I ran across this Howitzer in our local Park that has a plaque that identifys it as a M114A2, which it is not. But a Schneider model of 1918. The 155mm Howitzer by Schneider, was the principal heavy howitzer piece of the French Army during the Great War. It started as a private enterprise, the design being made by Schneider to get a contract to equip the Russian Imperial Army with artillery. The gun itself proved to be an excellent piece, and when the War broke out in 1914 it was soon accepted by the French Army as well, who needed these types of modern, heavy howitzers - they had put too much faith in their cherished "75". The first model, the mle 1915, employed brass cartridges for the charge, which was seen as a drawback, and a new model, the mle 1917, eventually superceded the first. The only difference between the two was some alterations to the Breech. It was a good gun, pretty light (weighing some 1.245 kilos), shooting a 43.5 kilo grenade a maximum range of some 11.500 metres - there were five different types of shells for this gun, including HE, Shrapnel and Gas. The soundness of the design was soon proved by the fact the the Americans adapted it, to equip it's Expeditionary Army in Europe - their copy was called M1917A1. It was still in both French and American service at the outset of the Second World War. (It was also used by a number of other countries, including Finland, who employed the piece with good effect during the Winter War.) The C15S had a swinging loading trough attached to the left side of the cradle. This was a feature that the later C17S lacked. Instead it used a removable loading tray that could be placed on the cradle when loading. Of course the later model had a de Bange pressed asbestos obturation pad on the face of the breech screw for use with bagged charges instead of using brass cases for obturation. Post war Soviet artillery designs (ie: the 122mm M-30 (M-1938) field howitzer, the 122mm A-19 corps gun (M-1931 and M-1931/37) and the 152mm ML-20 gun/howitzer (M-1910/34 and M-1937) all used a Schneider type breech modeled on those of the 105mm L13S field gun (in Russia this was the 107mm M-1910 field gun) and 155mm C15S (or should I say rather, upon the earlier Schneider 152mm M-1910 field howitzer), with separately loading cased ammunition. Coordinates for the geocache container should be spot on, but well hidden out of sight. May be challanging to find. Just remember, attempt to find this cache at your own risk; cache owner assumes no responsibility or liability for any damage to person, property, or any other conceivable anything.

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