Now, this is my idea of art. I found it in a Houston gunstore. It is not for sale - A De Bange 155mm cannon bronze with 1915 date. I am willing to overlook the technical inaccuracies. Without a recoil system, these guns move backwards under recoil a considerable distance. There is a nice, convenient mound behind one wheel and a chock block under the other. There is also a projectile in the path of the recoiling gun. The artist obviously had no idea about this. Also, being an indirect fire weapon, there was no need for an observer with binoculars next to the gun. The gun itself is beautiful. French artillery artillery in WWI was way behind the Germans in capabilities for most of the war. They had the excellent French 75mm, but that is not what was needed for trench war. The Germans had heavy 105mm and larger howitzers with recoil systems while the French had to make due with Franco-Prussian War vintage De Bange antiques which were far less accurate and had a much lower rate of fire. My understanding about the war is that France suffered three times the German casualties which mainly came from artillery fire. 
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