Italian WW1 Gun Cannone da 75 mod. 1911 Deport Walk-Around and Info

Italian Cannoni da 75 mod. 1911 Déport Field Gun
with photos by Daniele Ravenna, Peter Kempf and Giorgio Brigà

On the gun itself

The 75mm Déport Field Gun was one of the most original yet effective design to see field service in WW1. The man who constructed it - and gave the gun its name - was a French colonel by the name of Déport, who had participated in the design of the famous "75". It was original in two ways. Firstly, it had a split trail, a quite revolutionary concept unseen then, but standard nowadays. Not only did this permit the crew to work more effectively, direct behind the gun. It also meant that the gun could be elevated much higher than any ordinary gun (45 degrees), because the breech did not interfer with the trail. Secondly, the recoil system was of a new type - which unlike the split trail has not been adapted in later designs. Instead of having the recoil cradle being attached to the gun, and (of course) following it in elevation, the Déport had a sort of split or double recoil cradle, that did not follow the barrel in elevation or depression, but the lower part remained fixed and level, while the upper part remained level but recoiled with the barrel. Attached to this was a spring buffer/recuperator (the high, semi-circle formed thing above the barrel) that helped to force the barrel back into positon. The big advantage of this, that there was no risk of overheating the recoil cradle, something that could be problem i nother designs.

The gun was adapted by the Italian Army after a competition where several arms firms participated with their own guns, including the two giants, Krupp and Schneider. Six hundred Déport guns was manufactured in Italy between the years of 1911 and 1914. It was first planned to use this pretty light gun in the Horse Artillery only, but its qualities and obvious tactical usefulness led to it being employed by ordinary Field Artillery units. (The guns great capacity for elevation even made the Italians use it as a Anti-aircraft piece.) It was used all through the Great War, later in the Spanish Civil War and finally during WW2. It was an original gun, that left one enduring feature on the artillery of the World: the split trail.

Calibre

75 mm

Weight of Gun (emplaced)

1.07 tons

Maximum Range

10.2 kilometers

Muzzle Velocity

502 metres per second

Min/Max Elevation

-15/+65

Weight of Shell

6.35 kilos

Cannone da 75 mod. 1911 Déport Walk-around

The top row shows pictures of the 75mm Déport that can be seen at the big War Memorial in Redipuglia, northwest of Trieste in Friulia in Italy, and have been taken by Peter Kempf. The two following rows of photos have been taken by Daniele Ravenna, and shows the 75mm Déport that is on display at the big WW1 Cemetary at Pocol, facing Cortina d'Ampezzo in the Dolomites - there are two of these cannoni da 75 Mod. 1911 Déport there. The two bottom rows of photos shows another of the Déports that can be seen at Redipuglia, but this shows the modernized, WW2-version.

Regarding the lettering on the breech, Daniele Ravenna has informed me of the following: "Stabilimento Armstrong 1915 - Pozzuoli" means Armstrong Factory Shop, and Pozzuoli is the place, of the factory presumably, near Naples.