Kings of Battle US Self-Propelled Howitzers, 1981-2022

By David Grummitt

It is for good reason that artillery is known as the ‘king of battle’. In World War II the United States made good use of self-propelled howitzers, including those based on the chassis of the M4 Sherman tank. After 1945 the US developed both light and medium self-propelled howitzers, based on the M24 Chaffee, M41 Walker Bulldog and Sherman chassis. The first designs were plagued with problems and self-propelled artillery played only a minor role in the Korean War. By the mid 1960s, however, the M107 175mm, M109 155mm and M110 203mms self-propelled howitzers had entered service, and they proved their effectiveness during the Vietnam War. The M107 was relatively short-lived in US service, being retired in the late 1970s, but it played an important role with the Israel defense Forces. The M109 served with the US Army, as well as in many NATO armies and elsewhere, and saw action in the Middle East, in the Balkans, during the liberation of Kuwait, and in the invasion of Iraq. The M109 has now been in service for some sixty years and remains, in the guise of the M109A7, the current self-propelled howitzer of the US Army. The larger M110 203mm self-propelled howitzer similarly saw widespread service before it was retired in the early 1990s. Despite the emergence of rocket artillery, such as the Multiple Launch Rocket System, the self-propelled howitzer will remain one of the principal weapons systems of US military in the decades to come.

The M107, M109 and M110 have proved popular subjects among modellers with a variety of kits available from the major manufacturers. As well as describing in detail the technical development and operational history of these guns, this book gives a full account of the wide range of modelling kits and accessories available in all the popular scales. Included is a modelling gallery which covers a range of variants and a section of large-scale color profiles which provide both information and inspiration for modellers and military enthusiasts alike.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pen and Sword
• Release date: Dec 19, 2023
• ISBN: 9781399040525

David Grummitt

David Grummitt is editor of Military Modelcraft International with more than a decade of building models and writing articles for publication. As well as being editor of MMI since 2009, he is a professional historian who has written several books on fifteenth- and sixteenth-century military and political history.

Book preview

THE KING OF BATTLE

Field Artillery – or Fires, as it is known in the US military – is not without reason known as the King of Battle. Since the eighteenth century, commanders have set store in the ability of massed artillery to gain a decision on the battlefield. In the American Civil War, the Union general, William Sherman, considered a field piece worth 1,000 muskets and the effect of massed artillery on infantry was demonstrated amply at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, thereafter changing the nature of campaigning as both sides entered a war of attrition.

In the decades up to the entry of America into World War I, field artillery grew in terms of both professionalism and, crucially, mechanisation. From 1917 the field artillery of the American Expeditionary Force proved itself capable of effective operations in support of its infantry. American artillery fire was both numerous and accurate, enabling it to perform the key requirements of destroying the enemy and allowing friendly troops to advance and gain ground. From the first decade of the twentieth century, the US artillery had experimented with the use of tractors to move artillery and several US engineering firms presented thirty or so prototypes for self-propelled artillery between 1917 and 1920. Although the great majority of US artillery during the war was horse-drawn or man-handled, this commitment to mechanisation and professionalism continued into the 1920s and 1930s.

Nevertheless, despite official recommendations to mechanise the US artillery arm, progress was slow at first and by the end of 1920s what units were mechanised depended entirely on civilian tractors. During the early 1930s, however, experiments began with using Ford cars and half-tracked vehicles as prime movers, and by the middle of that decade some 70 per cent of the US artillery force was motorised. In the 1930s the US Army also began experimenting with self-propelled artillery. In the spring of 1930, a self-propelled M1917 75mm howitzer was tested at the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Its performance was tested against a horse-drawn 75mm gun and a 3-inch howitzer. The report concluded that while the gun’s cross-country performance matched those of its horse-drawn counterparts, the mechanical unreliability of the self-propelled platform rendered it unserviceable. Experimentation continued, but when war broke out in Europe in September 1939, the US Army still had only one truly mechanised artillery battalion, 1st Battalion, 68th Field Artillery Regiment, equipped with 75mm howitzers and half-tracked prime movers.

