de 75 mm antiaérien mle 1915 - a pit mounted high-angle steel girder framework which took approximately 24 hours to prepare for firing. There was also a version with a rotating platform mounted on a concrete pedestal. The platform allowed 0° to 75° of elevation and 360° traverse. During the 1930s improvements in aircraft speed and ceiling combined with slow traverse and elevation of the mount rendered them obsolete. In April 1940 approximately 20 mle 1915 were left in service. Canon de 75 mm antiaérien mle 1917 - a single-axle towed version with three outriggers. This had all fire-control equipment mounted on the carriage and was a Schneider design. 7.7 cm FlaK L/35 - a Krupp conversion of captured M1897 field guns to fire German 7.7 cm ammunition. The guns were placed on a modified de Bange 120 or 155 carriage to allow up to 60° of elevation and the guns were mounted on an elevated ring to allow 360° of traverse. By Spring of 1916 every division had a two gun platoon for AA defense and 394 guns were converted. An unknown number of guns were also converted by Rheinmetall to stationary AA guns.