The Model 1917A1 155 mm GPF was the standard long-range mobile field artillery piece for the US Army from 1917 through World War II. It was a direct copy of the French army's Canon de 155 mm Grande Puissance Filloux modèle 1917, developed by French Lieutenant Colonel Louis J. F. Filloux. After entering World War I without a heavy field artillery piece, the US Army adopted the French 155 mm GPF in 1917 and later produced it as its own Model 1918. The weapon remained in service through much of World War II before being replaced by the 155 mm M1 Long Tom cannon. At the beginning of World War II, mobile Coast Artillery battalions armed with 155 mm GPFs were deployed to defend small harbors and strategic points along the United States coast, including Beaufort Inlet, where three batteries provided the main weapons of the harbor defenses during the height of German submarine operations against Allied shipping offshore in 1942. The original Fort Macon battery positions in World War II were one-quarter mile southwest. This cannon was made at the French state arsenal at Puteaux in 1919, and its M2 gun carriage was among those upgraded by the US Army during 1940-41 with air brakes and heavy-duty pneumatic tires for high-speed road travel.