Author: Craig Moore

Latil 4×4 TAR Heavy Artillery Tractor and Lorry

Post author By Craig Moore
Post date October 22, 2019
3 Comments on Latil 4×4 TAR Heavy Artillery Tractor and Lorry

France (1913)
Tractor/Lorry – 3,000 Built

The Latil TAR 4WD was a popular French lorry and known for its very good off-road capability, which made it an excellent choice for the French Army. It had very good ground clearance that helped the lorry negotiate undulating ground and obstacles like rocks, building rubble, and tree branches. It still occasionally got stuck in the mud as it tried to get supplies and weapons to the front across the battle-scarred French countryside.
The Latil company saw the need to build an all-terrain supply vehicle that could negotiate shell craters, ditches, debris from damaged buildings and trenches. Their design team looked at various ways of using caterpillar tracks on the axles of their lorries.

This photograph was taken in 1919 and shows a fully tracked Latil TAR 4WD lorry in French Army service. The wheels have been removed and replaced with four tracked units to help it negotiate muddy undulating rough terrain. These are the later version of the ‘Mécanisme à Chenille’ track units as they are more triangular in shape. This gave the lorry higher ground clearance. (Photo Avant-Train-Latil.com)

The Latil Company

The French vehicle manufacturing company called Latil designed and built the first French four-wheel-drive trucks at the end of the 19th century. Auguste Joseph Frederic Georges Latil patented the system in 1897. In 1903, the company moved to Levallois-Perret and, in 1908, it was renamed and became “Compagnie Française de Mécanique et d’Automobile – Avant-Train Latil”. They started to build 4×4 trucks with the ability to pull or carry a 3-tonne load. They were called Tracteur d’Artillerie Roulante, which is abbreviated to TAR. (the word roulante translates to rolling)
After World War I, Latil began to build tractors for the agriculture and forestry industry and trucks for civil engineering. In 1955, Latil merged with the vehicle manufacturers Somua and ‘Renault truck and bus’.

The Latil TAR

Prior to the outbreak of WW1, in 1913, Latil began manufacturing trucks that were designed to be used as tractors to tow heavy artillery guns. The Latil TAR used a 4-cylinder, 4,200 cc, 30 hp petrol engine. Only heavy guns were moved by mechanical vehicles, as lighter field artillery and other guns under 6-tonnes were still moved by teams of six or eight horses. Mechanically powered vehicles still required roads that were in good condition or firm ground.
A Latil 4×4 TAR tractor had some advantages over horse-towed guns: it was significantly faster than horses, it also took up less space than a team of horses, shortening transport columns, fewer soldiers were needed to transport the guns, and they could cover longer distances. The Latil 4×4 TAR was used to pull guns such as the 155 mm Grande Puissance Filloux (GPF) mle.1917, the 220 mm Schneider mle. 1917 cannon and the 280 mm Schneider mle. 1914 mortar. The French abbreviation ‘mle’ is for the French word ‘Modèle’. In English that would translate to model but a better translation would be type or version. Latil trucks were also used by the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) during WW1. The French Army kept them in service up until the start of WW2.
In order to use its maximum traction force on good ground, the tractor had to be loaded with 2-tonnes. It was particularly suited for service with artillery units because of its pulling power. The company claimed that, on firm ground, it could tow 20-tonnes on a 15% gradient slope (9 Degrees), 25-tonnes on a 12% gradient slope (7 Degrees) and 35-tonnes on an 8% gradient slope (5 Degrees).

The French Army Latil TAR 4×4 lorry could climb up a steep incline. (Photo Avant-Train-Latil.com)
The clutch was of the inverted leather cone type. It had five forward gears and one reverse gear. The engine, clutch, gearbox, and front differential assembly formed a single block, connected to the chassis at three points: a ball joint at the front and two spring tabs at the rear.
The transmission of the engine power to the wheels was done by side gimbals that terminated the transverse shafts of the two differentials by a ball joint whose center was on the axis of the steering pivot. The movement was transmitted to the wheels via a straight crown and a pinion. Differentials could be locked to improve traction on soft ground. Steering, by screw and nut, controlled the front wheels and a longitudinal shaft transmitted the same movement to the rear wheels and thus allowed for fast turning. It had a minimum turning diameter of 8.50 m.

The French Army Latil TAR 4×4 lorry was powerful enough to tow a tank transportation trailer loaded with a Renault FT tank. (Photo Avant-Train-Latil.com)
The chassis frame was made of 200 mm high stamped sheet metal with a profile of equal strength. It had a ground clearance height of 0.45 m. The stamped soft steel axles were connected to the chassis by the springs, which were, in turn, terminated by clevises which, engaging in special supports, allowed them to oscillate relative to the frame. The towing hook was combined with a spring giving a particularly flexible hitch, which reduced the jolts from the trailer.
The engine cover has a very distinctive rounded and narrow shape. This was specific to French automotive designs of the time, also being found on the Renault 60CV truck and a couple of cars, such as the Renault AG1. The front is quite distinctive in not having a radiator grille. The radiator air intakes were at the rear of the bonnet, on the sides. A large Latil badge usually adorned the front of the bonnet. There was a hand crank in the lower frontal part to start the engine manually. The crew compartment was open, with only a tarpaulin cover to protect from most of the elements, and a bench for seating. Two lights were mounted just in front of the crew cab, one on each side, close to the posts supporting the tarpaulin cover structure. Another larger light was sometimes present at the front on the left side. Interestingly, the steering wheels and controls were on the right-hand side.
The wheels were made of cast steel, and rotated to allow the use of twinned rubber tires. All four wheels were interchangeable. In 1913, the list price of the Latil 4×4 TAR without the bodywork was 35,000 francs. More than 3000 copies were built in total by the factory at Levallois-Perret between 1913 and 1922.

Latil TAR tractor fitted with the early version of the Delahaye ‘Mécanisme à Chenille’. Illustrated by Jaroslaw ‘Jarja’ Janas, funded by our Patreon campaign.

The Delahaye ‘Mécanisme à Chenille’ Tracked Units

The tracked vehicle used a standard Latil TAR truck with a differential that could be locked when required. Each wheel was removed and the track unit was fitted to the axle. The first version of the track unit was an elongated oval shape. The next version, seen photographed on a vehicle in 1919, was more triangular in shape. It gave the vehicle increased ground clearance. It is not known how many track units were built and supplied to the Army.

The standard French Army Latil TAR 4×4 lorry would have difficulty driving over this muddy landscape but, when fitted with Delahaye ‘Mécanisme à Chenille’ track units on each axle, it could successfully negotiate water-filled shell holes and embankments. (Photo Avant-Train-Latil.com)

The first version of the Delahaye ‘Mécanisme à Chenille’ track units. (Photo Avant-Train-Latil.com)
The track units were designed and built by the Delahaye factory. They submitted a patent for the invention in 1915 under the name ‘Mécanisme de Chenille Delahaye’. The French Delahaye automotive manufacturing company, founded by Émile Delahaye in 1894, is more famous for their cars rather than agricultural equipment. The man responsible for its development was Paul Morane who had owned the Delahaye company since the founder Émile Delahaye sold his company in 1898. The official name for the tracked units was ‘Mécanisme à Chenille’.
Each unit consisted of a drive sprocket, an idler wheel and three roadwheels. The drive sprocket was connected by a chain to a smaller sprocket on the hull. The track links were from pressed steel with a raised lip on the rear in order to gain traction on soft ground.

Surviving Vehicles

A restored Latil TAR 4×4 lorry part of a private collection on display at a motor vehicle show in France. (Photo – TautauduO2)

A restored French Army 1918 Latil TAR 4×4 being used to tow a tank transportation trailer loaded with a Renault FT tank. (Unknown photographer)

Sources & Acknowledgements

Automobiles Industriels LATIL
French Tank Museum (Musée des Blindés)
Christophe Mialon
John Harris
Marco Pütz

WW1 German Armor

Sturmpanzerwagen A7V 506 ‘Mephisto’

Post author By Craig Moore
Post date May 14, 2019
3 Comments on Sturmpanzerwagen A7V 506 ‘Mephisto’

This article was written by Queensland Museum, in partnership with Craig Moore. This Australian museum holds ‘Mephisto’, the only surviving A7V in the world.

The Rarest Tank in the World: 506 ‘Mephisto’

A mere twenty German A7V Sturmpanzerwagen tanks were built during the First World War, in three production runs of 5, 5, and 10 vehicles, respectively. Fitted with either Röchling or Krupp armor plate, the first vehicle rolled off the assembly line in October 1917. Only one of these twenty tanks has survived, the vehicle bearing chassis number 506 named Mephisto.

The only surviving Sturmpanzerwagen A7V, Mephisto, as it stands today in the Queensland museum. A part of the armament and the markings are clearly visible in this photo, including the red devil carrying a British rhomboidal tank on the front. Source: Gregory Czechura, Queensland Museum
This A7V, which was captured and later recovered in the dead of night by Australian soldiers of the 26th Battalion during July 1918, survived thanks to its unlikely journey to Brisbane, Australia. 506 Mephisto is not only an incredibly rare tank but a significant artifact of the First World War. The centenaries of Mephisto’s operations on the Western Front and its eventual capture and retrieval (which commenced the tank’s connection to Queensland and Australia) were marked between March and July 2018.

After capture, Sturmpanzerwagen A7V 506 ‘Mephisto’ was painted with a British Imperial Lion putting its large paw on top of a German Sturmpanzerwagen A7V tank (Photo: Queensland Museum)

Mephisto being restored in Australia. (Photo: Queensland Museum)

The A7V

Tanks were developed as a weapon to break the defensive trench warfare that had prevailed on the Western Front since 1914. The Allies were the first to develop, produce and deploy tanks beginning in 1916 (Great Britain) and 1917 (France). The German Sturmpanzerwagen A7V represented a reply to the ever-increasing numbers of Allied tanks, but it suffered from being too few in number and too late in entering service to have any decisive impact on the outcome of the final battles of the war. Indeed, most of the tank force fielded by the Germans during the last years of the war was composed of captured Allied, mainly British, models.
The German A7V was essentially an armored box mounted on a tracked chassis that was powered by two water-cooled, 100-horsepower petrol engines. Although a fully operational A7V weighed around 30-tonnes, it was capable of reaching speeds of up to 10 km/h. Armament consisted of eight 7.92 mm MG 08 machine guns (females) or a 57 mm Maxim-Nordenfelt main gun and six MG 08 machine guns (males). The short combat career of the German A7V was due, in part, to lengthy bureaucratic delays and approvals, as well as correction of several crucial design flaws that resulted from the tank having to be built on an all-purpose chassis. The driver’s position, high atop the vehicle, compromised visibility and produced a blind spot directly in front of the driver’s field of vision, which resulted in individual A7Vs being driven into pits, quarries and, in one case, a village pond.

Mephisto in the garden of the Queensland museum next to some similar sized dinosaur models. Source: Queensland museum.
Like all First World War tanks, A7Vs were dogged by mechanical problems (especially overheating and transmission failures), as well as design problems such as low ground clearance, low track height and a chassis that flexed when the tank was in motion. These issues contributed to A7Vs suffering breakdowns and incapacitation by barbed wire and uneven ground in action and training. Modifications were carried out in the field and on the factory floor to rectify some of these problems. Despite these issues, the A7V proved superior to its counterparts, such as the British Mark IV, in both speed and firepower, especially when deployed on firm, even terrain, although when they met in combat for the first time at Villers-Brettoneux in April 1918, it was the British tank which triumphed.
Vehicle 506 was one of the first five A7Vs to be built as part of what is known as the First Lot (Röchling) production run. It was assigned to the first of three A7V detachments (Abteilungen) during December 1917-early January 1918 but did not reach Abteilung 1 at Beuveille until 20 January 1918. Features, including field modifications, of the first A7V production run can be seen on 506 Mephisto. These include a cupola with a single hatch for the driver and the commander, single sheet side armor, and a Blocklafette gun mount with open sights, among others.

Inside the front section of the Sturmpanzerwagen A7V tank 506 Mephisto. The 57 mm gun can be seen on the right and the machine gun mount on the left of the door. (Photo: Queensland Museum)

The History of ‘Mephisto’

A7Vs made their combat debut at St Quentin on 21 March 1918 during the 1918 German Spring Offensives. Five A7Vs were assigned to provide close support for infantry assaults on British positions south of St Quentin. Only two of the tanks were able to participate, a female (501) and 506, which was gun-armed. German and British accounts attest to the effectiveness of the gun-armed tank, in neutralizing strongpoints and concentrations of infantry. The A7Vs were then returned to their base near Charleroi for repair and maintenance. At this point, 506 was transferred to Abteilung 3, where it was repainted and named Mephisto after the Devil in the Faustus legend (another A7V, 503, was named Faust).

Sturmpanzerwagen A7V Mephisto after it has arrived at the Queensland museum. The original paint scheme and the imperial lion can still be seen. Source: Queensland Museum, The Gregory Czechura collection
In late March and early April 1918, the Germans attacked the small, strategically placed town of Villers-Bretonneux, France in an effort to capture or neutralize the vital Allied transport hub of Amiens. Villers-Bretonneux was held after a successful Allied counter-attack led by Australian troops from 9th Brigade. The Germans staged a second attack on Villers-Bretonneux on 24 April 1918 that included three groups of A7Vs. 506 Mephisto was assigned to the second group of A7Vs, consisting of six tanks, given the objective of taking objectives (Monument Farm, Monument Wood, and the Bois d’Aquenne) immediately to the south of Villers-Bretonneux. The German attack on the first day was successful and during the battle, the first tank versus tank battle was fought between elements of the third group of A7Vs and British medium and heavy tanks operating near Cachy to the southwest of Villers-Bretonneux. During the fighting around Monument Farm, Mephisto became stranded when the edge of a shell crater it was passing over collapsed under its weight.
Mephisto was abandoned by its German crew but not before being stripped of its machine guns, the gun’s breechblock and other essential items according to standard operational practice. Mephisto lay in No Man’s Land for three months before its capture by the 26th Battalion AIF (commanded by Major, later Lieutenant-Colonel, James Robinson) on the night of 17/18 July 1918 and its subsequent recovery, with the assistance of the British 1st Gun Carrier Company, from under the noses of the German troops opposing them on the night of 22-23 July 1918. The dangerous retrieval operation was carried out under fire on the very night that the Germans unleashed a heavy poison-gas barrage on the Villers-Bretonneux area. Most of the Australian and British soldiers involved in the recovery became gas casualties, but the operation was nonetheless successfully completed. The war prize Mephisto was now securely in Allied hands and quickly moved under cover in the nearby Bois l’Abbé.

Mephisto being moved into the Queensland museum yard. The two steamrollers used to tow it can be seen in the photo. Source: Queensland museum.
Mephisto was then moved to the British 5th Tank Brigade’s Training Ground at Vaux-en-Amienois where it became an object of curiosity and ‘canvas’ for soldier art, including that of a British lion resting its paw on an A7V. Among the soldiers who visited Mephisto were the six ‘TANK BOYS’, who left their names hammered into the rear armor of Mephisto. They were not participants in the capture and recovery of Mephisto but were part of the Australian contingent training and preparing to work with British tanks and crews in the planned Battle of Amiens and other Allied offensives along the Western Front in the last 100 days of the war.

A Home Down-Under

From Vaux-en-Amienois, Mephisto was moved to London via Dunkirk before being shipped to Brisbane on the SS Armagh, leaving England on April 2, 1919, and arriving in Brisbane on the June 2. It remained at the wharves for six months before being moved to the Queensland Museum, Fortitude Valley, on 23 August 1919. It was an eleven-hour operation which required the use of two Brisbane City Council steamrollers to tow Mephisto to its new home. It was initially placed on display outside, exposed to the elements in the gardens of the museum, where it remained as an iconic object greeting visitors for over sixty years.

Front view of the Mephisto at the Queensland museum. The top compartment, which housed the driver and the commander, is visible on top, along with their viewports. The wedge shape of the front armor is also apparent, used decades before the Soviet IS-3. Source: Gregory Czechura, Queensland Museum
In 1986, Mephisto was moved to Queensland Museum’s new location at South Brisbane where it remained until it sustained minor damage in the 2011 Brisbane floods when water reached the level of its tracks. Mephisto has undergone extensive conservation and restoration treatment during its time with the Queensland Museum, even at one time being preserved in a climate-controlled plastic bubble at the Workshops Rail Museum, Ipswich. Between 2015 and 2017, Mephisto was loaned to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra as part of the Centenary of the First World War.
After being held in the Workshops Rail Museum, Mephisto finally returned to the Queensland Museum, South Brisbane in late 2018. The tank now features as a major interpretative and commemorative element of the Queensland Museum’s new Anzac Legacy Gallery that opened to mark the centenary of the Armistice on Remembrance Day 2018.

Commemorative Book

To commemorate the centenary anniversary of A7V Mephisto’s capture and recovery, Queensland Museum has released a fully illustrated reference guide to the tank’s history and its journey to Australia. Mephisto: Technology, War, and Remembrance by Jeff Hopkins-Weise and Gregory Czechura includes detailed diagrams, technical schematics, damage reports, and photographs of Mephisto as it was during the First World War, and as it is found today. Mephisto details the history of this primitive armored vehicle against the backdrop of the industrial innovations and societal changes of the First World War.

