Argentina The
Argentine Army used an updated variant of this howitzer with
split-trail carriage, locally called
Obús Schneider L.15.05 modelo 1928 calibre 155 mm. Some of them were still used for training in the 1980s at the
Colegio Militar de la Nación. Some were donated to neighboring countries.
Belgium Belgium received 134 howitzers from France during World War I. Weapons captured after Belgium's surrender in 1940 received the designation of
15.5 cm sFH 413(b) by the Germans.
Finland Schneider sold four
C15S and eight
C17S howitzers to Finland during the 1920s, known in Finland as the
152 H/15 and
152 H/17. These were rebarreled in Finland's standard 152 mm although they retained their original breeches, which meant that the
H/15 used Russian-style cartridge cases and the
H/17 used bagged powder. The
H/15 had steel-rimmed wooden wheels that were suitable only for horse-traction, but these were later replaced by wheels with sponge rubber tires more suitable for motor traction. They were used for training during peacetime. During the
Winter War the
H/15s served with the
3rd Separate Heavy Artillery Battery while the
H/17s were assigned to
Heavy Artillery Battalion 3. During the
Continuation War they saw combat with
Heavy Artillery Battalions 24 and
25 as well as
Field Artillery Regiment 3. They were retired after the end of World War II. The last four arrived in 1944. They were heavily used during the Continuation War, serving with the heavy artillery battery 1 and four other such battery's and eight field artillery battalions. Only fourteen were lost to the Soviets in 1944. The remaining howitzers were used for live-fire training and warehoused for future use. New twin pneumatic wheels were fitted during the 1960s, and the guns were retained through the 1980s for live-fire training.
Germany Exactly how many howitzers were captured by Germany in the early years of World War II is not known, but Germany sold 166 howitzers to
Finland, and equipped second-line infantry and static divisions based in France such as the 331st, 709th, 711th, and the 716th. Some howitzers were also used in
North Africa by the
Deutsches Afrika Korps.
Greece Greece had a total of ninety-six howitzers when the
Greco-Italian War began in October 1940. They were assigned to the corps-level heavy artillery battalions. Italy seized them after Greece surrendered in May 1941.
Italy Italy captured eight during the
Battle of France and ninety-six from Greece during the
Balkan Campaign and placed them into service as the
Obice da 155/14 PB. It was the only heavy howitzer in Polish Army in 1939. Each of thirty Polish active infantry divisions had a horse-drawn heavy artillery detachment with three 155 mm howitzers and three 105 mm guns (they were absent in reserve divisions). According to some sources, the Soviets also captured 111 Polish 155 mm howitzers during the
Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939.
Spain The first guns were procured in France in 1917, the weapon being declared standard for Army use in November 1922, although their first military use was in Africa in 1921 during the assault at Turiet Hamed. The gun was also built under license at Trubia and was used by the Regimientos de Artillería Pesados (Heavy Artillery Regiments). One was captured by revolutionaries in the Trubia factory during the
Asturian miners' strike of 1934, although it was ineffective due to the lack of fuzing for their shells; the gun was damaged when a dynamite cartridge bundle used as substitute for fuzeless shells exploded inside. The gun was heavily used during the Spanish Civil War by both sides. During the SCW and World War II some guns were used as coastal defence weapons to improve Spanish coastal defences as nothing more suitable was available. It remained in service until the 1950s when they were replaced by more modern equipment. There are many surviving pieces, of Spanish and French construction, in museums and as monuments around Spain.
United States World War I Prior to 1917, the United States had used its own
M1908 6-inch howitzer. After entry into World War I, it was discarded as unsatisfactory in favor of the French gun, which the US found had withstood the tests of war and had proven in every way to be superior to all other howitzer designs of the same or similar caliber. The general policy of the US Army in World War I was to initially acquire French or British weapons to simplify the supply system and allow their forces to enter combat as soon as possible. Although some foreign designs began to be manufactured in the United States with the intent to add them to the Allied-made weapons, quality problems resulted in few domestically-made weapons reaching France by the time of the
Armistice. The United States purchased 1,503 examples of the
Mle 1917 from France and adopted it as the 155 mm Howitzer Carriage, Model of 1917 (Schneider), as the standard howitzer for the United States Army. The last American shot fired during the Great War was fired by a Schneider howitzer called "
Calamity Jane", of the
11th Field Artillery Regiment, which is preserved in the
West Point museum. The United States also paid $560,000 for non-exclusive rights to the design and working drawings. In addition to the 1,503 examples purchased in France and used there, 626 were manufactured by or for the US in the United States (stated to have been at a cost of more than $10,000,000). US units were in action in France in 1918 with the 1,503 French-built guns. The first US regiment equipped with US-made guns was about to embark for France when World War I ended. The 1,503 weapons purchased from France were brought to the United States in 1919.
Interwar period and World War II 155 mm howitzers were initially not assigned to infantry divisions in the postwar reorganization of the early 1920s. After the war, a board headed by
Brigadier General William I. Westervelt to analyze the Army's field artillery had recommended that 155 mm howitzers, because of their larger size and power and poorer mobility, be moved from infantry divisions to
corps and
army artillery once a 105 mm howitzer was developed as the standard medium howitzer of the infantry division to replace the
75 mm gun (the replacement of the 75 mm gun was another recommendation of the board). A lack of funding meant that the program to develop a 105 mm howitzer stalled, and almost no weapons were manufactured; two regiments of horse-drawn 75 mm guns remained the infantry division's artillery until the late 1920s. Beginning in 1929, a number of 155 mm howitzer regiments were reassigned from corps level to infantry divisions' artilleries to augment their firepower for lack of a 105 mm howitzer. As part of the Army
Field Artillery branch's motorization program of the early 1930s, it was planned to modernize 75 percent of divisional artillery pieces as funds became available, switching 75 mm guns from horse traction to high-speed motor traction, and 155 mm howitzers from low to high-speed motor traction. The M1918M1 carriage that had air brakes, new metal wheels, and pneumatic rubber tires for high-speed motor traction was developed beginning in 1934 and was standardized in 1936. 599 of 2,971 M1917 and M1918 howitzers in the U.S. inventory had been converted by 1940. The M1917 and M1918 howitzers remained the standard American heavy howitzers until superseded by the
155 mm howitzer M1 beginning in late 1942. They saw limited use with both U.S. Army and Marine artillery units in the early part of the war while shortages of the 155 mm howitzer M1 were resolved.
Yugoslavia Thirty-six ''C17S's'' were in Yugoslav service by the 1920s although it is unclear whether these were weapons furnished to Serbia during World War I or bought by Yugoslavia during the 1920s. The Germans designated guns that fell into their hands as the
15.5cm H 427(j). ==Operators==