Milsurp After Hours

This is one of two French 155 GPF's sitting in the park in the little town of Edgemont,S.D.
Not sure when they arrived there but during WWII up to about 1970 there was a large
ordnance depot just a few miles away at Igloo,S.D.
John

Heres a photo of one in the travel posistion John. This one is at the. U.S. Army Ordnance Museum, Aberdeen Proving Ground, in Aberdeen, Maryland.
http://www.ordmusfound.org/


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... _GPF_3.jpg[/pic]

What i didnt know but what wiki tells me.....

The Canon de 155 mm Grande Puissance Filloux mle 1917 field guns were designed for the French Army, but were also exported to the United States for use with the US Army and the US Marine Corps under the designation of M1917 and M1918. With the American forces, they were mounted on M12 Gun Motor Carriages and were the standard heavy artillery guns until 1942 when the 155-mm M1A1 "Long Tom" field guns replaced them, though they remained in use through WW2. The Philippine Army, operating under the US Army Forces in the Far East, also deployed these guns. The Germans operated a small number of them under the designation of 15.5-cm K 418(f) guns; they mainly served in coastal defense roles.

There are some interesting photos here... http://ww2db.com/photo.php?source=all&c ... ype_id=189... of the 155GPF in U.S. service circa 1938 on Hawai.

Joe

Would seem that they were a fairly versatile design.
Looks like the ones in Edgemont may even be in
better shape than that in Aberdeen!
I wish I'd had time to get some closeups.
Next trip p'raps?
John