Development and Production
The 75 mm pack howitzer was designed in the United States in 1920s to meet a need for an artillery piece that could be moved across difficult terrain. In August 1927, the weapon was standardized as Howitzer, Pack, 75mm M1 on Carriage M1. Due to meager funding, production rates were low; by 1940, only 91 pieces were manufactured. Only in September 1940, a year into World War II, was the howitzer put into mass production. By then, M1 was succeeded by the slightly modified M1A1. The production continued until December 1944.
The only significant changes during the mass production period were carriage improvements. The original carriage M1 was of box trail type, with wooden wheels. Requirement for a lightweight howitzer for airborne troops led to introduction of the M8 carriage, similar except new wheels with pneumatic tires. Another requirement, from the cavalry branch of the US Army, resulted in a completely different family of "field howitzer" split trail carriages M3A1 / M3A2 / M3A3. However, only limited number of the M1 in field howitzer variant were built, due to cavalry's switch to self-propelled guns.
| Wartime production of М1, pcs. | |||||||||||
| Year | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | Total | |||||
| Pack howitzers, pcs. | 36 | 188 | 1,280 | 2,592 | 915 | 4,939 | |||||
| Field howitzers, pcs. | – | 234 | 64 | 51 | – | 349 | |||||
Read more about this topic: M116 Howitzer
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