75mm Field Gun M2A2

 gun, display, artillery

During WW I, the United States Army ordered large numbers of the 75mm Field Gun, Model 1897(French), the famous "French 75." The weapons, manufactured to U.S. specifications, were converted to become the 75mm Field Gun M1897A4 in the late 1920s. In 1933 the old single trail carriage was replaced with the new split-trailed carriage you see here, resulting in the 75mm M2 Field Gun. The M2A2 utilized a firing jack, the M2A3 used segmented wheels.
The 75mm Field Gun, M2, was nearly obsolete by 1940, and was being relegated to a training role at the outbreak of WW II. A few saw service in the Phillipine Islands against the invading Japanese, where the weapon was effective against the lightly armored Japanese tanks.
As a field piece, the 75mm gun was quickly replaced by the 105mm howitzers.
A stop-gap anti-tank weapon was produced by mounting the 75mm M2 gun in the M3 Half-Track transporter, to become the T12 Gun Motor Carriage (tank destroyer.) The T12 MGC saw service in the North African Campaign against the German Afrika Korps, but it was fairly useless against German armor.
Caliber: 75mm (2.95")
Weight(in action): 1544kg (3,400 lbs)
Shell Weight: 6.628kg (14.5 lbs)
Range: 12,960 meters (8 miles)
Maximum Elevation: 45 degrees
Traverse: 60 degrees
Traction: deuce-and-a-half truck