The Queensland Museum has published a Mephisto discovery guide book covering the history of the tank. This is the front cover. (Photo: Queensland Museum)
Mephisto: Technology, War and Remembrance book is available now through the Queensland Museum Shop website HERE.
To see the single surviving Sturmpanzerwagen A7V tank in the world in person, entry is free to the Anzac Legacy Gallery at Queensland Museum, Brisbane, Australia.

Source

Queensland Museum
Grey St & Melbourne St
South Brisbane, QLD, Australia

Illustration of the Sturmpanzer A7V number 506 ‘Mephisto’ in its original markings. Colors based on the restored version presently at the Queensland Museum, Australia. Illustrated by Tank Encyclopedia’s own David Bocquelet.

Tanks Encyclopedia Magazine, #1 Republished

The first issue of the Tank Encyclopedia Magazine has been remastered and rereleased. It covers vehicles ranging from the French WWI Frot-Turmel-Laffly Armoured Road Roller up to the Salvadoran Cold War Marenco M114 converted vehicles. The star of this issue is a full article on the Improved Protection version of the famous M1 Abrams – the M1IP.

Our Archive section covers the history of the Mephisto A7V tank, the only one of its kind that still survives to this day in Queensland museum in Australia.

It also contains a modeling article on how to create Weathering and Mud Effects. And the last article from our colleagues and friends from Plane Encyclopedia covers the story of the Sikorsky S-70C-2 Black Hawk in Chinese service!

All the articles are well researched by our excellent team of writers and are accompanied by beautiful illustrations and photos. If you love tanks, this is the magazine for you!
Buy this magazine on Payhip!

WW2 Czechoslovak Prototypes WW2 German Panzer II

Panzerspähwagen II Ausführung Škoda

Post author By Craig Moore
Post date February 16, 2019
9 Comments on Panzerspähwagen II Ausführung Škoda

German Reich/Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (1940)
Light Tank – 5 Prototypes Built

On 15 September 1939, the German Heereswaffenamt (Army Weapons Office – HwaA) issued new specifications for a fast, more heavily armored scout reconnaissance tank with 30 mm front armor, a 2 cm or 3.7 cm main gun and a top speed of 50 km/h. These were originally sent to the German firm MAN but, on 31 July 1940, they were also sent to two other companies, Škoda and BMM (the former Czechoslovak ČKD).

The prototype Panzer T-15 light tank looks like an improved Panzer II tank but there were many differences. Its factory designation was Škoda T-15. The first two prototypes were only built in mild structural steel.

The Panzer Späh Wagen II Ausführung Škoda, previously designated the Škoda T-15. Source: Bundesarchiv

Name

A German Wa Prüf 6 (the German design office for armored vehicles and motorized equipment under the Heereswaffenamt – Army Ordnance Department) document dated 5 March 1942 shows the factory name Škoda T-15 being scratched through and the name Panzerspähwagen II Ausführung Skoda (Armored Scout Car II version Škoda – Pz.Sp.Wg II Ausf.Skoda) written in its place.

German Wa.Prüf. 6 original document notes that show the change of name. Source: Herbert Ackermann

Design

The company Škoda-Werke’s T 15 design had welded armor, an improvement over the Czechoslovak built Panzer 38(t) tank’s bolted and riveted armor. The armor on the front of the turret and hull was 30 mm thick and the sides were 25 mm thick. The turret had a new curved shape with a commander’s cupola. The main gun fitted on the prototypes was the 3.7 cm Škoda A19 anti-tank gun (German designation 3.7 cm KwK 38(t) L/47). It could fire armor-piercing (AP) shells and high explosive (HE) fragmentation shells.

On 4 January 1943, the Panzerspähwagen II Ausführung Skoda prototype was shown to Hitler and senior German officers. Source: Bundesarchiv

There was no hull machine gun. A 7.92 mm MG34 machine-gun was mounted in the turret. The driver and radio/operator were positioned at the front of the tank. Both had armored vision ports like the later Panzer II tanks.

The tank was powered by a Škoda water-cooled V8 10.8 liter 245 hp gasoline/petrol engine. The transmission had 6 forward gears and one reverse.

German Wa.Prüf. 6 original document that shows some of the vehicle’s specifications. Photo: Herbert Ackermann

The suspension was different from other tanks under construction at that time. It had four pairs of large road wheels on semi-elliptic leaf springs. There were three pairs of smaller track return rollers. The drive wheel was at the rear while the idler was at the front.

Rear view of the Škoda, looking at the engine bay. The Panzerspähwagen II Ausführung Skoda prototype had four pairs of large road wheels on semi-elliptic leaf springs and three pairs of track return rollers. Source: shushpanzer.ru

The first prototype T-15 was completed in October 1941, and the second in December 1941. Tests were conducted during March and June of 1942. Further tests were completed between July and October at Kummersdorf, 25 km south of Berlin.

Alterations

Alterations were made to the original design on the later prototypes. The turret shape was changed. The side armor was curved differently. An armoured driver’s vision port was fitted to the side of the chassis. The commander’s cupola was also completely redesigned. Instead of the Czech ZB.37 machine gun a German 7.92 mm MG.34 was installed. The 37 mm A19 gun remained in place, but Škoda’s engineers also provided for the possibility of arming the tank with a 47 mm gun. The same Wa Prüf 6 document dated 5 March 1942 mentioned earlier showed that it was intended to mount a 5 cm PaK 39 L/60 on the production tank in a Daimler-Benz built turret.

Škoda-Werke’s redesign of the T 15 prototype wooden mockup, with improved sloping frontal hull armor, smaller turret and relocated exhaust. Source: Yuri Pasholok

Fate

Škoda had signed a contract to build five prototypes but only built four. Construction of the fifth was stopped in early 1944 as the Panzer II Ausf.L Luchs (Lynx) was already in mass production.
Škoda completed the construction of the fifth prototype in May 1945, having restarted work in January. After the war finished, it was shown to the new Czechoslovak Army in July 1946 but no orders were placed. The Škoda tank design department used the chassis to develop different light tank projects which they called the T 15A, T 15S and T 16. They stayed as drawings. No prototypes were built.

The Pz.Sp.Wg II Ausf.Skoda prototype tank undergoing trials. There appears to be a build up of mud between the road wheels. A platform has been constructed on the right side of the turret for testing staff to have somewhere to sit as they observe what is happening. Source: Bundesarchiv

Illustration of the Panzerspähwagen II Ausführung Škoda, also known as the Škoda T-15. Produced by Mr. Adrielcz, funded by our Patreon Campaign

Panzerspähwagen II T15 by adrielcz

Specifications
Dimensions (L-W-H)	4.58 x 2.17 x 2.16 meters
Total weight, battle ready	10.8 tons
Crew	4 (commander, gunner, radio operator, driver)
Propulsion	Skoda T-15 8-cylinder, petrol 220 hp
Suspension	semi-elliptic leaf springs
Speed (road)	50 km/h
Range	200 km
Armament	3.7 cm Skoda A19 (3.7 cm KwK 38(t) L/47), 7.92 mm MG34
Armor	8 mm – 30 mm
Total production	4 (+1 post war)

Sources

warspot.ru (Russian)
Pavel Pilar “Pruzkumne tanky Skoda T-15 a Praga TNH nA”, HPM c.3 / 2000
I.Pejcoch, O.Pejs “Obrnena technika” №6
“Hobby Historie” 2011 №10
Hilary Doyle and Thomas L. Jentz, Panzer Tracts No. 11-2: Aufklaerungspanzerwagen (Full and Half-Track Armored Reconnaissance Vehicles) H8H to Vollkettenaufklaerer 38.

WW2 German SPG Prototypes

Grille 17/21 Self-Propelled Guns

Post author By Craig Moore
Post date November 4, 2017
23 Comments on Grille 17/21 Self-Propelled Guns

German Reich (1942)
Self-Propelled Gun – 1 Built

The Tiger gun carrier

On the 6th of May 1942, the German weapons manufacturer Krupp submitted a proposal for the construction of a new armored self-propelled gun carriage that used components from the Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger. While it was based on the Tiger tank chassis design, it was radically altered. It was meant to be able to carry two different guns.

The Grille 17/21 chassis is on the right of the photo next to a King Tiger with the early turret and a Panther tank on the far left. Behind the three vehicles is a Jagdtiger SPG. They were all captured at the Henschel Panzerversuchsstation, Haustenbeck Ordinance proving ground. (The Tank Museum, Bovington)
The vehicle was named, in typical German fashion, the ‘Geschützwagen Tiger für 17 cm Kanone 72 (Sf.)’ or the ‘Geschützwagen Tiger für 21 cm Mörser 18/1 (Sf.)’, depending on the gun mounted.
The German word Geschützwagen literally translates to ‘gun vehicle’. This is not an accurate description of the concept behind this artillery self-propelled gun. A gun carriage would be a better description. Unlike other German self-propelled guns, this vehicle was designed to mount different weapons. It was a modular concept. The vehicle was given the shorter names of Grille 17 and Grille 21 depending on what weapon was mounted inside the vehicle. The German word Grille means ‘cricket’ and the letter ‘e’ at the end is pronounced as an ‘er’: Grill-er.
The proposal was submitted on 6 May 1942 to the Wa Prüf 4 artillery division of the Heereswaffenamt (HWA) (German High Command’s center for technical weapons development). Krupp was authorized to build a single prototype with a completion date of 1 November 1942. The Wa Prüf 4 made a requirement that the vehicle must have the ability to have a 360-degree traverse. They also wanted it to be available for coastal defense work if necessary.

The Grille 17/21 chassis was much longer than a standard Tiger tank and difficult to photograph at close quarters. This image has been made by ‘stiching’ together a number of separate images. (The Tank Museum Bovington)

Design and Problems

The two guns were too heavy to be mounted in a turret so the Krupp design team had to find another solution. They constructed a large heavy circular base plate that would be carried at the rear of the vehicle and lowered into position when needed. The SPG would then drive onto the metal plate and could swivel on its tracks to point the gun at the target. This was an unusual design feature of this weapon system not seen on any other German vehicle in WW2.
Another requirement was that the guns were to be dismountable. This would be achieved by driving backward towards the base plate, after which the gun could be slid out of the vehicle and mounted on the base plate, allowing it to cover 360°. The reasoning behind this feature was that the Grille was also meant to be used in the coastal defense role and this allowed it to fire in any direction. This requirement was dropped in 1944 under the orders of Heinrich Himmler.
Design and mechanical problems were also encountered with the Tiger chassis, engine and transmission. It did not help that the winner of the competition between the Porsche and the Henschel designs hadn’t yet been decided, and they had vastly different drivetrain arrangements.

This American officer is examining the engine bay of the Grille 17/21 chassis. His presences gives you the sense of proportion of this weapon. It was very large. (The Tank Museum Bovington)
Initially, the vehicle was meant to have a 30 mm armor plate on the front of the chassis and 16 mm on the sides. In November 1942, it was decided to use SM-Stahl (carbon steel) in the construction of this self-propelled gun. 50 mm of SM-Stahl carbon steel were used for the front of the vehicle. The sides and rear would have 30 mm SM-Stahl carbon steel. This added to the weight of the vehicle. There were a number of delays in the project. The original 1 November 1942 completion date passed without a prototype being finished.
When the Panzer VI Ausf.B Tiger II (Sd.Kfz.182) heavy tanks started rolling out of the factory doors, Krupp decided to use the Tiger II engine, suspension, steering, and transmission instead of Tiger I parts. These components were not ready for delivery until January 1944. This delayed the estimated final construction of the prototype until the summer of 1944.
On 25 September of 1944, Reichsminister Albert Speer ordered a demonstration for Adolf Hitler to take place as soon as the vehicle was completed, now planned for the end of the year. Serial production was to then start at the rate of two per month.

This photograph was taken at the Henschel Panzerversuchsstation, Haustenbeck (Ordinance proving ground). Notice the armored hatches on the front of the Grille 17/21 SPG’s superstructure. (The Tank Museum Bovington)

Armament

It was envisaged that two different guns could be mounted in the vehicle: the 17cm Kanone K72 (Sf) L/50 or the 21cm Mörser 18/1 L/31. These two weapons were chosen because they used the same gun carriage and recoil system. The fittings would be the same when the guns were mounted within the self-propelled gun superstructure. The guns would have had a traverse of 5 degrees left and right from a fixed position. The gun sight was a Z.E. 34 with Rblf.36. Both vehicles would have to be supported by a number of ammunition carrying vehicles.

17 cm Kanone 18 in Mörserlafette on display at the U.S. Army Field Artillery Museum, Fort Sill, Lawton, Oklahoma, USA. (Jon Bernstein)
The Grille 17 would have carried 5 rounds plus propellant on board when equipped with a 17cm Kanone K72 (Sf) L/50 gun. It could fire two types of shells, the 68 kg Sprenggranate(HE) with 29.15 kg of propellant and a range of 28,000 meters and the 62.8 kg Sprenggranate(HE) with 30.5 kg of propellant and a range of 29,600 meters.
The 21cm Mörser 18/1 L/31 was already in production and use by the Germans when the project started. It was produced to replace the much older 21cm Mörser 16. The 21cm Mörser 18 replaced the 21cm Mörser 16 in front-line service around 1940 with the older gun being relegated to secondary theaters and training units. More than 711 21cm Mörser 18 guns were produced in 1939–45. The Grille 21 would have carried 3 rounds plus propellant on board when equipped with this gun. It could fire a 113 kg Sprenggranate(HE) shell with 15.7 kg of propellant to a range of up to 16,700 meters.

A 17 cm (172 mm) gun barrel and breach can be seen on the floor in front of a gun carriage with 21 cm Mrs 18 painted on it. The fate of the gun is not known.
In January 1945, plans were made to mount a 30.5cm caliber smooth bore mortar with fin-stabilized projectiles, due to the concerns over the length of time it took to produce artillery barrels for the two other guns. Krupp and Skoda both competed on this project with Skoda producing a 30.5 GrW L/16 prototype by April 1945.
As a side note to armament, in 1945 Kurt Arnoldt, Chief Engineer at Henschel, said in a 1945 interview that the 21cm gun produced too much recoil for the chassis as designed, making it impossible to fire from the chassis. The 17 cm muzzle break was based on a design by Solothurn design. Ammunition would have been stowed both in the vehicle and in wicker baskets on the side of the vehicle as well as in a following 18-ton semi-tracked vehicles (half-track). The gunnery sights also allow for direct firing of the gun on close-range targets.

German 21 cm Mörser 18 on display at the U.S. Army Field Artillery Museum, Fort Sill, Lawton, Oklahoma, USA. (Jon Bernstein)

Crew members

According to a British intelligence report from 1945, the Grille designs meant to have a crew of 8, composed of a driver, a commander and 6 gun crewmen. The loading of the two-part ammunition was meant to be done manually. It is stated in a 1945 interview with Kurt Arnoldt, the Chief Engineer for Henschel, that the additional crew would travel in a semi-track vehicle, Kurt Arnoldt suggests the 18-toner, and haul additional ammunition.

Mobility

A Tiger II Maybach HL 230 P30 V-12 water-cooled petrol 690 hp engine was ordered along with a Maybach OG 40 12 16 B gearbox with eight forward and 4 reverse gears. Henschel made the L 801 steering unit. The engine was mid-mounted in the chassis to allow for the maximum amount of room for the large gun and space for the crew.
As rubber was difficult to obtain in 1944 the wheels were 80 cm all steel tires. However, the 1945 interview with Kurt Arnoldt suggests rubber rimmed roadwheels. But photos do not confirm this. It was fitted with Gg 24-800/300 Tiger II track for traveling cross country, but this would have been replaced with smaller width Gg 24-600/300 Panther II tank track if transportation by rail was required.

A Troubled End

More delays occurred when the Allied air force bombed Krupp’s manufacturing plant in Essen. Construction work on the prototype was no longer viable at this location. On 7 December 1944 Krupp reported that the chassis was ready to be loaded onto a flat back railway wagon for transportation from Essen to the Henschel Panzerversuchsstation 96, Haustenbeck near Paderborn. It was recorded as being at this establishment on documents dated 22 December 1944 but missing many of the components needed for the completion of the project including the cooling and fuel system, Gg 24/800/300 tracks and hardened road wheel arms.
The Grille 17/21 prototype was still in an unfinished condition when the German High Command ordered all future work on the program to be stopped. The situation in the 1st quarter of 1945 was such that in their view there would not be any significant advantage in the completion of the project. Resources were limited and they had to be channeled to more important weapon production lines.
In 1945, the US 3rd Army captured the Henschel panzerversuchsstation, Haustenbeck Ordinance proving and tank testing ground in Northern Germany, 50 km south west of Hanover. A selection of German heavy tanks and self-propelled guns were found in working condition. A few prototype vehicles were discovered that never entered production. These included a partially assembled Geschützwagen Tiger für 17 cm Kanone 72 chassis and nearby a 17 cm Kanone 72. They did not find a second chassis or a 21 cm Mörser.

