The majority of military planners before the First World War were wedded to the concept of fighting an offensive war of rapid maneuver which in a time before mechanization meant a focus on cavalry and light horse artillery firing shrapnel shells at formations of troops in the open.

However, the theorists hadn't foreseen that trenches, barbed wire, and machine guns would rob them of the mobility and as the Western Front stagnated into trench warfare the light field guns that the combatants went to war with began to show their limitations when facing an enemy who was now dug into prepared positions.

[3] By varying the number of propellant charges both the range and angle of impact for the projectile could be controlled.

Due to its low velocity and soft recoil the mle 1915 could use large stocks of defective shells with unstable explosives that were produced during the war.

[1] The barrel pivoted at the front of the base and could be traversed by a wooden handle at the rear while levers near the trunnion controlled elevation.