If mechanisation progressed only slowly in the US Army, other changes laid the groundwork for the artillery to become a war-winning weapon. Improvements in the guns themselves, the organisation of the field artillery and, crucially, in doctrine and methods for massing fires all contributed to the success that US artillery would enjoy during World War II.

This fully tracked, self-propelled mount for the 8-inch howitzer produced by the Morgan Engineering Co. of Alliance, Ohio, in 1918 was one of 30 or so experimental mounts for the US artillery produced towards the end of World War I. (US National Archives)

The T19 Howitzer Motor Carriage was a stop-gap measure, mounting the gun on an M3 halftrack. (US National Archives)

US SELF-PROPELLED ARTILLERY 1941-1953

When war started in 1939, self-propelled artillery was still in its infancy, but the US Army was one of the pioneers in this regard, recognising the need for fires to be available to support infantry and armour in a fast-paced battle. In an early attempt to provide a self-propelled gun, in June 1940, both the M1897 75mm gun and the M2A1 105mm howitzer were adapted to fit the M3 halftrack chassis as the T12 Gun Motor Carriage and T19 Howitzer Motor Carriage respectively. This stop-gap measure was employed in North Africa, Europe and the Pacific from 1941 until 1944. In 1942 the US Army Ordnance Department also developed a 75mm M2/M3 howitzer mounted on an M5 light tank chassis. The gun had a maximum range of 9,613 yards and saw extensive service during World War II as the M8 Howitzer Motor Carriage, with a total of 1,778 being manufactured by the end of the war.

The mobility of halftracks was limited and soon efforts were being again made to develop self-propelled artillery on fully tracked mounts. The M2A1 105mm howitzer was simultaneously mounted on an M3 and subsequently M4 tank chassis to create the 105mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7. Some 3,600 M7s were manufactured between 1941 and 1945. The first M7s saw service in the Philippines in 1941, and they also served with the British Army, proving particularly effective at the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942. From 1943 development also started on mounting the 105mm howitzer on the chassis of the new M24 Chaffee light tank. This resulted in the M37 Howitzer Motor Carriage which entered production in January 1945, too late to see service in World War II. 336 of the original order of 448 were completed and the gun saw service in the Korean War before it was withdrawn from the US Army in 1953.

Heavier self-propelled artillery was also developed by the US Army during World War II. The first was an adaptation of the 155mm M1917 and M1918 howitzer, a near copy of the French 155mm GPF gun, to the M3 chassis. The prototype T6 Gun Motor Carriage was tested early in 1942 and entered production in September that year as the M12 Gun Motor Carriage. With a crew of six and a maximum range of 21,982 yards, it proved an effective weapon and 100 were built, seeing service in north-western Europe in 1944-45. This was superseded by the 155mm Gun Motor Carriage M40 in 1945. This mounted either a 155mm M1A1 or M2 howitzer on a modified M4A3 tank chassis with HVSS suspension. Crewed by eight men, it had a range of 25,722 yards firing a 95-pound projectile and saw service in Korea. The M1155mm howitzer was also mounted on the M24 chassis in June 1945, resulting in the M41 Howitzer Motor Carriage M41. 85 were built before the war ended. It too saw service in the Korean War.

The US Army also developed a self-propelled mount for the M115 203mm howitzer. It was designed to replace the M12 but only a single prototype vehicle was used in north-west Europe in 1945. It had a maximum range of 18,515 yards firing a 200lbs shell and saw extensive service in Korea. Anticipating the need for heavy, self-propelled artillery for the invasion of Japan, the US Army also developed the 240mm Howitzer Motor Carriage T92 and 8-inch Gun Motor Carriage T93 in 1945. These were based on M26E3 Pershing heavy