Gallery

The Allies took the chance to examine this huge weapon system. The three soldiers inside are dwarfed by the sides of the superstructure of the Grille 17/20 SPG. (The Tank Museum Bovington)

The driver sat on the left of the Grille 17/21 at the front. The hull machine gunner sat on his right, (The Tank Museum Bovington)

Here you can see the design of the extended chassis and the rear of the superstructure. Notice that it was an open topped SPG. (The Tank Museum Bovington)

The Jagdtiger SPG was 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in) tall and 10.65 m (34 ft 11 in) long. It gives you a good idea of how large the Grille 17/21 self-propelled gun was when the two vehicles are seen together. (The Tank Museum Bovington)

The front armor of the superstructure was only 30 mm thick. It was not enough to save the crew from a Soviet, British or American armor piercing AP round in 1945. (The Tank Museum Bovington)

The gun chassis rails can be seen on the floor of the fighting compartment in this photo of the Grille 17/20 SPGs fighting compartment. (The Tank Museum Bovington)

large perforated muzzle brake found next to the Grille 17/21 17 cm gun barrel. (The Tank Museum Bovington)

Wrong photos

The following photographs are often seen in books and posted on the internet wrongly claiming that they are photographs of a wooden mock-up of the Grille 17/21 fighting compartment. This is a mock-up of the Flakwagen auf Panther NOT the Grille 17/21. The first author to make this understandable error was Spielberger in his book ‘Tiger und seine Abarten’.

This is a photo of a mock-up of the Flakwagen auf Panther NOT the Grille 17/21 (Spielberger)

Wooden mock up of the superstructure of the Flakwagen auf Panther NOT the Grille 17/21 (Spielberger)

Gunners seat mock-up in the Flakwagen auf Panther NOT the Grille 17/21 (Spielberger)

An article by Craig Moore and CaptainNemo

Grille 17/21 specifications
Dimensions (L,W) Grille 17	13 m (42 ft 8 in), 3.27 m (10 ft 9 in
Dimensions (L,W) Grille 21	11 m (36 ft 1 in), 3.59 m (11 ft 8 in)
Height (17 & 21)	3.15 m (10 ft 4 in)
Total weight	60 tonnes (59 tons)
Crew	8 (Commander, driver, 6 gunners)
Propulsion	Maybach HL 230 P30 V-12 23 liter water-cooled petrol 690 hp engine
Top road speed	45 km/18 km (28 mph/11 mph)
Operational range (road)	250 km/125 km (155 miles/78 miles)
Main Armament	17 cm K72 L/50 or 21 cm M18/1 L 31 mortar
Armor (chassis)	16 – 30mm

Sources

Joachim Engelmann, German Heavy Field Artillery 1934-1945.(Schiffer Publishing Ltd)
Ian V. Hogg, German Artillery of WW2. (Pen & Sword)
Frank V.de Sisto, German Artillery at War 1939-45 vol.1. (Concord Publication Co).
Gordon Rottman, German self-propelled guns. (Concord Publication Co).
Peter Chamberlain, Thomas L.Jentz and Hillary L.Doyle, Encyclopedia of German tanks of WWII, (Arms and Armour Press).
Peter Chamberlain and Hillary L.Doyle, Profile AFV Weapons 55 German Self-Propelled Weapons. (Profile Publications)
The War Office, Handbook of Enemy Ammunition Pamphlet No 15 – 24th May 1945.
SHAEF, Restricted July 1944 – Allied Expeditionary Force – German Guns – Brief notes and range tables for allied gunners. SHAEF/16527/2A/GCT.
SHAEF, Allied Expeditionary Force German Guns – Brief Notes and Range Tables for Allied Gunners – SHAEF/16527/2A/GCT July 1944
Major L.J.McNair, Artillery Firing, (US Army, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Oct 1919
U.S. Army Council. Handbook of Enemy Ammunition Pamphlet No.15. German Ammunition Markings and Nomenclature.
Panzer Tracts No.10 Artillerie Selbstfahrlafetten by Thomas L.Jentz and Hilary Louis Doyle
https://warspot.ru

Geschützwagen Tiger für 21 cm Mörser 18/1 (Sf.) Grille with the 21 cm Mortar fitted. It is painted in factory fresh Red-Oxide Primer. The length of the gun is noticeably smaller that the 17 cm cannon. The turning dish has not been fitted to the rear of the vehicle.

Geschützwagen Tiger für 17 cm Kanone 72 (Sf.) Grille with the 17 cm gun fitted in fictional ‘what if’ markings. Notice the extended chassis and the large turning dish mounted at the rear.

Both illustrations made by tank encyclopedia’s David Bocquelet

German Self-Propelled Artillery Guns of the Second World War

By Craig Moore

One towed artillery gun required a team of six horses and nine men. WW2 German engineers came up with the idea of mounting an artillery gun on top of a tank chassis. This new technology reduced the amount of resources required to deploy one artillery gun. Artillery self-propelled guns only needed a four or five man crew. They could also be made ready to fire more quickly. This book covers the development and use of this new weapon between 1939 and 1945. One type was successfully used in the invasion of France in May 1940. More were used on the Eastern Front against Soviet forces from 1941 until the end of the war in 1945.

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WW1 French Unarmored Vehicles

Schneider CD Artillery Tractor

Post author By Craig Moore
Post date April 25, 2017
No Comments on Schneider CD Artillery Tractor

France (1917-1918)
Tow and Supply Vehicle – 330 Built

Schneider Char de Dépannage

The French phrase ‘camion de dépannage’ translates to tow-truck. The Schneider CD was a WW1 tow truck that used the same Holt chassis as the Schneider CA1 tank. It was fitted with a winch. There is a dispute as to the reason why the letters CD were used. Some sources state that it was just a standard Schneider factory product code, just like the Renault FT tank’s FT letters were just a two letter code, having no other meaning.

The Schneider CD’s winches can be seen above the driver’s compartment and at the rear – Source: François Vauvillier
During the planning and construction stage of the Schneider assault tank, it was given the factory code name ‘Tracteur Estienne’ after the project leader, Colonel Jean-Baptiste Estienne, but later had the official designation of Schneider CA. The letters CA stood for ‘char d’assaut’ which translates to ‘assault tank’ in English. It seems the argument for the letters CD being an abbreviation of the French term ‘Char de dépannage’ is quite strong.
But, on a Schneider factory produced manual front cover the vehicle is called ‘Tracteur A chenilles (Type CD)’ which translated simply means a caterpillar tractor. This appears to favour the argument that the letters CD are a factory code, but the use of the word ‘type’ in front is ambiguous. It could mean that this ‘type’ of caterpillar tractor is a CD ‘Char de dépannage’ tow truck. We still do not know for sure.

Design and Production

By 1915, some of the French WW1 offensives had managed to breach the German front lines. The infantry attack across ‘no man’s land’ had been preceded by days of artillery bombardment to ‘soften-up’ resistance. This had turned the battlefield into a churned up lunar landscape covered in muddy shell craters. To support the breakthrough, the French artillery needed to be able to move their gun batteries, otherwise they would be out of range. Artillery barrages were needed to disrupt and hopefully stop German counter-attacks.

Most French artillery guns were drawn by a team of up to six horses. The terrain was just too difficult for them to move across. A new answer had to be found. The French Army looked towards an agricultural solution. For a number of years, French farmers had been using tracked steam driven tractors and tracked tractors powered by petrol engines. They were purchased by the Army and put to use towing howitzers to the front lines.

This is the front cover of a Schneider CD manual. The vehicle is called ‘Tracteur A chenilles (Type CD)’ which translated means caterpillar tractor (type CD).
Agricultural tractors like the early Holt built tractor were slow and found it difficult to tow the heavier artillery howitzers. They also did not have any onboard storage. They had to tow trailers to deliver artillery ammunition and supplies. The French Army needed a heavier more powerful vehicle to move and service the heavy guns adequately. Once the guns were in position, the Army wanted the same vehicle to be able to transport ammunition from the supply dump to the battery’s new location.

The French Renault EG and Latil TAR large 4-wheel drive trucks were capable of carrying the heavy artillery shells, that ranged in weight from 40 kg to 100 kg, along the muddy roads to the front lines. They could not cross the churned up battlefield. The proposed tracked artillery tractor had to be capable of collecting these shells from just behind French lines and take them across the churned up, scarred landscape without getting stuck in the mud.

A tracteur d’artillerie chenillé Schneider CD being loaded onto the back of an articulated transport lorry
The French manufacturer Renault decided to submit a design for a fully tracked artillery tractor but decided to build a vehicle that could carry the gun rather than just tow one. This ‘en portee’ vehicle would only be able to carry light field howitzers and not the heavier guns. The small size of the flat wooden deck at the rear of the vehicle limited the size of weapon it could transport. The prototype was given the factory code Renault FB: the letters FB were not an abbreviation. It did not meet the French Army’s requirements.

The Schneider CD was built using a Schneider CA char d’assaut tank’s lower chassis. It had a large storage area behind the driver’s cabin. The design used a lengthened Baby Holt tractor suspension and caterpillar track. The front of the tank was shaped like the front of a ship. The idea was that this feature would help free the tank from the side of a muddy trench wall. This design was replaced by a driver’s cabin at the front with a strong curved metal lower shield ‘skid’ that could slide up muddy embankments and the sides of shell craters. The rear metal ‘skid’ used on the tank was not fitted to the Schneider CD, but the tractor used the same engine and transmission.

There was room for a crew of four in driver’s cabin but seats for just two of them. The two in the back would have to sit on the boxes. It would not have been a pleasant vehicle to operate in cold and wet weather conditions The only protection they had was a canvas hood. There were no side doors or front windscreen. The heat from the engine would help keep them warm but they would be at the mercy of the biting winds, rain and snow. In the summer, the canvas hood could be folded back.

At the back of the drivers cabin, a large cable stowage reel was mounted. It had a handle attached to the side for manually winding up the towing cable. A powered revolving cylinder with a vertical axis was fitted to the rear of the vehicle and used for winding up and letting out the towing cable. This capstan winch was powered by the engine.

The Schneider CD was apparently difficult to drive over rough ground but it proved to be tough and reliable – Source: François Vauvillier
After a successful demonstration of the prototype, Schneider received an initial order for fifty vehicles. In October 1916, that order was increased to five hundred. In December 1916, General Robert Georges Nivelle, a French artillery officer, became Commander in Chief. Priorities changed and Schneider was told to put all efforts into completing the order for the artillery tractor and supply vehicle at the expense of meeting the Schneider CA1 tank production targets.

In August 1917, the first production Schneider CD artillery tractor was completed. Only 20 vehicles had been delivered to the French Army by the end of December 1917. This averaged at a production figure of five vehicles a month. In 1918, this figure rose to an average of eight vehicles produced each month. By the end of the war, on 11th November 1918, Schneider had only delivered 110 Schneider CD artillery tractors, failing to reach the 500 vehicle target.

A tracteur d’artillerie chenillé Schneider CD off to the front – Source: François Vauvillier

Post WW1 service

The French Army continued to receive Schneider CD tracked tractors after the war. Deliveries stopped after the 200th vehicle was delivered. Schneider manufactured a further 130 vehicles for civilian use on farms, by civil engineers and by forestry workers. The Schneider CD was still in French Army service when the German Army attacked in May 1940.

Many were captured and used by the German Wehrmacht as towing and supply vehicles. The rear capstan winch and cable reel behind the driver’s cabin were removed on many of the vehicles. A few were used after WW2 but only one is known to have been saved from the scrap heap. It was used by the company Barthez until the 1950s. It was rescued and restored by a private collector and can occasionally be seen by the public at exhibitions of classic vehicles in France.

The Schneider CD3 Char de dépannage

In December 1917, the French Army also issued a requirement for a tracked artillery tractor that was capable of towing the very heavy 9 ton howitzer. Schneider built a prototype based on the extended chassis of the Schneider CA3 tank. The company had designed an improved version of the Schneider CA tank with a longer chassis and slightly more powerful engine.

To improve weight distribution on soft ground, the track width was increased to 45 cm wide rather than the original 36 cm wide track link. The initial order for two hundred of these tanks was cancelled in favour of building a tank fleet of lighter, more agile, Renault FT tanks.
The crew cabin canvas cover was removed and a long metal arm was extended, at an angle, over the front of the engine. It was held in place by an ‘A’ shaped metal support. At the end of the metal boom there was a pulley, over which ran the powered winch tow cable. On the left side of the vehicle, Schneider fitted a small crane. This was used to hoist up the trail legs of the guns over the back of the vehicle.

Development took a long time. The prototype finally underwent trials in October 1918. Different artillery pieces like the 7.45 tonne 220 mm TR Schneider howitzer and the 3.3 tonne 155 mm L Mle 1917 Schneider field gun were attached to the rear of the vehicle and driven across the undulating proving ground course. It successfully completed these tests. Although not designed to transport heavier guns, it was found that it could tow the 13 tonne Canon de 155mm Grande Puissance Filloux (GPF) mle.1917 howitzer.

Schneider CD3 Char de dépannage – Source: François Vauvillier
Although it passed all the French Army requirements, Schneider was not given a production order for the new Schneider CD3 tracked artillery portee vehicle.

Specifications
Dimensions (L x W x H)	6.32 m x 2.30 m x 2.05 m (20ft 9in x 7ft 6in x 6ft 9in)
Total weight	13.6 tons
Crew	2
Propulsion	Schneider 4 cyl petrol, 60 hp (45 Kw)
Speed	8 km/h (5 mph)
Range on/off road	80/30 km (50/19 miles)
Load Capacity	3,000 kg
Total production	330

The Schneider CA-1 tank

Schneider CD, artillery grey livery

Schneider CD in later brown-sand livery. Only one is known to have survived and it is in a private collection.

In WW2 the German Army captured a number of French Schneider CD tracked vehicles. They removed the winch system and used them as tracked supply vehicles that had a towing capacity. They added a camouflage livery scheme.

Gallery

Schneider CD towing an artillery gun up to the front in muddy conditions. This was the task it was designed for – Source: François Vauvillier

Schneider CD on the back of a transport lorry – Source: François Vauvillier

There was a crewman’s position at the front of the vehicle on the left. The driver sat on the right. The bad weather canopy could be folded back – Source: François Vauvillier

Schneider CD being loaded onto an articulated lorry. Notice its two-tone camouflage – Source: François Vauvillier

WW2 German Army Schneider CD tractors

The soldier in this photograph appears to be wearing a German uniform. This would suggest that some Schneider CD artillery tractors were captured and used by the German Army – Source: François Vauvillier

The prime mover tractor unit in this photograph appears to be a WW2 German ‘FAMO’ 18-ton tractor unit halftrack (Sd.Kfz.9). This would suggest that some Schneider CD artillery tractors were captured and used by the German Army. Notice that the winch at the back of the driver’s cabin and at the rear have been removed – Source: François Vauvillier

WW2 5 cm Pak für Küstenbefestigung auf Selbstfahrlafette Schneider CD(f)

During the Second World War the German army modified a captured French Schneider CD artillery tractor and fixed a 5 cm Pak für Küstenbefestigung (5cm Anti-tank gun for coastal defence) on the cargo section of the vehicle. An armoured superstructure was built around the front cabin and the sides and rear of the vehicle. The gun crew were protected from small arms fire by the gun shield at the front but they were exposed at the sides and rear as the armour was not fully enclosed. It was photographed being re-captured by the Free French Army at La Rochelle in France when the Germans Surrendered the city 8 May 1945.

German Army 5 cm Pak für Küstenbefestigung auf Selbstfahrlafette Schneider CD(f) self-propelled gun displaying a white flag as the crew surrendered to Free French troops in La Rochelle in France in May-June 1944- Source: unknown

German Army crew 5 cm Pak für Küstenbefestigung auf Selbstfahrlafette Schneider CD(f) self-propelled gun displaying a white flag as the crew surrendered to Free French troops in La Rochelle in France in May-June 1944- Source: unknown

Diagram of the 5 cm Pak für Küstenbefestigung auf Selbstfahrlafette Schneider CD(f) self-propelled gun – Source: unknown

Surviving Schneider CD

The only surviving Tracteur Schneider CD is in a private collection and is rarely seen in public – Source: Yalta Productions

The Tracteur Schneider CD brass makers plate – Source: Yalta Productions

The Tracteur Schneider CD’s Cabin – Source: Yalta Productions

The Tracteur Schneider CD driver’s brake levers and winch capstan at the rear of the vehicle – Source: Yalta Productions

Sources

François Vauvillier “Des Tracteurs à Chenilles pour l’Artillerie I – Les Caterpillars Remorqueurs Holt, Baby Holt et Schneider CD” in “Histoire de Guerre Blindés & Materiel” No. 86, Jan-Mars 2009, pp. 54-63.
François Vauvillier “Des Tracteurs à Chenilles pour l’Artillerie II – Les Caterpillars Porteurs Renault FB et Schneider CD3” in “Histoire de Guerre Blindés & Materiel” No. 87, Avril-Juin 2009, pp. 80-87.
www.landships.info
www.guide-automobiles-anciennes.com

Tank Hunter: World War One

By Craig Moore

The First World War’s fierce battles saw the need to develop military technology beyond anything previously imagined: as exposed infantry and cavalry were mowed down by relentless machine-gun attacks, so tanks were developed. Stunningly illustrated in full colour throughout, Tank Hunter: World War One provides historical background, facts and figures for each First World War tank as well as the locations of any surviving examples, giving you the opportunity to become a Tank Hunter yourself.

