US M2A1 105mm Howitzer

The National World War II Museum, 2007.070.001

The M2A1 Howitzer was the principal weapon of divisional artillery, and the single most common American artillery piece in World War II. American artillery equipped with the 105mm howitzer was crucial in the North African Campaign, particularly in the Battle of Kasserine Pass. In An Army at Dawn, Author Rick Atkinson notes, "One GI likened the effect of 105mm shells on armor hulls to 'taking shoe boxes and shoving them flat.'" Effective artillery fire from US 105mm howitzers stopped the German advance at a time when nothing else could.