Cannone da 149/35 A

The Cannone da 149/35 A was a heavy gun which served with Italy during World War I and World War II. It was already an old-fashioned weapon when introduced around 1900. It lacked a recoil system of any kind and could not traverse. The gun recoiled up two ramps placed behind the wheels and had to be re-laid after every shot. Wheel plates were added to absorb more recoil energy and to help the gun cross soft ground. Despite these serious drawbacks it seems to have been produced in large numbers as some 895 were in Italian service on June 1940. Weapons captured by the Germans after the Italian surrender in 1943 seem to have been scrapped or ignored as there is no record of them in German service.

The 149/35 was intended to replace the older 149/23 which had been introduced in the Italian army in 1882.