Italian Cannone Da 149/35A

On the gun itself

The Terni Factory in Italy - operated by Sir William Armstrong - had originally been set up to provide the Italian Navy with naval guns, but around the turn of the century they turned towards producing artillery pieces for the army as well. One of their first designs was the Cannone Da 149/35 A. (149 was the calibre in millimeters, 35 was the length of the barrel in calibres.) The 149/35 A can hardly be called a modern design: it had no recoil system, but simply an old-fashioned gun mount. Instead it relied - like many other similar designs - on wedges placed behind the wheels, on which the gun rolled up when fired, and rolled down again when the recoil had been spent. Also, the gun had so called wheels belts, whose prime function, as often is supposed, was NOT to improve movement over soggy ground, but to make it easier to get the gun back to its original position. (The lack of modern recoil system meant that the gun had to be relaid after each single shot.) Also, it was pretty slow in setting up, requiring about two hours of work. (The optimum results came when the gun was set up on a special timbered platform.) 

But beside the slow rate of fire (one shot per minute, at best, often slower) the gun had some things going for it: a high muzzle velocity (651 meters/second) resulted in quite a good range (16.500 meters), and the grenades it could deliver were not to be ignored at 42 kilos (HE) and 43.4 kilos (Shrapnel). The weight of the gun in battery was some 8.2 tons, but it was still pretty versatile, and could be used both as siege artillery and heavy field artillery. (There were all in all 7 different types of grenades used by this piece.) 

The Da 149/35 A was introduced in 1905. A battery consisted of 4 guns, 4 tractors and 10 trucks, carrying the standard ammo equipment of 70 grenades per gun. The gun itself could be towed in a maximum speed of some 6-8 km/h. The cannon was then used with effect in all phases of the Great War by the Italian Army, and despite its age it was kept in service during the mid-war years, well into WW2. The Da 149/35 A was last seen in combat during the Allied Invasion of Sicily, by which time it was completely obsolete.

For more info on the Cannone Da149A, visit this site. Or this one.

Cannone Da 149/35A Walk-around

This beautifully kept Cannone Da 149/35A can be seen at the big War Memorial in Redipuglia, northwest of Trieste in Friulia in Italy.

Notice that on the gun above, the breech-block is missing. How it looks can however be seen in these two photos, taken in the Artillery Museum in Turin by Stirling Lowery, and kindly supplied by him!

How to model this gun

There is a top-rate resin model of this gun, formerly issued by Da.Ga. Model, now produced by Mr Panzer. Click here for a review!