Hi all, I was watching a TV show about the Battle of the Marme. They had some film of French soldiers pulling some large cannon with oxen. I would guess they were 125 mm to 155 mm. The two wheeled carriages had very large wheels taller than a man with flat plates around their circumferences. The looked like muzzle loaders to me. They also had the two large metal lifting loops over the trunnions typical of muzzle loaders. Another portion of the film showed them in place and firing. After they fired the barrels immediately lowered very rapidly past the horizontal for reloading which is also typical of the last muzzle loaders. The clip ended immediately after that though. Anyone have any info on muzzle loaders in WWI? Kind of interesting. I apologize if their use is common knowledge and I'm asking a stupid question. Dave
Although these are Italian did it resemble this sort of design. These weapons have been described as muzzle loaders in some pictures I have seen but are old breech loaders with no recoil mechanism. Cannone da 149/35
Although these are Italian did it resemble this sort of design. These weapons have been described as muzzle loaders in some pictures I have seen but are old breech loaders with no recoil mechanism. Cannone da 149/35 Hi Leccy, Yes, very similar to those. I noticed the lack of recoil mechanism on the ones in the film and also that if there is a breech mechanism it must be extremely simple. I found this link describing the ones in your picture. Kind of neat. Cannone da 149/35 A - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Thanks, Dave