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WW1 British Prototypes

Tank Mark VI

United Kingdom (1917-1918)
Heavy Tank – 1 Wooden Mock-up Built

The Commander’s Post Battle Conference

On 16th June 1917, a conference was held at the 2nd Brigade Headquarters to discuss what happened at the Battle of Arras. Minutes were made of the points discussed. All the Battalion and Brigade commanders were present. Features of the Mark VI tank were discussed. They were all asked the question “Is the Male tank of more assistance to the infantry than the female?”

Wooded mock-up of Mark VI tank. Designed after Battle of Arras, it was an improved Mark V with greater speed, lighter loading and more ease of control. Not proceeded with. Note that it was to have one 6-pounder in front, instead of two in sponsons – Source: Imperial War Museum London Q14521 and Q14567
The group answer to that question was, “Female Tanks will kill more of the enemy – Males frighten them more. Agreed that one type of tank with 6-pdr gun in front will probably be the best pattern. Though the 6-pdr gun will have a small arc of fire, it should be capable of being used effectively with an improved pattern of tank. The tank must be more mobile for this. The tank will be lighter and this is considered worth doing so as to ensure being able to close with the enemy, and having a tank not so liable to be ditched.”
This report would have been submitted to the British High Command. The troops wanted a tank designed like the MK.VI. What they did not realize was that it had already been designed and a wooden mock-up built back in England.
It was going to be an improved Mark V with greater speed, lighter loading and more ease of control. The most radical design feature was that the Mk.VI tank had one 6-pounder gun in the front, instead of two in sponsons.
All-around defense was provided by 6 Hotchkiss machine guns with 10,000 rounds of ammo among them. The Ricardo engine was moved to the side, and the crew compartment was raised, allowing for a compact crew space.
What is interesting about the design is that it featured a new raised cabin that would eventually be used on the Mark VIII. There were four machine guns in ball swivel mounts: two to the front and two to the rear. On the front of each side of the hull, two small machine gun sponsons were fitted.
The tracks were to be widened to 750 mm. An order for 600 Mk.VI tanks was placed, to become a part of the recently formed American tank corps. The order was canceled when the Mk.VIII was chosen instead. The furthest the Mk.VI got to being built was a full-scale wooden mock-up.
On 23rd June and 13th July 1917, it was shown to the Military and members of the War Department along with two other wooden mock-ups: the Mark V tank and the Gun Carriage Tank. The Mark V entered production but, like the Mk.VI tank prototype, the Gun Carriage was not proceeded with.

The need for change

During the winter of 1916-1917, the British Army future tank design requirements were mainly in respect to an increase in armor protection and armament. As they gained more experience in the deployment of tanks on the battlefield, the calls for more technical improvements in performance became more pressing. Lt-Colonel Stern from the Ministry of Munitions was more concerned with the production of as many tanks as possible and getting them transported to France.
Walter Wilson as Director of Engineering was looking towards the next improved versions of the tank. In the winter of 1916-17, he started work designing two new tanks, the Mk.V and the Mk.VI. His eagerness to show off these new designs would bring him in conflict with Stern, whose view was “Any tank is better than no tank.”
The two main performance issues with the earlier tanks were the lack of power of the engine and how it steered. The Mk.I to Mk.IV tanks needed four people to work the driving and gear changing mechanism correctly. In the Mark V and Mark VI tanks, only one person would be needed to change gear and drive the tank. With an epicyclic gearbox, the driver alone could control the tank and the commander was freed from the duty of working the steering brakes.
The proposed new Ricardo crosshead valve, water-cooled straight six 19-litre petrol engine would supply 150 hp. It was more powerful than the Foster-Daimler, 6-cylinder in-line sleeve valve 105 hp petrol engine fitted in the early tanks. This new engine was going to be used to power the Mark VI tank.
The Mark VI tank was Wilson’s idea. Side sponsons caused problems when tanks were transported by rail. The early tanks had their sponsons unbolted for train travel. On later versions, the sponsons could be pushed inwards. His new design did away with bulky side sponsons thus making transportation to the battlefront easier.
The new Mark VI tank would have a single 6-pdr gun firing straight forward between the ‘horns’ while the rest of the crew would work in an elevated structure in the middle of the tank firing machine guns.
One of the reasons the Mark VI tank did not enter production was the fact that the factories would have to be ‘rejigged’ as the engine position would have to be shifted from the middle of the tank to one side. The time needed to do this work and the cost was not looked on favorably.

The Side Sponson

The side machine gun sponsons on both sides were smaller than those on the Mark IV tank. They were also moved a lot more forward. The angled box section at the base of the sponson had a slit at the bottom to allow spent machine gun cartridges to fall out onto the earth outside the tank.

The Mark VI British tank never went into production. This is a ‘what-if’ illustration by David Bocquelet and Craig Moore. It is based on the Mark V tank chassis as both the Mk.V and Mk.VI wooden mock-ups were shown at the same time. If it entered production it would have seen service in 1918 and therefore be painted khaki earth brown and have the white, red and white Allied identification stripes on the nose. You can just see the barrel of the hull mounted 6pdr gun at the front of the tank.

Mock-up of proposed Mark VI Tank (see also Q 14521). It was meant to have wider tracks, one 6-pounder gun in front, six Hotchkiss guns in a fixed turret, and 150 h.p. Ricardo engine. Mock-up inspected 23rd June and 13th July, 1917, but no decision was reached as to manufacture – Source: Imperial War Museum London Q14566

The 6pdr Gun

Only one QF 6 pdr (57 mm) gun (64.7cm short barrel) was fitted to the Mk.VI tank – Source: IWM Q14521 – Q14567

The Tank Tower

The Mark VI’s tower was a proeminent feature. It housed 4 machine-guns.

There were four machine guns in ball swivel mounts: two to the front and two to the rear.

Sources

Walter Wilson – Portrait of an inventor by A.Gordon Wilson
Imperial War Museum London
The New Excalibur by A J Smithers

Mark VI specifications
Dimensions	Length 26ft 5in (8.05m). Width 8ft 4in (2.53m). Height 8ft 8in (2.64m)
Total weight	27 tons
Crew	8
Propulsion	Ricardo crosshead valve, water-cooled straight six petrol engine, 150hp @ 1250rpm
Road Speed	4.6 mph (7.4 km/h)
Range	45 miles (72.42 km)
Trench Crossing ability	10ft (3.04m)
Armament	QF 6 pdr (57 mm) gun (64.7cm short barrel) 6x 0.303 inch (7.62mm) Hotchkiss air-cooled machine guns
Armor	From 8 to 16 mm

Tank Hunter: World War One

By Craig Moore

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WW1 British Prototypes

Killen-Strait Armoured Tractor

Post author By Craig Moore
Post date March 25, 2017
No Comments on Killen-Strait Armoured Tractor

United Kingdom (1917-1918)
Armored Tractor – 1 Prototype Built

A first tank contender

The Killen-Walsh Manufacturing Company made farm tractors. It changed its name to Killen-Strait in 1914, to build the agricultural tricycle Strait’s Tractor, designed by William Strait. Their factory was in Meade Street, Appleton, Wisconsin in the USA. The first version was powered by a four-cylinder Doman engine with a 6 x 7-inch bore and stroke engine that produced 40hp. It was known as the 30-50 model. The later version was called the model 3 15-30 tractor but had a less powerful engine. It was powered by a four-cylinder 4 1/2 inch x 5 3/4 inch bore and stroke Waukesha engine that produced 30hp. It was advertised as being able to pull two or three 14 inch ploughs.

Killen-Straits tractor advertisement – Standard Catalog of Farm Tractors 1890-1980 by C.H.Wendel
It had one caterpillar track at the front and two at the back. The front track was used to steer the vehicle. The two at the rear provided the propulsion. A small directional metal vane was fitted above it, which showed the driver which way the front track was pointing as visibility from the driver’s seat was poor. The tracks were held together with chains and they were made of hardwood. The working surfaces were faced in steel sheets. The links were joined together with case hardened steel pins 1 inch in diameter and 13 inches long. These pins had a bearing surface over their entire length.
The wheels served to keep the track in line, but were not used to transmit any power. The power is positively applied to the track by driving sprockets with detachable case hardened rims. Three links of the chain engage the sprocket at one time, thus minimizing the wear. The chain could be tightened when necessary by moving the front set of idler wheels forward. The links had depressions in them to engage with the drive sprocket teeth.
The steep angle of the tracks at the rear allowed it to reverse over difficult obstacles that were impassable for other tracked tractors. It has been argued that these upward tilting tracks on the Killen-Strait tractor inspired the rhomboid shape tracks on the front of the future British Mark I tank, but others disagree.

The Killen-Strait tractor tracks were held together with chains and they were made of hardwood
The company’s catalog promoted the following selling point. “One great objection advanced against traction engines has been the way in which they packed the soil. The weight of the Strait Tractor is distributed over 3,000 square inches of bearing surface making the machine exert less pressure per square inch on the ground than a man would…. The strait will run easily and lightly over freshly ploughed ground without packing at all.”
The Strait’s Tractor used a 1914 car type transmission gear box with cut steel, case hardened gears running in a bath of oil. The connection to the engine was via a sliding cone clutch faced with Raybestos. The spur gears had four inch faces and a heavy pitch. They had ample strength to take the strain put on them. There were two speeds forward and one reverse gear.

The transmission gear box used in the Strait’s Tractor
On 30 June 1915, Killen-Strait shipped one of their tractors over to London so they could demonstrate its cross country qualities to members of the British Government and Army high command. Winston Churchill, the 1st Lord of the Admiralty and Minister of Munitions, and the future WW1 Prime Minister David Lloyd George were in attendance. Other observers were the Duke of Westminster, Sir Frederick Black (Director of Munitions Supply), Major General Sir Ivor Phillipps, Major General Scott-Moncrieff, Col Holden, Brigadier General Louis Jackson (Head of Trench Warfare at MoM). Jackson later went on to support Swinton and Tulloch demonstrate the American Holt tractor. The demonstration happened at the Talbot Recreation Ground adjoining to the Royal Naval Air Service (R.N.A.S.) Armoured Car Division H. Q., Clement Talbot Works, Barlby Road, Wormwood Scrubs, London.
Churchill was on the lookout for a caterpillar track fitted vehicle that could cross enemy trenches and destroy all wire entanglements. The Ministry of Munitions were looking for a vehicle that could cut the ‘no-mans land’ battlefield barbed wire.
On the same day, the British War Office issued its specification for a ‘machine gun destroyer’ to the Admiralty’s Landships Committee, based at 83 Pall Mall and chaired by Churchill. It is interesting to note that Navy terms were used during the development of the first tanks, not the Army ones. The phrase ‘machine gun destroyer’ can be interpreted in two ways. One is that it is a vehicle that kills machine gun nests and the other is it is a vehicle like a fast agile navy destroyer class ship armed with machine guns. Early tanks were known as Landships.
Lt. Oliver Thorneycroft fitted two scissor-like Royal Navy torpedo net cutters at the end of two protruding shaped metal poles, to the front of the Killen-Strait tractor. The machine was driven into a cat’s cradle of tensioned barbed wire that for demonstration purposes had been prudently strung up at precisely the cutters height. It did not work so well on randomly spaced barbed wire at different heights.
The trials were not successful for the Killen-Strait Manufacturing Company. Although it had good mobility and could negotiate many obstacles put in its way, it was not powerful enough to rip through barbed wire and drag it out of the way to create a path for infantry. When the wire cutter was fitted to the front of the vehicle it took too long to cut the wire and sometimes it failed to cut the barbed wire.
Lt. Symes fitted a turretless Delaunay-Belleville armored car hull onto the tractor chassis. A standard armored car turret could have been fitted at a later date. It was envisioned that this new vehicle would join the ranks of the RNAS Armoured Cars. It made the vehicle very top heavy and gave it a very high profile. This would have made it an easy target for German gunners to see. The main reason the Killen-Strait Tractor did not enter production as a Landship tank was that it could not cross wide trenches.

Royal Naval Air Service armored car stuck in the mud in Belgium 1915
The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) Armoured Car Section was formed for fleet reconnaissance, patrolling coasts for enemy ships and submarines, and attacking enemy coastal territory. To cover the great distances along the cost they used armored cars but they found the poor conditions of French and Belgium roads limited their activities. They saw in the Killen-Straits armored tracked tractor a vehicle they could use to get to locations where there were no roads or the roads were in very bad conditions. As the unit grew it was renamed the Royal Naval Air Service Armoured Car Division (RNACD) and spilt into 20 squadrons. In the summer of 1915, the RNACD was disbanded as trench warfare developed.
The armored Killen-Strait Tractor ended its days as a tow tractor at the RNAS Barrow Airship Station. It arrived there in September 1915.

R.N.A.S. Armoured tracked vehicle line drawings

Sources

Imperial War Museum London
Standard Catalog of Farm Tractors 1890-1980 by C.H.Wendel
The Devil’s Chariots: The origins and secret battles of tanks in the First by John Glanfield

Illustration of the Killen-Strait Tractor by David Bocquelet

Strait’s agricultural farm tractor with sun canopy fitted

Delaunay-Belleville armored car hull fitted onto the Strait’s tractor chassis. You can see it was open topped. A turret could be fitted later if required.
Artists impression of the fully tracked Killen-Strait armored tracked vehicle with turret for use in the R.N.A.S. 501 Armoured Car Squadron.

Movement trials

Killen-Strait Tractor during the experiments at Wormwood Scrubbs, June 1915. (IWM Q14618)

Experiment with the Killen-Strait Tractor at the R.N.A.S. Armoured Car Division H.Q., Wormwood Scrubbs, June 1915. (IWM Q14619)

Killen-Strait Tractor at the Armoured Car Headquarters at the Clement Talbot Works, Barlby Road, Wormwood Scrubs. Summer 1915. It is fitted with only one Royal Navy torpedo net wire-cutter, at the end of a metal pole protruding from the front of the vehicle. Later a second wire cutter was added on a separate pole. (IWM Q14616)

Killen-Strait Tractor negotiating slightly rough ground during experiments at Wormwood Scrubs, June 1915. With human ballast in place, the little Killen-Strait tractor leaps over a grassy mound in the grounds. (IWM Q14620)

Experiments by members of the 20th Squadron R.N.A.S, with the Killen-Strait Tractor, at Wormwood Scrubs, 30th June 1915. Here they tried to see if more weight at the back of the vehicle would help improve performance. (IWM Q14617)

Barbed Wire dragging and cutting trials

Mr. Lloyd George and Mr. Winston Churchill watching experiment with Killen-Strait Tractor, fitted with only one Royal Navy torpedo net wire-cutter, at the end of a metal pole protruding from the front of the vehicle at Wormwood Scrubs, 30th June 1915. The two officers are Major-General Scott Moncrieff and Colonel W. D. Bird (IWM Q14614)

Killen-Strait Tractor fitted at the front with an extra Royal Navy torpedo net wire-cutters at the end of two protruding shaped metal poles at Wormwood Scrubs, 30th June, 1915. You can clearly see two wire cutters fitted at different heights. (IWM Q14615)

Company catalogue Artwork

The Strait’s tractor illustration from the Company’s advertising catalogue.”

Straits Tractor Specifications
Dimensions (L-W-H)	13ft x 8ft x 6ft (no canopy)
Track width	Three choices 18in, 24in or 30in
Total weight	9,500lbs
Top Road Speed	4 mph
Fuel capacity	30 gallons US
Propulsion 30-50 model	four-cylinder vertical four cycle Doman 50 hp engine
Propulsion 15-30 model	four-cylinder 4 1/2 inch x 5 3/4 inch bore and stroke Waukesha 30hp engine

Tank Hunter: World War One

By Craig Moore

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Cold War British SPG Prototypes

Chieftain Casement Test Rig (CTR) SPG

Post author By Craig Moore
Post date March 21, 2017
3 Comments on Chieftain Casement Test Rig (CTR) SPG

United Kingdom (1972)
Self-Propelled Gun – 1 Prototype Built

The Chieftain CTR ‘Jagdchieftain’

This prototype British Cold War self-propelled gun has received the popular nickname of the ‘Jagdchieftain’ because of its similarity to the WW2 German Jagdpanther anti-tank self-propelled gun (SPG). Its correct designation is the Chieftain Casement Test Rig (CTR). This is the name given to the vehicle by William Suttie in his book ‘Tank Factory.’ The Tank Museum, Bovington call it the ‘Concept Test Rig.’
It was a 1972 joint project between UK and the Bundeswehr (West German Army). In Germany, tank designers had been experimenting with the Panzer VT1-1 and VT1-2 Leopard 2 chassis SPG armed with twin 120 mm cannons. The Casement Test Rig (CTR) had a semi-fixed single gun. The gun was set in a casement hull superstructure on a Chieftain tank chassis. A lot of aluminum was used in an effort to reduce weight.

