The Cannone da 149/40 was an Italian 149.1 mm heavy cannon of the World War II period. The first prototypes appeared in the late 1930s, and serial production for the Italian army continued in 1940-1941, with the production of only about 50 examples of this weapon. The initial velocity of the high-explosive shell fired from this gun was 800 m / s, and the maximum range reached 23,700 meters.
Cannone da 149/40 was designed and manufactured at Ansaldo's plants in Genoa. The new gun was to replace another gun of the same caliber - the Cannone da 149/35 A. The manufacturer generally stood up to the task and created a cannon with very good range, good accuracy and reliability, but with an average rate of fire. Another major disadvantage was the poor mobility of the new gun. The advantages of the new weapon, however, definitely outweighed and the weapon was put into mass production, but due to organizational problems it was possible to deliver around 50 to the army from almost 600 ordered copies. In 1943, a number of Cannone da 149/40 fell into the hands of the Wehrmacht where they were used as a capture weapon.
