In the 1930s, the French Army sought a replacement for the derivatives of the
75 mm mle 1897 field gun it used as an anti-tank gun. The
soixante-quinze was an effective anti-tank gun but was heavy and much harder to conceal than the newer, small, high-velocity, small calibre anti-tank weapons. The chosen weapon was a design of the state-owned arsenal
Atelier de Construction de Puteaux workshop (abbreviated to APX) located in
Puteaux, Paris, and was named the
canon de 47 mm semi-automatique mle 1937. A similar model designated the
canon de 47 mm semi-automatique mle 1939 was also produced. Both were efficient weapons, especially given the thin armour of contemporary German tanks. The gun could pierce at or at . Unfortunately for France, the
47mm SA mle 1937 and
47mm SA mle 1939 were still rare weapons at the time of the
Battle of France. ==Foreign use==