This prototype test vehicle is often called the Jagdchieftain but its correct name is the Concept Test Rig (CTR) – Photo: Colin Rosenwould Tankfest 2011
In the early 1970s, NATO believed that to deal with an overwhelming force of Soviet armor the Allies would fall back while inflicting as many casualties as possible until more troops and tanks could be shipped into Europe from America and Britain. The designers wanted to create an anti-tank SPG that had a low profile, a powerful gun and that could travel just as easily in reverse as forward. It was to be the ideal ambush weapon that could wait for the enemy to appear in a concealed location then open fire inflicting as much damage as it could before quickly reversing out of danger to its next preplanned ambush location. For survival, the front armor would be thick and sloped.
This was not the first time a British casemated self-propelled gun had been proposed. There were the class 40, 50, 60 tanks as well as rival Vickers A,B,C,D designs and the Alvis external concept. None progressed further than wooden mockups.

The Engine

Underneath the superstructure is basically a conventional Chieftain chassis, In order to conform with British and German requirements it could be fitted with the British Leyland L60 engine or the Leopard tank ten cylinder MTU multi-fuel power pack preferred by the Federal German Army of that time. The chassis was slightly widened to accommodate the MTU power pack.

The exhaust system was slightly different to that on the operational Chieftain tank in that it had a raised box on top of the chassis. The rear stowage boxes are missing – Photo: Colin Rosenwould Tankfest 2011

The Armor

The front sloped glacis plate was to be heavily armored against all current and future anti-tank (AT) weapons in the 1980-90s. Had the ‘Jagdchieftain SPG’ entered production, it seems probable that the new Chobham armor would have been applied. This was not fitted to the prototype but was simulated by the addition of 5 tons of lead plate covered in sheet metal.
The prototype’s superstructure was fabricated from aluminum in order to try and keep the weight down but even so, the Mechanised Vehicle Experimental Establishment (MVEE) estimated the final weight would be 55 tons. The term ‘Chobham armor’ has become the common generic term for composite armor developed in the 1960’s at the British tank research center on Chobham Common, Surrey, England.

Front view of the Chieftain Casement Test Rig (CTR) SPG’s sloped front armour plate prior to the gun being fitted
The Casement Test Rig SPG was based on the Chieftain tank FV4211 nicknamed the “Aluminium Chieftain”. After the project was canceled, the CTR was kept in storage to monitor the hull welds to gain information on deterioration of the aluminum armor.

The Gun and Crew

The main armament was intended to be the British 120 mm L11 rifled gun, although for trial purposes only a dummy tube was installed. Unlike the Swedish S-Tank, which had a fixed gun, the British CRT self-propelled gun concept allowed the gun to elevate from −10 to +20° and traverse +/− 2°, allowing fine tracking without moving the hull.
The crew of three comprised a commander and two driver/gunners. One of the drivers and the commander were able to drive the vehicle forward from their positions, while the second driver/gunner had a rear vision block to allow him to drive it backwards, so they could reverse away from the enemy after ambush without showing their rear. This enabled the vehicle to use the ‘Shoot and Scoot’ tactic.
Development of the Casement Test Rig SPG was inspired by Swedish S-tank that had the same driving configuration. Two of these Swedish vehicles had been tested at Bovington in 1968. During the development of the CRT a further ten S-Tanks were borrowed for a more intense assessment during a military Exercise called ‘Dawdle’ in Germany.

Trials

The Concept Test Rig was assembled by the Fighting Vehicle Research & Development Establishment (FVRDE) at Chertsey but trials at Woolwich confirmed what had been seen in Germany on Exercise Dawdle: accurate gun laying was inferior to a turret in terms of speed of engaging targets and that it could not fire accurately on the move. The project was dropped and the vehicle was eventually sent to the Tank Museum at Bovington in 1990.

Chobham armor was not fitted to the prototype, but it was simulated by the addition of 5 tons of lead plate covered in sheet aluminium alloy – Photo – Colin Rosenwould Tankfest 2011

FV217 Conqueror self-propelled gun proposal

This design did not get past the wooden model stage. A prototype was not built mainly for the same reasons the Chieftain Casement Test Rig (CTR) SPG project was dropped. Some call it the JagdConqueror because of its resemblance to the German WW2 Jagdpanther but that was never its official name. It was called the Conqueror Casement Test Rig (CTR) Self-propelled gun (SPG). It was to be fitted with a 120 mm gun.
It seems a strange thing to do as the Conqueror tank was already armed with a 120 mm gun but this vehicle would have been simpler and cheaper to build (a factor that would appeal to politicians). It would also have had a lower profile and thus have been harder to target. It would have been an ambush weapon that would sit in wait for advancing Soviet tanks and fire at them from cover, when they came within range of its gun. It would not have been as adaptable as the tank version.

CTR Specifications
Dimensions (L-W-H)	24’6″ (without gun) x 11’5″ x 9’5″ 7.51 (without gun) x 3.5 x 2.89 m
Total weight, battle ready	55 tons (11000 Ibs)
Crew	Commander and two drivers who also serviced the gun.
Propulsion	British Leyland diesel L60, 695 bhp or Leopard tank ten cylinder MTU multi-fuel power pack
Speed	48/30 km/h road/cross-country (29.82 mph/18.64 mph)
Range/consumption	500 km (310.68 miles)
Proposed Production Armament	British 120 mm L11 rifled gun
Proposed Production Armor	Chobham Armor
Total production	1 prototype

Sources

Ed Francis – The FV3805 Restoration Project
Chieftain by Rob Griffin
Colin Rosenwould
Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset, England
Steve Osfield
Tank Factory, William Suttie, 2015

Gallery

Illustration of the Chieftain test rig by David Bocquelet

Side skirts were used to protect the side of the vehicle. If it had entered production, Chobham Armour panels would have been attached on top of the skirt panels – Photo: Colin Rosenwould Tankfest 2011

The gun and gun mantlet on the Concept Test Rig SPG were not real units – Photo: Colin Rosenwould Tankfest 2011

The front stowage unit behind the head light on top of the track guard is missing on the CTR prototype – Photo: Colin Rosenwould Tankfest 2011

The top mesh exhaust box was not used on the production models of the Chieftain tank – Photo: Colin Rosenwould Tankfest 2011

The downward pointing exhaust pipe and rear stowage box are missing – Photo: Colin Rosenwould Tankfest 2011

The rear skirt panel has been removed. You can see the support bracket – Photo: Colin Rosenwould Tankfest 2011

The handlebar steering concept was used on the CTR. It was also tested on the FV432 Armoured Personnel Carrier (FV432 APC) – Photo: Ed Francis

Chieftain Casement Test Rig prototype without the gun fitted

Top view of the crew hatches and engine covers on the Chieftain CTR self-propelled gun

WW2 German SPG Prototypes

Raupenschlepper Ost Artillery SPG

Post author By Craig Moore
Post date March 11, 2017
7 Comments on Raupenschlepper Ost Artillery SPG

German Reich (1943-1944)
Self-Propelled Gun – 4 Prototypes Built

Weapon Carrier or SPG?

The German’s experimented with transporting and mounting a number of different guns on the back of the Raupenschlepper Ost light ‘prime mover’ tracked vehicle. The name Raupenschlepper Ost is translated to “Caterpillar Tractor East”. It is commonly abbreviated to just RSO.
The prototypes were shown to the army. The Raupenschlepper Ost 7.5 cm Pak 40 tank destroyer self-propelled gun went into production. Between 80 and 90 were produced. Most saw action on the Eastern Front. A version of the RSO that carried a 2cm Flak38 anti-aircraft gun mounted to the floor of the rear wooden cargo bay also saw service.
At present no documentation has been found relating to the mounting and carrying of artillery guns on the back of the Raupenschlepper Ost even though there are surviving photographs of four different prototypes: the 7.5 cm GebH 36 auf RSO/3; 7.5 cm Gebh 34 auf RSG; 10.5 cm GebH 40 auf RSO/1 and 15 cm sIG 33 auf RSO/3.
It is not clear if these prototypes were going to be used as a Waffenträger weapon carrier or as a Selbstfahrlafette Geschuetzwagen, a self-propelled artillery gun.

This is why a weapons carrier was a good idea. Towed guns could become waterlogged and covered in mud.
If they were used as a Waffenträger then how was the gun dismounted? There is photographic evidence that the guns were loaded on the vehicle by a winch attached to a freestanding metal frame on a hard surface. Another photograph shows a Raupenschlepper Ost reversed back towards an earthen ramp so the gun could be pushed onto the back of the vehicle.
On a battlefield, it would be difficult to build a ramp quickly or make sure there was a hard surface for a winch and frame to be constructed on to enable the guns to be unloaded. The guns were heavy and if the load bearing frame was put together on soft earth its legs would sink into the ground under the weight.
If these prototype vehicles were intended to be used as a Selbstfahrlafette Geschuetzwagen, or self-propelled artillery guns, the problem the engineers would have to overcome was the recoil.
With the artillery gun mounted in the back of the vehicle, they were very top heavy and had a high center of gravity. There was a danger that the RSO would topple over.
It can be theorized that two of the prototypes were intended to be used as artillery SPGs but tests showed the RSO chassis was not strong enough to take the gun recoil so they were never put into production. This is supported by the fact that on the photographs of the 7.5 cm GebG 36 auf RSO/03 the side panels are down and it can be seen that the gun wheels had been clamped to the deck of the vehicle and the gun ‘tails’ had been shortened. The 7.5 cm Gebirgshaubitze 34 auf Gebirgsraupenschlepper (RSG) also carried a similar sized howitzer.

7.5 cm GebG 36 auf RSO/3
The other two prototypes seen in photographs are carrying much bigger 10.5cm and 15cm howitzers. There is no evidence that these guns were bolted to the wooden cargo bay of the RSO tracked vehicle so that it could be fired. The gun’s split trail legs had not been modified to fit the length of the vehicle. They protrude out the back and the rear ‘spades’ are carried in the back of the vehicle for use when the gun is set up on land again. The RSO tracked vehicle is being used as a Waffenträger weapon carrier in these examples.

The Raupenschlepper Ost RSO tracked vehicle

The RSO light ‘prime mover’ tracked vehicle had a very basic suspension design with all steel wheels and just four small leaf springs. This made it cheap and easy to produce. It had high ground clearance and excellent performance in poor terrain. It was a tracked version of the Steyr 1½-tonne truck. It could carry a 1,500 kg (3,307 lb) load in its cargo bay.
The Steyr-Daimler-Puch manufacturing company designed the Raupenschlepper Ost (RSO) to be used to tow field guns and transport supplies over rough ground in muddy waterlogged and snowy conditions. They were in production between October 1943 and May 1944: Steyr-Daimler-Puch produced 2,600 vehicles; Klockner-Deutz-Magirus (KHD) manufactured 12,500; Auto-Union made a further 5,600 and Graf & Stift constructed 4,500 RSOs. They were used extensively on the Eastern Front.
There were four main variants. The RSO/01, RSO/02 and RSO/PaK40 were powered by a 3.5L Steyr V8 gasoline/petrol 70hp engine. The RSO/03 had a better performing Deutz F4L514 5.3L 4-cylinder air-cooled diesel engine although produced lower horsepower at 66hp.

RSO/01 towing a field gun
The RSO/1 had a fully enclosed pressed steel rounded cab with a wooden rear cargo bay. The RSO/2 had a flat sided metal cab. The RSO/3 was manufactured by KHD at their Magirus Factory and had a simplified slab-sided metal cab. The RSO/PaK40 had a lightly armored low profile steel cab to enable the 7.5cm PaK40 anti-tank gun mounted on the rear flat rear bed wooden cargo bay to fire forward.

RSO/3 fully tracked artillery prime mover

7.5 cm Gebirgshaubitze 36 auf Raupenschlepper Ost (RSO/3)

To mount the 7.5cm Gebirgsgeschütz 36 (7.5 cm GebG 36) light mountain howitzer on the back of the Raupenschlepper Ost tracked vehicle cargo bay the spades at the end of the split trail legs were removed. The legs were also cut down in length to allow the back tail gate to be raised. The wheels were bolted to the wooden floor in a special semi-circular frame. This gun was meant to be fired from the back of the RSO. It could no longer be dismounted and fired from the ground without having new split trail legs fitted. It could not function as a Waffenträger weapon carrier. It was a Selbstfahrlafette Geschuetzwagen, a self-propelled artillery gun prototype.

7.5cm Gebirgsgeschütz 36 (7.5 cm GebG 36) light mountain howitzer mounted on the rear of an RSO/3
The gun was built by Rheinmetall to replace the World War One mountain divisions (Gebirgs Divisionen) guns. Between 1938 and 1945, records show 1,193 were built. It was a standard German horizontal sliding breech block gun with a muzzle brake. It used a variable recoil system that shortened the recoil as the elevation increased to stop the gun breach hitting the ground. Rear trunnions were added to lengthen the distance between the breech and the ground. The recoil mechanism was hydropneumatic, with both buffer and recuperator positioned below the barrel.
To keep the weight down the gun was fitted with light-alloy disc wheels with rubber rims. No protective gun shield was fitted to save weight. It weighed 750 kg (1,650 lb) so it was within the cargo weight limit of the RSO.
When used on the ground, the 7.5 cm GebG 36 would jump when fired at low angles, because of its lightness. The strength of the recoil would force the gun’s trail spades to act as a fulcrum and lever the wheels upwards. The shell canister bag charge 5, the largest propellant increment, was forbidden to be used at near horizontal angles under 15° because the gun would jump excessively. When the gun was fired at higher angles it performed better as the ground absorbed any residual recoil forces not absorbed by the recoil system. On the back of the RSO the vehicles suspension, tracks and the ground had to absorb the force of the recoil from the gun.
The 7.5cm Gebirgsgeschütz 36 mountain howitzer used two-part ammunition, with four bag charges of propellant that were added together depending on the range of the target. A larger 5th charge bag was used on its own when the target was at the limit of the howitzers maximum range. It fired a high explosive HE 5.83 kilograms (12.9 lb) shell that had a maximum range of 9.25 km (10,120 yards). It could also fire smoke shells and in an emergency a hollow charge armor piercing AP rounds at short range. A good gun crew was able to produce a rate of fire of six to eight rounds per minute.
This mountain gun could be broken down into six separate parts, each having a maximum weight of 300 pounds. This ability enabled the weapon to be easily transported by pack animals or in an airplane.
The gun’s 56-inch barrel was of a monobloc construction. To enable larger more powerful charges to be used and to increase the range of the gun without damaging the gun barrel, it was fitted with a perforated, six-baffled muzzle brake.

7.5 cm GebH 36 auf Gebirgsraupenschlepper (RSG)

Gebirgsraupenschlepper (RSG) with a 7.5 cm Gebirgshaubitze 34 mountain howitzer mounted on its rear cargo bay next to a RSO/3 tracked vehicle.
This photograph shows the smaller Steyr made Gebirgsraupenschlepper (RSG) mountain troop tracked vehicle next to the larger Raupenschlepper Ost (RSO/3) vehicle. There is a 7.5 cm Gebirgshaubitze (GebH) mountain howitzer mounted on the back of the RSG. Only one photograph has been found so far of this prototype artillery self-propelled gun. The photograph below has been enlarged and edited.
The problem is that the caption that went along with this photo identified the gun on the back as a captured Belgian army Swedish-built Bofors 75 mm Model 1934 mountain gun (Canon de 75 mle 1934). It was recorded as a 7.5 cm Gebirgshaubitze 34 auf RSG, but this gun was not fitted with a circular perforated muzzle brake.
It can be theorized that the howitzer on the back is the same gun used on the 7.5 cm Gebirgshaubitze 36 auf Raupenschlepper Ost which does have a circular perforated muzzle brake. Just like on the other vehicle, it would have had its split tail legs cut to fit the length of the wooden cargo bay and the wheels clamped to the floor so that the gun could be fired from the back of the vehicle.

7.5 cm Gebirgshaubitze 34 auf Gebirgsraupenschlepper (RSG)

RSG – Gebirgsraupenschlepper – Caterpillar Tractor for Mountain Troops – Vienna Military Museum

Illustration of the sIG33 auf Raupenschlepper Ost conversion by David Bocquelet

10.5 cm Gebirgshaubitze 40 mountain howitzer on the back of a Raupenschlepper Ost (RSO/1)

7.5 cm Gebirgsgeschütz 36 German mountain howitzer

10.5 cm GebH 40 howitzer – Photo – Yuri Pasholok

The 15 cm sIG 33 (schweres Infanterie Geschütz 33) was the standard German heavy infantry gun used in the Second World War – unknown modeler

10.5 cm Gebirgshaubitze 40 auf Raupenschlepper Ost (RSO/1)

There is a poor quality photograph showing a 10.5 cm Gebirgshaubitze 40 (10.5 cm GebH 40) mountain howitzer on the back of a Raupenschlepper Ost (RSO/1).
In the picture, it looks like the vehicle has been backed up to ramp of earth. There appear to be wooden planks spanning the gap between the top of the earth mound and the back of the RSO/1. Its tail gate is hinged down and so are the wooden side panels. These wooden planks would have been used to enable the gun to be pushed onto the back of the vehicle.
RSO mit 10.5 cm GebH 40
10.5 cm GebH 40 auf RSO
Unlike on the photographs of the 7.5 cm Gebirgshaubitze 36 auf Raupenschlepper Ost (RSO/3), there is no visible evidence that the larger 10.5cm GebH 40 gun had been fixed to the wooden floor of the cargo bay. The split trail legs had not been cut and shortened. They projected over the rear of the vehicle.
There was no special semi-circular locking wheel frame in use. The spades that were normally fitted to the end of the split trail legs had not been attached. Their triangular shape can be seen at the back of the gun.
Was this photograph taken of an early live firing trial to see if the RSO/1 could take the gun recoil or just to see if it could take the weight of the gun? It is not known, as no documents have been found so far.
In the other surviving photographs the gun is seen on the back of the RSO/1 with the wooden side panels in the up position, the split trail legs sticking out the back and the tail spades loaded on the rear with the tail gate panel in the down position.

