Infantry support gun

They typically have short, low-velocity barrels, and light construction carriages, allowing them to be more easily manoeuvered on the battlefield.

Infantry support guns were the first type of artillery employed by armed forces, initially in China, and later brought to Europe by the Mongol invasion.

In their initial form, they lacked carriages or wheels, and were simple cast barrels called pots de fer in French, or vasi in Italian.

[2] These lighter Renaissance pieces eventually led to the development of the 3-pounder and 4-pounder regimental guns of the 17th century as well as the leather cannon, notably in the army of Gustavus Adolphus.

While the allocation of horses was reckoned at one for each 350–500 pounds of ordnance and its carriage, this was only true for availability of good horses and good roads, both in short supply due to unscrupulous civilian contractors and lack of road building technology.

[13] Manufacture of the ordnance was also revolutionised by the early-18th century invention of the boring mechanism by the Swiss gun-founder Moritz of Geneva which allowed for a far greater precision achieved in the casting, in essence creating a huge lathe on which the barrel casting turned instead of the boring tool.

In addition to the usual requirements that they needed to be portable enough to be carried by infantry, two separate capabilities were desired.

Second, it needed to be capable of low angle direct fire, while being carried by assault infantry, to engage strongpoints, bunkers, and other fortifications.

The Canon d'Infantrie de 37 modele 1916 TRP (37mm mle.1916) was a French infantry support gun, first used during World War I.