In addition to the pack / air portable configuration, the gun was mounted on a conventional carriage to serve as a field artillery piece.

In addition, the M1 in its original version was mated to a number of other self-propelled carriages, though only one of those – 75 mm HMC T30 – reached mass production.

The 75 mm pack howitzer was designed in the United States in the 1920s to meet a need for an artillery piece that could be moved across difficult terrain.

The requirement for a lightweight howitzer for airborne troops led to the introduction of the M8 carriage, similar except for 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.

[citation needed] In the US Marine Corps, under the E-series Tables of Organization (TO) from 15 April 1943 divisional artillery included three 75 mm howitzer battalions, 12 pieces each.

[12] A single howitzer was airdropped in April 1945 to the 2nd (Italian) SAS Regiment, a special force coordinated by Major Roy Farran and composed of partisans with mixed political allegiances, Russian ex-prisoners-of-war, and Wehrmacht deserters.

Baptized "Molto Stanco" ("Very tired" in Italian), the gun was used in the course of Operation Tombola to harass enemy convoys driving up and down along Route 12 between Modena and Florence.

On 21 April 1945, the howitzer was towed by means of a Willys Jeep to the outskirts of Reggio Emilia, from where the Italian gunners initiated a shelling of the city that wrought panic among Axis troops.

The type also remained in use with the Republic of China Army's outlying island garrisons (as coastal artillery) as well as mountain troops.

[citation needed] In 2010, the M116 75 mm pack howitzer was used by the Turkish Army in operations against Kurdish separatists in southeastern Turkey.

The University of North Georgia, one of six senior military colleges also utilizes a pack howitzer at the base of their drill field.

The piece is fired daily during reveille, retreat and during any special ceremonies honoring military graduates or active duty personnel.

Two nearly identical vehicle mounted variants – M2 and M3 – were developed based on tube and breech of the M1A1, for use in the 75 mm howitzer motor carriage T47 / M8.