This 220 mm heavy field gun was a state-of-art design for its time, with decent traverse and capable of destroying fortifications or supporting infantry.

Unusual, however, was the double recoil system, also utilized on some earlier French pieces: the barrel assembly recoiled inside the cradle along its own axis (a pretty conventional hydropneumatic mechanism was used there by Schneider), but at the same time the cradle and the upper carriage moved back and up onto integrated incline against hydraulic brake, and then sliding back under its own weight.

After the lack of heavy artillery for infantry support in positional warfare of World War I had become obvious, the design was ordered by Frédéric-Georges Herr in 1917.

The Canon de 220mm L Mle1917 Schneider (FAHM) was the gun mounted on a tracked, but unarmoured, chassis with an optional armour shield.

Although the performance was deemed satisfactory, the lack of self-propelled gun usage within the French Army lead to the prototype being put in storage, where it was captured by Germans in 1940 and scrapped after evaluation.