10.5 cm GebH 40 mountain howitzer on the back of a Raupenschlepper Ost (RSO/1)
The RSO/1 tracked vehicle has the manufacturing company’s name and logo on the side. This is a factory vehicle, not one that has been sold to the army. It is safe to assume that it is the company, Steyr-Daimler-Puch, who was experimenting with showing that the 10.5cm GebH 40 mountain howitzer can be transported on the back of their vehicle.

10.5 cm Gebirgshaubitze 40 (10.5 cm GebH 40) carried on the rear of an RSO/03.
In these three, better quality photographs it looks like a frame and winch had been used to lift the gun onto the back of the RSO/1. These photographs would suggest that this vehicle was being used as a Waffenträger weapon carrier. At present, there is no evidence to suggest the vehicle was used as a Selbstfahrlafette Geschuetzwagen, a self-propelled artillery gun, and fired from the back of the cargo bay, as there are no visible mountings or fixings to secure the gun to the vehicle.

10.5cm Gebirgshaubitze 40 mountain howitzer being loaded on the back of an RSO/1 by winch and frame
There only appears to be photographs of a 10.5 cm Gebirgshaubitze 40 mountain howitzer on the back of one RSO tracked vehicle. It is highly unlikely that the experiment was a success as the weight of the gun exceeded the designed load weight of the vehicle. The gun weighed 1,660 kg (3,660 lb) and the RSO’s load weight limit was 1.500 kg (3,307 lb). The RSO’s center of gravity would have been significantly raised. Both these things would have made the vehicle tricky to drive.

15 cm sIG 33 auf Raupenschlepper Ost (RSO/3)

15 cm sIG 33 auf RSO-03
15 cm sIG 33 auf Raupenschlepper Ost (RSO/3)
There is only one photograph currently available of a 15 cm sIG 33 (schweres Infanterie Geschütz 33), the standard German heavy infantry gun in WW2, loaded on the back of a Raupenschlepper Ost (RSO/3) tracked vehicle. The split trail legs can be seen sticking out the back of the vehicle. There had been no attempt to cut them to fit the length of the RSO/3’s wooden cargo bay.
This was not a test to see if the 15 cm sIG 33 howitzer could be fired from the back of the vehicle. The gun was too big and the RSO/3 would not have been able to handle the violent recoil. This vehicle was not a German Selbstfahrlafette Geschuetzwagen, a self-propelled artillery gun. It was almost assuredly a trial to see if the gun could be carried on the back of the RSO/3.
The experiment most likely failed, as the weight of the gun exceeded the designed load weight of the vehicle. The gun weighed 1,800 kg (4,000 lb) and the RSO’s load weight limit was 1.500 kg (3,307 lb). The RSO’s center of gravity would have been significantly raised. Both these things would have made the vehicle sluggish and difficult to maneuver. The RSO/3 was not a suitable vehicle to be a Waffenträger weapon carrier for the 15 cm sIG 33 howitzer.

Conclusion

The most plausible theory is that the Steyr-Daimler-Puch manufacturing company wanted to win a lucrative German government contract to build self-propelled artillery guns using their cheap to produce Raupenschlepper Ost light tracked vehicle and RSG. They exhibited four prototype vehicles that had different artillery howitzers mounted on the back to the government inspectors.
Two of the guns used were too big for the RSO tractor. The 7.5cm mountain howitzer was light enough and could be mounted to the floor of the wooden cargo bay at the rear of the RSO and RSG vehicles. These prototypes seemed viable as artillery SPGs.
At the time there was competition from other vehicle and arms manufacturers who wanted to win the same contract. Their designs used sturdier German tank chassis or captured enemy armored fighting vehicles on which to mount artillery guns. They won the contract, not Steyr-Daimler-Puch.

An article by Craig Moore

Specifications
Dimensions (L-W-H)	7.19 m x 3 m x 2.87 m (14ft 6in x 6ft 6in x 8ft 6in)
Total weight unladen	7,728 lb (3,505 kg)
Armament	7.5cm Gebirgsgeschütz 36
Track width	13 inch/24 inch with snow plates (33/61 cm)
RSO/1-2 Propulsion	3.5L Steyr V8 gasoline/petrol 70hp engine
RSO/3 Propulsion	Deutz F4L514 5.3L 4-cylinder air cooled diesel engine 66hp
Fording depth	34 inches
Top road speed	30 km/h (18 mph)
Operational range (road)	300 km (155 miles)

Sources

U.S. Office of Chief of Ordnance, 1945 Catalog of Enemy Ordnance
Weapons of the Thrid Reich by Gander and Chamberlin
German Artillery of World War Two by Ian Hogg
Marcus Hock

Germans Tanks of ww2

German Self-Propelled Artillery Guns of the Second World War

By Craig Moore

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WW2 Canadian Prototypes

Tank AA, 20 mm Quad, Skink

Post author By Craig Moore
Post date March 5, 2017
10 Comments on Tank AA, 20 mm Quad, Skink

Dominion of Canada (1944)
SPAAG – Approximately 3 Built

A Canadian SPAAG

Canadian, British and other Commonwealth troops needed protection from air attack from low flying aircraft. This Canadian built SPAAG (Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun) could provide that support. The Skink could also be used to attack enemy ground targets such as soft transport and lightly armored vehicles. The original program called for production of 135 complete Skink Anti-aircraft Grizzly Tanks for the use of the Canadian Army and an additional 130 Skink Anti-Aircraft Grizzly Tanks to meet British requirements.

Skink Anti-Aircraft Grizzly Tank (TKC No. SKC 1001 – DND No. 62-727)
The Skink was officially designated the Tank A.A. 20mm Quad. Skink. It was based on a modified Canadian built Grizzly 1 medium tank, a license built M4A1 Sherman tank. It had a modified M4A1 cast turret designed to mount four 20mm Polsten machine guns instead of the standard 75mm main gun and coaxial machine gun.
It was originally designed with Hispano-Suiza guns but the 20mm Polsten cannons were found to be the better option as there were more available. The Hispano-Suiza guns were in high demand for anti-aircraft mounts on Royal Navy ships and for use on RAF airfields. They fired High Explosive Incendiary Tracer (HEIT) rounds as well as Armor Piercing Rounds.
Plans were prepared and a mock-up of this specially designed turret was built at the end of 1943. Specification OA 283 of the final design was issued at the beginning of 1944, and one pilot vehicle was shipped to England.
Allied air supremacy in North West Europe meant that there was no longer any need for this type of vehicle. On 23rd August 1944, the Canadian Department of Munitions and Supply was advised by the Department of National Defence that the program should be cancelled. Only three tanks were produced.
The main difference between Skink and Grizzly tank turrets, apart from the obvious, is that the turret traverse motors were in effect doubled up to increase the speed of the traverse to enable the gunners to follow the enemy aircraft as they zoomed across the sky. The enclosed turret could traverse at 60-degrees per second, a 10-rpm traverse rate.

The Grizzly Tanks

An M4 Grizzly tank was first produced in Canada in August 1943. The 188 tanks were built using US spare parts at the Montreal Locomotives Factory on the M4A1 chassis. It was fitted with the standard M4A1 turret. Grizzly production was halted when it became apparent that US production of the Sherman tank would be sufficient.
The Grizzly’s suspension used 17-tooth drive sprockets and standard US M4 tracks. In comparison, the US built M4 Sherman tank used 13 tooth drive sprockets. In the 1950’s surviving vehicles were fitted with Canadian Dry Pin (CDP) tracks. These tracks were lighter and simpler than the standard US tracks.

Diagram or the Skink Anti-Aircraft Grizzly Tank turret with hatches open (Skink TM manual)

The 20mm Polsten Gun (Skink TM manual)

When Germany invaded Poland in 1939 the Polsten design team managed to escape to England. The Polsten 20mm automatic loading cannon was a low cost development of the Swiss made 20mm Oerlikon auto-cannon, that was simpler and much cheaper to build than the original without reducing its effectiveness. The Oerlikon version of the gun was made out of 250 parts: the Polsten was only constructed out of 119 parts. It cost 1/5th of the price to produce.
The Canadian weapons manufacturer John Inglis Limited of Toronto, Ontario manufactured thousands of the 20mm Polsten guns. Over 500 of these weapons were quadruple mounted and saw limited service at the end of WW2. These quadruple racks of 20mm guns were both trailered and truck mounted. Others were fitted in a rack of three for anti-aircraft duty.
They fired High Explosive Incendiary Tracer (HEIT) rounds as well as Armor Piercing rounds. The Polsten 30 round box type magazine was not suitable for use in a quad mount. The 60 round Oerlikon Mk2 drum magazine was used, which weighed 64lb when filled with ammunition. Each 20mm round weighed about half a pound.

The tank version of the quad mounted 20mm Polsten gun used the 60 round drum magazine not the 30 round rectangular magazine. (Skink TM manual)
The 20mm Polsten gun had a rate of fire of 450 rounds per minute and an effective ceiling of 6,630 feet. Its muzzle velocity was 2,725 feet per second. The gun was 84 inches long and the barrel was 57 inches long. The gun weighed 126lb (57kg).

20mm Polsten Gun mounts viewed from the left-hand side (Skink TM manual)

Specifications
Dimensions L-W-H	20’4” x 8’9” x 9’4” (6.19 x 2.66 x 2.84 m)
Total weight, battle ready	28 tonnes (63,100 lbs)
Crew	5 (commander, driver, co-driver/machine-gunner, gunner, loader)
Propulsion	Continental R-975 9-cyl radial petrol/gasoline, 400 hp (298 kW)
Maximum road speed	39 km/h (24 mph)
Suspension	Vertical Volute Springs (VVSS)
Range	193 km (122 miles)
Armament	4x 20mm Polsten Mk 1 cannons .303 cal. (7.69 mm) Browning machine gun
Upper Hull Armor	Front 3 inch Rear 1-1/4 inch Sides 1-1/3 inch Top 1-1/2 inch
Lower Hull Armor	Front 1/2-1 inch Rear 1-1/2 inch Sides 1-1/2 inch
Cast Turret Armor	Front 2-1/4 inch Rear 1 inch Sides 1-2 inch Top 1 inch
Total production	3

The Skink self propelled anti-aircraft gun. It was based on the Grizzly tank, a Canadian version of the Sherman. Illustration by Jaroslaw Janas

Gallery

Skink Anti-aircraft Grizzly Tank side view (TKC No. SKC 1001 – DND No. 62-727)

Operational Service

One of the three Skink Anti-aircraft Grizzly Tank prototypes was shipped to Europe in 1945. It was issued to the 6th Canadian Armoured regiment (6CAR/1st Hussars and saw action in an infantry support role near Kalkar. It was then passed to the 22nd Canadian Armoured Regiment (22CAR/Canadian Grenadier Guards) in the Battle of Hochwald gap.
In late 1944, the Allies dominated the sky above the battlefields, so the requirement for an armored tracked anti-aircraft tank to accompany Armoured Divisions as they advanced towards and later into Germany had significantly been reduced.
There is photographic evidence that at least one Skink was converted into a turret-less Kangaroo armored personnel carrier (APC) and ended up in Portugal. In the photograph shown below the splash guards on the glacis between the drivers hoods and the catches outside of the drivers sides have been altered to allow the driver and co driver hoods to fold flat. This was unique to the Skink Anti-Aircraft version of the Grizzly tank. Unfortunately, this historic vehicle was cut up for scrap metal. The Canadian Government and RCAC were informed about its location prior to it being scrapped but they were not interested in buying it back so it was lost for ever.

Skink Anti-aircraft Grizzly Tank chassis converted to a Kangaroo APC. Note the splash guards on the glacis between the driver’s hoods and the catches outside of the driver’s sides have been altered to allow the driver and co driver hoods to fold flat This was unique to the Skink Anti-Aircraft version of the Grizzly tank. (Photo – Luis Costa)
The third Skink Anti-aircraft 20mm Polsten tank stayed in Canada. After the war it was on display at the Dennison Armouries in Toronto, Canada. It is not known at present what its final fate was. It may have been used as a ‘hard target’ on firing ranges or just cut up for scrap. It is believed that there were another 6-8 Skink cast turrets in various states of finish, made before the order was canceled in August 1944. It is believed than most of them went to ranges to be used as targets.

Skink Anti-aircraft Grizzly Tank DND Number 62-728 (WD Number CT163962) on display at the Dennison Armouries, Toronto, Canada 1946

Sources

Steve Osfield
Canadian RCAC Skink TM Manual
“Ironsides”: Canadian Armoured Fighting Vehicle Museums and Monuments by Harold Skaarup
Blueprint for Victory, from 1981. by William Gregg.
M4 on Wikipedia
Grizzly Wikipedia

WW2 German SPGs

Hummel-Wespe 10.5 cm SPG

German Reich (1944)
SPG – 12+ Built

The 10.5cm Hummel-Wespe Artillery SPG

There is only one known photograph of a Hummel self-propelled gun (SPG) chassis and body fitted with an artillery 10.5cm le.F.H. 18/40 L/28 howitzer rather than the normal 15cm s.FH 18/1 L/30 howitzer. It was officially called the Hummel-Wespe. This name was used on the Stahlindustrie construction company’s documentation. It was also known as the 10.5cm le.F.H. 18/40 (Sf) auf Geschützwagen III/IV, or LeichtPanzerhaubitzen (lePzHaub – light armoured howitzer) or the the Ersatz-Wespe (Replacement Wasp). The photograph was taken after World War Two during the winter of 1945/46 at Košťaty near Teplice, Czechoslovakia, close to the factory that assembled the vehicle.

Hummel-Wespe 10.5 cm le.F.H 18 Artillerie Selbstfahrlafetten (Artillery SPG) – Photo: Petr Dolezal and Marek Solar
The Hummel SPG used an extended tank chassis called the Geschützwagen III/IV to mount the 15cm s.FH 18/1 L/30 howitzer. The engine was moved from the rear of the tank to the center of the vehicle to make room for the gun and the armored fighting compartment at the back of the SPG.
The 10.5cm leFH 18/2 (Sf) auf Geschützwagen II ‘Wespe’ (Sd.Kfz.124) artillery SPG used a Panzer II tank chassis. Production began in February 1943 and ceased in June 1944, when the main factory in Warsaw, Poland was captured by the Red Army. The German Army Panzer-Artillerie batteries still needed more self-propelled guns that could keep up with the Panzer Divisions, fitted with 10.5cm le.F.H. 18/40 howitzers.
The Geschützwagen III/IV was still in production and being used for the Nashorn 88mm anti-tank self-propelled gun as well as the 15cm Hummel SPG. A decision was made to mount the 10.5cm le.F.H. 18 howitzers gun used on the Wespe SPG onto the Geschützwagen III/IV chassis.
The German armaments company Deutsche Eisenwerke (D.E.W) were constructing Geschützwagen III/IV chassis at their assembly plant in Duisburg, Germany. Allied bombing was making production difficult. It was moved to the D.E.W plant Werke (Deutsche Eisenwerke AG Werk) Teplitz-Schönau in Czechoslovakia (now known as Teplice, Czech Republic). The building of armored vehicles for the German Army continued until the end of the war in May 1945.
Plans to fit a 10.5 cm Le.F.H 18/40 light field howitzer to the s.Pz.Haubitze Fahrgestell extended and modified Panzer III/IV tank chassis, as a stop-gap solution to send more 10.5 cm artillery SPGs on the battlefield, were discussed in a meeting on 2nd December 1944. The factory was expected to produce 40 in February, 50 in March and 80 in April. A further report documents the demand for a further 250 to be built in June 1945. That report was dated 9th January 1945.
A Stahlindustrie report dated 30th of August 1945 stated that one Hummel-Wespe artillery SPG had been built in December 1944, a further 9 in January 1945 and a further one before the end of the war, bringing the total to eleven. No German Army documents have been found that show these vehicles entering operational service or being used on the battlefield.

The anti-grenade screen

Another unusual feature visible in the photo of the Hummel/Wespe is the hand grenade protection screen that was added over the open fighting compartment on a metal hinged frame.

This is a photograph of an early version Hummel, not a Hummel/Wespe. It is fitted with the same wire mesh top screen to prevent grenades and mines from being thrown into the fighting compartment. Notice the large exhaust muffler/silencer box under the rear hatches. It was removed on the later version of the Geschützwagen III/IV chassis that was used on the 10.5 cm le.F.H. 18/40 Hummel-Wespe artillery SPG.

