Canon de 105 mle 1913 Schneider

The Canon de 105 mle 1913 Schneider was a French artillery piece used in World War I and World War II by many European countries.

History
In the early 1900s, the French company Schneider began a collaboration with the Russian company Putilov. For this collaboration, it had developed a gun using the Russian 107 mm round, which was ordered by the Russian Army to be produced in Russia (though the initial batch of guns was made in France). Schneider then decided to modify the design for the French 105 mm (4.134 inches) round and offer it to France as well. Initially the French army were not interested in this weapon as they already had plenty of 75 mm field guns. However in 1913 the French army purchased a small number under the designation Canon de 105 mle 1913 Schneider; it was also known by the service designation L 13 S.

The lighter 75 mm guns were of limited use against trenches, so once the western front in World War I had settled down to trench warfare, the French army ordered large numbers of the L 13 S, which with its larger 15.74 kg (34.7 lb) shell was more effective against fortified positions and a range of 12,000 m.

After the end of World War I, France sold or gave many Schneider 105 mm guns to various other countries, including Belgium, Italy, Poland, and Yugoslavia. In Italy the 105 mm was re-designated the Canone da 105/28 and saw service until 1943. Guns were also produced under license in Italy by Ansaldo. Poland also used new model of Schneider's gun with a split trail, called the '''wz. 29'''; both were in service at the beginning of WW II in 1939.

The German conquests of Poland, Belgium, France, and Yugoslavia during World War II gave them large numbers of captured 105 mm Schneider guns. 854 L 13 S's were in service in France and a large number were captured. Many of these were installed in the Atlantic Wall system of coastal defenses.

Designations
Because the gun was used by a large number of countries, it had a large number of official designations.


 * Canon de 105 mle 1913 Schneider - French designation
 * 105 L - designation by French army during World War I
 * The Italian designation was Cannone da 105/28 modello 1913, often shortened to Cannone da 105/28
 * Armata 105 mm wz. 13 Schneider and Armata 105 mm wz. 29 Schneider were Polish designations for the original gun and a modernised version respectively
 * German designations include:
 * 10.5 cm K 331(f) for guns captured from France
 * 10.5 cm K 333(b) for guns captured from Belgium
 * 10.5 cm K 338(i) for guns captured from Italy
 * 10.5 cm K 338(j) for guns captured from Yugoslavia
 * 10.5 cm K 13(p) and 10.5 cm K 29(p) for guns captured from Poland