And here's another WW1 veteran in the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War. These are (I believe) Model 09 Putilov 152 mm . Howitzers. supplied to the Republicans by Moscow. The questions is why? The Spanisg "Republcans" controlled most of the Army's ordnance, and thequantities of a much better weapon, the Schneider mod. 1917 howitzer with a far greater range, and a gun that was roduced in quantities by the arms factories which remained under Republican control....
-- Edited by Brunner88 on Tuesday 14th of February 2017 05:53:12 AM
The 1917 Schneiders were produced at Trubia (Oviedo), this location fell to insurgent hands at the beginning of the war.
The distribution of the guns was more or less even at the begining of the war: 108 went to the insurgents and 70 to the loyalists. The main question is if the bulk of the republican 1917 Schneiders remained fit for service after all 4 heavy artillery regiments in the peninsula revolted against the government: The ones in Medina del Campo and Cordoba passing successfully to the rebels, and the two in Gerona and San Sebastian being subdued by loyal forces.
All in all, the republicans fielded only handful of these guns, a few of the San Sebastian`s, trapped in the Northern Front, another few of the Gerona's regiment in the Aragon Front, and a last few retrieved from an army depot in Madrid in the central front.
Just received this photo of a Spanish-built Schneider 155 mm mod. 1917 howitzer from an old friend in Spain, Juan Arraez Cerda, who's a well known and prolific writer on aviation during the Spanish Ciivl War. It was taken at Me Military Museum at Montjuich.