Lahitolle 95 mm cannon

Canon Lahitolle de 95 mm
Type	Field gun
Place of origin	France
Service history
In service	1875–?
Used by	France
Wars	World War I
Production history
Designer	Henri Périer de Lahitolle
Specifications
Caliber	95 mm

Lahitolle breech.

Lahitolle 95 mm, production trial, steel, length 2.41 m.

The Lahitolle 95 mm cannon (Mle 1875) was a French cannon of the 19th century, developed in 1875 by the artillery commander de Lahitolle. The Lahitolle 90 mm was the first French field cannon made of steel, and one of the first to be equipped with a screw breech (issued 16 years after the British and Prussians adopted a similar system). It was adopted by the French Army in 1875 and superseded the Reffye cannon.

Diagrams of the Lahitolle 95 mm cannon.

Lahitolle 95 mm breech system.

A 95mm Lahitolle in 1915 during the First World War.

The Lahitolle 95 mm was superseded by the de Bange 90 mm cannon in 1877. An improved version, the Lahitolle 95 mm (Mle 1888), was developed in 1888. The Lahitolle 95 mm was still in use during World War I, together with the de Bange 90 mm cannon, as French industry could not keep with production requirements for the much newer Canon de 75.^[1] The Lahitolle 95 mm was also used in the fortifications of the Maginot line.^[2]

References

1. Pyrrhic Victory: French Strategy and Operations in the Great War by Robert A. Doughty p.117
2. The Maginot Line

External links

• 1888 model at the Draguignan museum with the wheel brakes deployed