Proposed production figures – German Archives

A GenArt (General der Artillerie) report dated 11 December 1944, kept in the German Archives, reports that documentation for the 10.5 cm Hummel-Wespe design had been signed and a production order for 250 units for delivery in June 1945 issued.Production was to start in February 5. It was intended that 80 vehicles would be completed each month.
On 10 February 1945 the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKH – Supreme Command of the German Armed Forces) issued the following instructions, ” “Due to the drop in light field howitzer (LeFH) production, delivery of the 250 le Panzerhaubitze auf Fahrgestell Hummel is no longer anticipate. Instead of the 80 lePzHaub scheduled for February only 10 will be completed, followed by another 20 in March. To compensate, production of Panzerhaubitzen will proceed as follows.”
“In parallel with the highest possible output of lePzHaub, some 50 sPzHaub (15 cm sFH Hummel SPGS) will be produced. The available 80 sFH guns from the Hummel production wil be mounted on Beutelafetten (captured gun mounts). Production of lePzHaub (the 10.5 cm leFH Hummel-Wespe) will be fixed at 200 and not 250 units.”
Due to the end of the war being close, the continued bombing of German factories and supply routes, this production figure was never meet.

Proposed production figures – Russian Archives

A German document was captured by the Red Army. It showed predicted production numbers of vehicles like the Jagdpanther, Jagdtiger, Flakpanzer, Hummel and Hummel-Wespe from March 1945 to August 1945. It was translated by Senior Lieutenant Rubinshtein into Russian and kept in the Soviet archives.
On line 345, it shows that planned production of the heavily armed howitzer, the Hummel, was for 50 vehicles: 20 in March and 10 in April, May, June 1945 with production stopping in July. On line 346, it shows that planned production of the light armed howitzer, the Hummel-Wespe, was for 190 vehicles: 20 in March and 30 in April, May, June and 40 in July, August 1945.
There was a side note that an additional 10-20 new type Hummel/Wespe would be added to the number on April and May. This would have brought the planned production numbers of the 10.5cm Hummel-Wespe Artillery SPG to 220 vehicles by August 1945. Obviously, that did not happen as the war ended in May 1945.

Czechoslovakian Army 1948-54

Surviving Hummel-Wespe artillery self-propelled guns were used by the Czechoslovakian Army after WW2. They had twelve, but only eight vehicles underwent renovation and entered service in 1948. Between 1948-1949 they were officially called “Samohybné děla so 105 mm húfnicou”. Between 1949-1954 the official designation in army records changed to “105 mm samohybná húfnica vz.18/40”. They were withdrawn from Army service in 1954 and presumably scrapped. (Source – Vojenská história 4/2009 ISSN 1335-3314, VHÚ Bratislava)
Czechoslovakian Army records recorded the original German production chassis number (Fgst.Nr) of the eight Hummel-Wespe artillery SPGs that entered their service.
German Fahrgestellnummer 84407, date in service 4th May 1949,
Battery number R114, army registration number 79.651
German Fahrgestellnummer 84412, date in service 4th May 1949,
Battery number R107, army registration number 79.652
German Fahrgestellnummer 340003, date in service 4th May 1949,
Battery number R108, army registration number 79.653
German Fahrgestellnummer 84410, date in service 4th May 1949,
Battery number R3397, army registration number 79.654
German Fahrgestellnummer 84422, date in service 20th October 1949,
Battery number R113, army registration number 79.655
German Fahrgestellnummer 84419, date in service 20th October 1949,
Battery number R109, army registration number 79.656
German Fahrgestellnummer 84420, date in service 20th October 1949,
Battery number R106, army registration number 79.657
German Fahrgestellnummer 84421, date in service 20th October 1949,
Tactical unit number R105, army registration number 79.658

The German self-propelled howitzers

The full designation of this self-propelled artillery gun was Panzerfeldhaubitze 18M auf Geschützwagen III/IV (Sf) Hummel, Sd.Kfz.165. The German word ‘Hummel’ means bumblebee. This armored fighting vehicle had a nasty sting. There were two main types of self-propelled guns in the German Army during WW2. One was fitted with an anti-tank gun and the other with an artillery howitzer, like the Hummel. A vehicle fitted with an artillery field howitzer was called a ‘Geschüetzwagen’, which is literally translated as a ‘gun vehicle’. The letters ‘Sf’ stand for ‘Selbstfahrlafette’ – self-propelled carriage. ‘Panzerfeldhaubitze’ means armored field howitzer.
Self-propelled artillery guns were developed to enable fast moving attacks to have artillery support that could keep up with the speed of advancing Panzer Divisions. They could use direct fire mode at targets they could see or, more commonly, use indirect fire at targets plotted on a map.
They were not designed to be in the front line or engage in combat with tanks. They were motorized artillery guns that could fire high explosive HE shells over the heads of friendly troops. Most targets would have been given to the crew as map grid references by forward observation officers or infantry units under attack.
Quite often, the gun crews could not see where their shells landed, as the target was so far away. They would have to rely on the forward observer to tell them if adjustments had to be made.
The open-topped back design of these self-propelled guns had a number of advantages. The elevated commander’s position when standing in the crew compartment, behind the protective armored shield, meant that he had a good view on all sides. If there was the threat of enemy small arms fire, then the crew could use a twin lens range finder telescope that could peak over the top of the armored casement.
There was enough room for the crew to be transported towards the battlefield whilst protected from small arms fire and shell shrapnel. The vehicle had good mobility and could follow the infantry almost anywhere. The gun was quicker to get ready for action and fire on targets than towed artillery guns.
Putting the 10.5 cm le.F.H. 18/40 howitzer on top of a tank chassis was a more efficient use of manpower from the traditional form of German artillery battery transportation. Even in WW2, horse power was still widely used although tracked vehicles were also employed when available. Each field gun would require a six-horse team to pull the gun and limber. The ammunition, supplies and kit would be kept in the limber, which was a very large box on a pair of wheels with seats on the top. Three men would ride on the left-hand horse of each pair to control them. The remaining six men of the gun crew would ride on top of the limber. Only a relative few were towed by the 3-ton halftracks.
High explosive HE shells came in two parts. The explosive shell was loaded first, followed by the variable charge canister. This meant that the Hummel/Wespe could only carry 18 rounds of HE. It could fire armor-piercing AP rounds but they were only effective at short ranges and used in self defense. The Hummel/Wespe was not meant to be on the battlefield front line. It was a support vehicle that provided artillery support from behind the infantry and tanks.

The Geschützwagen III/IV chassis

The powerful 10.5 cm le.F.H. 18/40 light field howitzer was mounted on a specially designed Alkett/Rheinmetall-Borsig lengthened German tank chassis called the Geschützwagen III/IV. Components were adopted from both the Panzer III and Panzer IV tank chassis. The more robust final drive wheels, front drive wheels and steering units plus the Zahnradfabrik SSG 77 transmission gearbox were adopted from the Panzer III Ausf.J.
The Maybach HL 120 TRM engine with its cooling system, the suspension, and idler with track tension adjustment were adopted from the Panzer IV. The engine was moved from the rear of the tank to the center of the vehicle to make room for the gun and the armored fighting compartment at the back of the SPG.
On early versions of the Geschützwagen III/IV chassis, the front top of the hull had sloping armor with a raised armored compartment for the driver on the left of the vehicle. The front hull superstructure and driver’s armored compartment were redesigned in early 1944 and enlarged, covering the whole width of the vehicle. The radio operator and driver now had more space to work in. This design was used on all Hummel/Wespe artillery SPGs.
The exhaust system was also changed on the later model. It was moved from the original location below the rear double doors. The exhaust mufflers were dropped and the ends of the exhaust pipes were cut at a slant away from the tracks to avoid stirring up additional dust.
The Geschützwagen III/IV tank chassis did not have a hull mounted machine gun. Crews were issued with a single MG34 or MG42 machine gun, carried inside the fighting compartment, for self-defense.
The Hummel/Wespe was designed to be operated by a crew of six: commander, driver and four gunners. They were protected by an enclosed high silhouette armored fighting compartment. Although it was open topped, the crew were issued with a thick canvas tarpaulin cover that could be used in bad weather.
In front of the driver, a metal wire grid was fixed into position to aid the driver maneuvering the vehicle in the correct fire position. These were designed to prevent grenades and mines being thrown into the vehicle as it moved through towns and cities.
A metal louvered cover ventilated the engine, but many later versions were fitted with an angled shield that opened upward. On the photograph of the Hummel/Wespe the metal louvered engine vent can not be seen on the sides of the vehicle. It looks like it has been fitted with one of the armored angled shields.
Three aiming stake poles would have been carried in brackets below the rear door. The gunner would use a large ZE 34 sight. The top lens aperture would point to the rear of the vehicle. The gunner used this aperture of the sight to locate the aiming sticks that a member of the crew had pounded into the ground at the rear at a known bearing from the vehicle, having used a compass (compasses did not work inside a metal vehicle in 1943). By lining up the red and white fire aiming stake, subtracting 180 degrees, he would be able to work out the correct bearing the gun barrel is pointing towards.
The upper fighting compartment superstructure walls were constructed using 10 mm (0.39 in) thick E11 chrome-silicon armor plates hardened to 153 kg/mm2 for protection against shell fragments. The 30 mm (1.18 in) thick front hull was made using face-hardened FA32 armor plates. The rest of the hull was made out of cheaper rolled SM-Stahl (carbon steel) that was hardened to 75-90 kg/mm2. It took 20 mm (0.78 in) thick plates of SM-Stahl to provide equivalent protection against penetration by SmK (7.92 mm AP bullets) as 14.5 mm (0.57 in) of E11 armor plate.
The early Geschützwagen III/IV chassis used the standard 1943 38cm wide SK18 track that had three smooth metal pads visible on the front face of the track. In winter some vehicles were fitted with track width extenders called Winterketten (winter track). These triangular pieces of metal were bolted onto the outer edge of the track to extend the width of the track and help the vehicle move across snow and mud by spreading the load over a larger area. They were problematic: they fractured and often fell off. In 1944, vehicles started to be fitted with the wider Ostketten (east track) to cope with the conditions found on the Eastern Front. The Winterketten extensions made the SK18 tank track 55cm wide. The one-piece Ostketten was 56cm wide and did not have bits falling off it.

The Hummel-Wespe – Illustration by David Bocquelet

A regular Hummel SPG with the wire mesh protective cover

A Wespe SPG with its 10.5 cm gun.

A model of the 10.5cm Hummel-Wespe SPG made by Danis Stamatiadis

Hummel-Wespe artists impression of the SPG on the Eastern Front battlefield during 1945 (Art work – Cyber-Hobby)

The Hummel-Wespe 10.5 cm SPG had the louvered engine vents protected by an armored shaped cover (Photo – Cyber-Hobby)

The front hull superstructure and driver’s armored compartment were redesigned in early 1944 and enlarged, covering the whole width of the vehicle. The radio operator and driver now had more space to work in. (Photo – Cyber-Hobby)

The rear exhaust system was removed on the Hummel-Wespe SPG. The three aiming stake poles were stored below the rear hatch doors. (Photo – Cyber-Hobby)

Fighting compartment of the 10.5 cm le.F.H 18 Hummel-Wespe SPG. (Photo – Cyber-Hobby)

The 10.5 cm le.F.H. 18 light field howitzer

German Army 10.5 cm le.F.H. 18 light field howitzer on display at the Finnish Artillery Museum, Finland
The 105 mm (4.13 in) high explosive HE shell weighed 14.81 kg (32.7 lb). The armor piercing shell weighed 14.25 kg (31.4lb). It had a muzzle velocity of 470 m/s (1,542 ft/s) and a maximum firing range of 10,675 m (11,675 yds). With a good gun crew, it had a rate of fire between 4-6 rounds per minute.
The 10.5cm leichte Feld Haubitze 18 gun was not very useful in the direct-fire mode against enemy armored vehicles. It could only penetrate 52 mm (2 in) of armor plate at a very short range of 500 meters.
The high explosive shell was in two pieces. It was a ‘separate loading’ or two part round. First, the high explosive HE projectile would be loaded and then the cartridge propellant case. Depending on the range of the target different sized bags of propellant were inserted into the cartridge. More bags were used for longer range targets.

An article by Craig Moore

Hummel-Wespe specifications
Dimensions (L x W x H)	7.17 m x 2.97 m x 2.81 m (23ft 5in x 9ft 7in x 9ft 2in)
Total weight, battle ready	23 tonnes (24.25 tons)
Crew	6 (commander, driver, 4x gun crew)
Propulsion	12-cylinder water cooled Maybach HL 120 TRM 11.9 litre petrol engine, 265 hp at 2600 rpm
Fuel capacity	400 litres
Top speed	42 km/h (26 mph)
Operational range (road)	215 km (133 miles)
Armament	10.5 cm le.FH 18/40 howitzer 7.96 mm (0.31 in) MG 34 machine gun 7.96 mm (0.31 in) MG 38/40 machine gun
Armor	Front 30 mm (1.18 in), sides 20 mm (0.79 in), rear 20 mm (0.79 in) Superstructure front 10 mm (0.39 in), sides 10 mm (0.39 in)
Total production	10-20?

Sources

Panzer Tracts No.10 Artillerie Selbstfahrlafetten by Thomas L. Jentz
Panzer Tracts No.10-1 Artillerie Selbstfahrlafetten by Thomas L. Jentz
German self-propelled guns by Gordon Rottman
Panzer-Grenadier Division Grosssdeutschland by Bruce Quarrie
Panzerartillerie by Thomas Anderson
Restricted July 1944 – Allied Expeditionary Force – German Guns – Brief notes and range tables for allied gunners. SHAEF/16527/2A/GCT
Czechoslovakian Army records

Germans Tanks of ww2

German Self-Propelled Artillery Guns of the Second World War

By Craig Moore

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WW1 US Prototypes

Pioneer Tractor Skeleton Tank

Post author By Craig Moore
Post date February 20, 2017
5 Comments on Pioneer Tractor Skeleton Tank

United States of America (1918)
Tank Prototype – 1 Built

Introduction

In 1917, when the American Expeditionary Force reached the shores of France, not a single tank was available to these units. Plans were made to produce some foreign-designed vehicles, but various difficulties and the American faith in their own capabilities lead to the design of several home-grown tanks.
The value of French light tanks like the Renault Ft was observed, being easy to produce in numbers and not requiring very powerful engines. However, it was noted that their trench crossing capabilities were inadequate.

Two American soldiers climbing over the US Pioneer Tractor Skeleton Tank at the US Army Ordinance Proving Grounds, Aberdeen in 1953
The Pioneer Tractor Company from Winona, Minnesota, proposed a rather strange looking vehicle. Trying to mimic the trench-crossing abilities of the British rhomboid tanks while producing a lightweight vehicle led to one of the most distinctive prototypes of the war. While the tracks encircled a structure of the shape of its British inspiration, the crew was encased in an armored box at the center of the vehicle, with a gun turret on top and an engine on each side of the compartment. The driver had a small horizontal vision slit at the front of the tank in the upper middle section of the armored box. The commander/gunner had a vision slit in the turret.
The tracks were carried on rigidly mounted rollers installed on a tubular frame covered with wood. The pipe construction would allow for the tank to be dismantled and shipped relatively easily and then be reassembled on arrival in theater. Another advantage to this tubular design was that if one of the pipes was damaged it could easily be replaced. By using wood, steel pipes and standard plumbing fixtures the materials and maintenance skills needed to construct, maintain and repair the Skeleton Tank were minimal.
Unlike earlier WW1 and later WW2 tanks, it could wade through deep water. It had over three feet clearance with only its track and frame making contact with the water. The open design of the tank meant that what was behind the tank was visible through the tank. It did not need a camouflage to merge in with its location.

The Skeleton Tank was also called the Spider Tank by local journalists
The crew of two were protected by 0.5 in (12.7 mm) of armor. The driver sat to the front, with the gunner behind him, manning the turret. The proposed armament was a single .30 cal machine gun. One Beaver engine and its radiator was mounted inside each side of the armored compartments, while the transmissions were in a separate compartment at the rear of the vehicle.
The transmission had two forward and one rear gears, giving a grand maximum speed of 8 km/h (5 mph). Only one vehicle was built, sporting a dummy gun and turret. It cost $15,000 to construct the one prototype which is just under a quarter of a million US dollars in today’s money. The prototype was ready for trials by October 1918 but when the Armistice was signed in November 1918 most development programs were canceled. It was never used in active service.
It was paraded through the streets of Winona, Minnesota as part of it’s Victory Parade celebrations. This was reported in the newspapers. The tank went by different names in those reports: Skeleton Tank and Spider Tank were names used. The Skeleton Tank name was the most common used but it’s origins are unclear.

Who came up with the idea of a military tank first?

