In 1909 an agreement was signed between Schneider and the Russian armaments manufacturer Putilov to jointly develop and produce a number of artillery types.

One of these types was a 279.4 mm (11-inch) siege howitzer with a range of 6,000 m (20,000 ft) to replace very old Russian guns of similar calibre.

Although the Russians found the gun was unable to penetrate the heaviest reinforced concrete fortifications its general performance was judged satisfactory which led to an order for 16 howitzers to be delivered in 1915.

During the war 126 howitzers were delivered to the French Army and 26 to Russia as the 280 mm Schneider Mortar Model 1914/15 (Russian: 280-мм мортира Шнейдера образца 1914/15 гг.)

[1] In addition another 25 barrels were installed post-WW1 on the Saint-Chamond heavy self-propelled gun chassis as the Mortier 280 mm TR de Schneider sur affût-chenilles St Chamond.

The projectiles were brought up from a battery ammunition dump on trolleys running on a narrow (60 cm) gauge railway track.

It was dismantled into four loads, barrel, cradle, carriage and firing platform, for transport and carried on 4 horse-drawn carts.

Although this design was innovative it proved to be quite weak in practice and the towing speeds of the howitzer were limited to barely above walking pace.