This is a disputed subject. The vice president and manager of the US Pioneer Tractor Company, Mr Edwin Wheelock, was contracted to manufacture the prototype Skeleton Tank. He insisted that he completed the blueprints for the Skeleton Tank and brought them over to England months before British Lieutenant Colonel Ernest Swinton had come up with his idea that an armoured vehicle was necessary to overcome the stalemate of trench warfare by forcing its way through barbed wire obstacles, climbing over trenches and destroying or crushing machine gun nests.
Swinton’s proposal was submitted in writing to the British War Office on 20th October 1914. He was serving with the British Expeditionary Force in France in 1914 and had seen how bad conditions were on the front line. Swinton had seen American Holt agricultural tracked tractors and recommended that they be armored and armed with machine guns and an artillery gun.
In August 1914, Wheelock lost a contract to sell Pioneer tractors in Canada because of war being declared in Europe. He started to design a war machine based on the caterpillar tracks used on his tractors but lengthened to run along a rhomboid shaped framework. He tried to sell his idea to the Canadians but again they were not interested.
Meanwhile, in England, the British Government Landships Committee granted William Foster & Company of Lincoln the contract to build the first prototype British tank called the ‘Number One Lincoln Machine’. This happened in February 1915.
Back in Minnesota, Wheelock hired Mr. Frances J Lowe to try and sell Pioneer tractors and his war machine design to the British. Lowe took the blueprints and some tractors to England. In April 1915, he had a meeting with Colonel Sir Henry Capel-Lofft Holden, director of Mechanical Transport at the War Office in London.
Holden dismissed the design as being unworkable because, with the initially proposed weight of 25 tons, it was too heavy to cross bridges currently found in Belgium and France. Lowe, in a later interview for an American newspaper, said he was then introduced to a Lieutenant Walter Wilson, a Royal Navy Officer who was also an engineer. Wilson took the blueprints to study them further and was told that he would contact him if the War Office wanted to place an order. Lowe was never contacted.
Wilson went on to develop the first British tanks with William Tritton of William Foster & Co in Lincoln. The ‘Number One Lincoln Machine’ prototype was completed on 9th September 1915. It did not look like Wheelock’s design. The second prototype nicknamed ‘Little Willie’ did not resemble Wheelock’s design either. Walter Wilson’s third prototype called ‘Mother’, completed in December 1915 used a lengthened track to run along a rhomboid shaped framework to give the tank better cross country performance.
It was not until newspaper reports and photographs reached Minnesota of tanks being used for the first time in battle did Wheelock get a glimpse of what the British Mark I tank looked like. He was shocked at the similarity to his war machine design. He read that a £10,000 financial reward had been offered to the person who came up with the idea of using a tank in battle. He sent Lowe back to England to claim that reward and find out why his company had not been given the construction contract.
Lowe was not given any information. He could not even find out what happened to the company’s blueprints he had submitted. Because of the War, nearly all information was classified as ‘secret’. Wheelock made a formal claim for the £10,000 prize money but after two different hearings a British Prize Court awarded the money to Lieutenant Colonel Ernest Swinton.
Wheelock’s claim was not backed up by validated documentation. He never filed a patent or kept a copy of his blueprints. Lowe said he handed the only copy to the Wilson and was never given it back.
Realistically the British Government, when at war, would not have entered negotiations with a private company of a neutral state to develop and build a new weapon. That company would not legally be able to sell that weapon without breaching its country’s neutrality. There was also a risk, in 1914, of America entering an alliance with the German Empire and that new weapon being used by the enemy. Communications and logistics problems also made the idea of a contract being awarded to an American company not practicable in 1914.

Sources

Edwin M. Wheelock and the Skeleton Tank by Major Dennis Gaare -Armor – Jan-Feb 2002
Tank Warfare: The story of Tanks in the great War by F Mitchell
Was former Winonian battle tank inventor? by B Manderfield Winona Sunday News 22 Aug 1971
American claims share in Prize of $150,000 for Tank invention – NY Times 28th Nov 1925
Tanks in the Great War by J.F.C Fuller
Man who designed war tractor, former Winonian, never received reward for tank’s invention – The Winiona Republican 31 June 1942
Winiona sees Spider Tank – The Winona Independent 12 Nov 1918
Wikipedia

Specifications
Dimensions (L x W x H)	25ft x 8ft 5in x 9ft 6in (7.62m x 2.56m x 2.89m)
Total weight, battle ready	9 tons
Crew	2 (commander, driver)
Propulsion	Two Beaver 4 cylinder water cooled petrol/gasoline engines 50hp
Speed	5 mph (8.85 km/h)
Fuel tank	17 gallons
Fuel consumption	2 miles per gallon
Operational range	34 miles (55km)
Armament	.30 Cal machine gun
Armor	0.5 in (12.7 mm)
Total production	1 prototype

Gallery

The Pioneer Skeleton tank showing off its tube structure. It is facing to the right. The crew compartment is in the middle and the transmission box is on the left, at the rear of the tank.

Front view of the WW1 Pioneer Tractor Skeleton Tank at the US Army Ordinance Proving Grounds, Aberdeen. (photo – Bill Maloney)

Rear view of the Pioneer Tractor Skeleton Tank at the US Army Ordinance Proving Grounds, Aberdeen. (photo – Bill Maloney)

WW1 Pioneer Tractor Skeleton Tank being moved from US Army Ordinance Proving Ground Aberdeen to Fort Lee, VA, USA. This vehicle is currently stored and is not publicly visible.

Front View – The Skeleton Tank now sits in a tent at Fort Lee.

Rear View – The Skeleton Tank now sits in a tent at Fort Lee.

Where is the Skeleton Tank now?

The vehicle was at the US Army Ordinance Proving Grounds in Aberdeen kept in the open exposed to the elements. In the early 2000s it was restored. All its parts are original except the wooden frame which had rotted and needed replacing. It has now been moved to Fort Lee.
It is currently out of storage and on display in the Fort Lee military base World War 1 training gallery being utilized for Ordnance students training. This vehicle is currently not on public display. Please send us any new photographs you have of it in its new location.

Tank Hunter: World War One

By Craig Moore

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WW2 German Improvised Vehicles

8 cm Schwerer Granatwefer 34 auf Panzerspähwagen AMR 35(f)

Post author By Craig Moore
Post date February 9, 2017
No Comments on 8 cm Schwerer Granatwefer 34 auf Panzerspähwagen AMR 35(f)

German Reich (1942)
Self-Propelled Mortar – Unknown Number Built

Captured Renault AMR 35 tanks

In German Army service, the few French Army Renault AMR 35 (Auto Mitrailleuse de Reconnaissance) tanks that were captured were given the official designation of Panzerspähwagen VM 701(f). They were used for training and police duties in occupied countries.

German 8cm schwere Granatwefer 34 auf Panzerspähwagen AMR(35f) self-propelled heavy mortar.
A variant called the 8cm schwere Granatwefer 34 auf Panzerspähwagen AMR(35f) self-propelled heavy mortar (abbreviated to 8cm Granatwerfer auf PSW AMR 35(f)) was fitted with an 81 mm (3.19 in) GW-34 heavy mortar in an open topped armored fighting compartment. The turret of the tank had been replaced with a lightly armored superstructure of riveted construction that enclosed the fighting compartment. The top and rear were left open. The armor plate used on the front of the superstructure was 13 mm thick set at a 15 degree angle. The sides were also 13 mm thick set at a 40 degree angle.
The fighting compartment included the space formerly occupied by the turret and the space above the engine compartment at the rear of the chassis. The mortar was mounted at the front to fire forward. The front of the compartment was not separated from the driver’s position. The crew had to enter it from the rear.
The 81 mm mortar tube rested on a base plate bolted to the top of the engine compartment. The bipod retained the normal cross-levelling, elevating and traversing mechanism, but the legs had been extended and were attached to a rack and pinion mechanism which permitted additional elevation, traverse and leveling adjustment. The mortar was equipped with a collimator mortar sight RA35.

Links

On Wikipedia
GBM, Histoire & Collection, about WW2 French tanks
On Chars Français (many photos)

Specifications
Dimensions	3.84 x 1.76 x 1.88 m (12.6 x 5.77 x 6.17 ft)
Total weight, battle ready	5 tons
Crew	2 (commander/gunner, driver)
Propulsion	Renault Reinastela 6-cyl, 84 hp
Speed	65 km/h (50 mph)
Suspension	Horizontal coil springs
Range/fuel capacity	225 km (139 mi)/128 l (33.81 gal)
Armament	81 mm (3.19 in) heavy mortar
Armor (max)	13 mm (0.51 in)
Total production	Not known

AMR 35 ZT-1 equipped with a heavy 13 mm (0.51 in) Hotchkiss machine gun with 1250 rounds. Fitted with the AVIS-2 turret, 80 built.

A rare German battlefield conversion, 8cm Schwere Granatwerfer 34 auf Panzerspähwagen AMR(f) self-propelled heavy mortar.

Gallery

Front view of the 8cm Granatwerfer auf PSW AMR 35(f). It is being inspected by a soldier for the US. 3rd Army as it was found in their area. A report on the vehicle was sent back to America.

The mortar fixing points inside the 8cm schwere Granatwefer 34 auf Panzerspahwagen AMR(35f)

Germans Tanks of ww2

WW2 German Improvised Vehicles

12.2 cm FK(r) auf Geschützwagen Lorraine Schlepper(f)

Post author By Craig Moore
Post date January 31, 2017
11 Comments on 12.2 cm FK(r) auf Geschützwagen Lorraine Schlepper(f)

German Reich (1942)
Self-Propelled Gun – 1 Built

Armored Trains

During World War Two, Polish, Soviet, German and British armed forces used armored trains. Germany had 21 armored trains in 1942, 29 in 1943, 44 in 1944 and 55 in 1945. The Soviets had a lot more including captured Polish armored trains.
The locomotive would be covered in protective armor plate and pull artillery wagons fitted with howitzers, anti-aircraft wagons bristling with flak guns for self-defence, anti-tank wagons with tank turrets mounted on top of an armoured coach, command and assault wagons to carry troops plus at the back a flat-bed tank transporter with ramps. The tanks could dismount from the train when needed and take the battle to the enemy by out flanking them or using direct assault under the cover of supporting fire from the train.

On 8th September 1944, the German Army PZ32 armored train was captured in St Berain, France. Most German armored trains were on the Eastern Front.

The Lorraine 37L

During WW1, the French and British Army needed a way to transport ammunition and supplies to the front line. Men and horses were getting killed and injured from small arms fire and exploding shell fragments. Tracked armored supply vehicles were developed. This vehicle was developed by the Lorraine company in 1937 as a replacement for the smaller Renault UE. It could transport a heavier load and was faster than the Renault UE. Production began in January 1939. By the time France surrendered in 1940, a total of 432 Lorraine 37L armored supply tractors had been produced.

The Chenillette Lorraine 37L armored tractor unit was designed to transport ammunition and supplies to the front line.

The 10.5cm leFH 18/40 auf GW Lorraine Schlepper(f) and Marder I SPGs

After the surrender of France in 1940, a lot of French Army military equipment was taken into operational use by the Germans. Some of the French tanks and armored tractors, like the Lorraine 37L, were converted into self-propelled guns. These vehicles would be able to keep up with the Panzer Divisions. There were two main types of self-propelled guns in the German Army during WW2.
One, like the Marder I, was fitted with an anti-tank gun and the other with an artillery howitzer, like the 10.5cm leFH 18/40 auf GW Lorraine Schlepper(f) self-propelled artillery gun. A vehicle fitted with an artillery howitzer was called a ‘Geschützwagen’ abbreviated to ‘GW’, which is literally translated as a ‘gun vehicle’. The word ‘Schlepper’ means tractor. The letter (f) indicates that the SPG’s chassis was French.

The 12.2cm FK(r) auf GW Lorraine Schlepper(f)

This vehicle was also built around a captured Lorraine 37L. It was used on the PZ32 German armored train in France. It would be at the end of the train on a flat-bed tank transporter wagon that had ramps. The driver would reverse the 12.2cm FK(r) auf Geschützwagen Lorraine Schlepper(f) SPG up the ramps and onto the wagon.
Many observers have claimed that it was used as an anti-aircraft gun because in many photographs the gun barrel was pointed up into the sky. It was never used to try and shoot down aircraft. It was a long range artillery gun designed to deliver high explosive HE shells great distances.
The gun was fixed into position. It was not in a turret that could turn to face the enemy. It had a limited traverse left and right. It was envisaged that when the train got to the battlefield the 12.2cm FK(r) auf GW Lorraine Schlepper(f) SPG would be driven off the train, down the rear ramps and moved to face the direction of the target.
It could be used in direct fire mode at targets the crew could see, but more commonly it was used for indirect fire at targets plotted on a map. It was not designed to be in the front line or engage in combat with tanks. It was a motorized artillery gun that could fire HE shells over the heads of friendly troops. Most targets would have been given to the crew as map grid references by forward observation officers or infantry units under attack.
Quite often, the gun crew could not see where their shells landed, as the target was so far away. They would have to rely on the forward observer to tell them if adjustments had to be made.

New Build or Battlefield Conversion?

The origins of the 12.2cm FK(r) auf GW Lorraine Schlepper(f) self-propelled artillery gun are not known. Was a Soviet 122 mm (4.8 in) howitzer M1938 (M-30) used to replace the gun in a Marder I anti-tank SPG or a 10.5cm leFH-18/40 auf Geschuetzwagen Lorraine Schlepper(f) self-propelled artillery gun? Was this vehicle a one off new build?
A company called Alkett, based near Berlin, built the first 10.5cm leFH-18/40 auf Geschuetzwagen Lorraine Schlepper(f) self-propelled artillery guns in 1942. German Army engineer Major Alfred Becker worked with the company to create these conversions.
The following year, he was in Normandy at the head of a Baukommando, a construction command unit. Becker’s men, engineers and mechanics converted more Lorraine 37L tractors into self-propelled artillery gun by fixing 10.5cm leFH-18/40 howitzers onto the top of these vehicles.
The design of the fighting compartment was slightly different on each version. By comparing photographs of the Becker and Alkett built SPG with the 12.2cm FK(r) auf GW Lorraine Schlepper(f) it can be seen that major work was done on the top section of the upper armor.
It looks like the original vehicle was an Alkett built 10.5cm leFH 18/40 auf GW Lorraine Schlepper(f), as the upper and lower armor joints of the fighting compartment are low down. That joint on the Becker built vehicles was much higher.
However, where the fighting compartment upper side armor plates meet the front plates the joint angle is forward not backward as on the Alkett build.
Was it a converted Marder I which was also built on a Lorraine 37L chassis? There was no forward gun lock on this SPG as there was on the Marder I. The angle of the joint between the upper front and side armor was the same unlike on the 10.5cm leFH 18/40 auf GW Lorraine Schlepper(f).
The author of the German book ‘Beute-Kraftfahrzeuge und panzer der deutschen Wehrmacht’, Walter J.Spielberger, had the benefit of an interview with Major Becker after the war and access to all the original documents. There is only one small paragraph about this vehicle in the book.
It does say that only one vehicle was built with a 12,2cm Kanone(r) on a Lorraine-Schlepper tractor. It does not say that the Soviet gun replaced a 10.5cm leFH 18 gun or a 75 mm Pak 40 L/46 gun. This vehicle could have been a new build rather than a battlefield conversion of an existing self-propelled gun.

The 122 mm howitzer M1938 (M-30)

Between 1939 and 1955, Soviet factories produced 19,266 of these artillery howitzers. They were developed by the design bureau of Motovilikha Plants, headed by F.F.Petrov, in the late 1930s. It was used as a towed divisional artillery piece during WW2.
The Finish and German army reused captured guns. The German Army gave them the designation 12.2 cm s.F.H.396(r) heavy howitzers. Germany began mass production of 122 mm (4.8 in) ammunition for these and other captured howitzers, producing 424,000 shells in 1943, 696,700 in 1944 and 133,000 in 1945.

Soviet 122 mm howitzer M1938 (M-30) captured by the Finnish Army. It is now on display at the Hameenlinna Artillery Museum in Finland
The German 10.5cm leFH 18/40 gun had a muzzle velocity of 540 m/s, elevation of 45° and a range of 12,325 m. The Soviet M-30 122mm gun had a muzzle velocity of 515 m/s, elevation of elevation of 49° and a range of 11,720 m. Both guns were similar but the German howitzer had a less powerful high explosive HE shell and its smaller maximum elevation made it less effective against dug-in troops.
The howitzer was designed to fire high explosive and smoke shells. In May 1943, a 122mm High Explosive Anti-Tank HEAT round became available. It only had a range of 2,000 m and the muzzle velocity was reduced to 335 m/s. This was meant for self-defence. This gun was an artillery howitzer not a high velocity anti-tank gun.

The Train – 1964 Film

‘The Train’ was a Hollywood movie starring Burt Lancaster and the PZ32 armored train that was captured in St Berain, France. The story is set in 1944, a German colonel loads a train with French art treasures to send to Germany. The Resistance must stop it without damaging the cargo. The 12.2cm FK(r) auf GW Lorraine Schlepper(f) self-propelled gun can be seen at the rear of the train. It is not known what happened to the train or the SPG after filming had finished.
An article by Craig Moore

Specifications
Dimensions (L,W,H)	4.22 (without gun) x 1.57 x 2 m (13’10” x 5’2″ x 6’7″)
Total weight, battle ready	7.7 tons
Crew	4 (commander, driver, gunner, loader)
Propulsion	Type 135 Delahaye 6 cylinder inline petrol engine, 70 hp at 2800 rpm
Fuel capacity	144 litres
Top speed	35 km/h (22 mph)
Operational range (road)	137 km (85 miles)
Armament	Soviet 122 mm (4.8 in) howitzer M1938 (M-30) – 12.2cm sFH 396(r)
Armor (chassis)	Front 9 mm (0.35 in), cast nose 12 mm (0.47 in), sides 9 mm(0.35 in), rear 9 mm(0.35 in)
Total production	1

Sources

Beute-Kraftfahrzeuge und panzer der deutschen Wehrmacht by Walter J. Spielberger
Armored Trains by Steven J Zaloga
Steve Osfield collection

German Army 12.2cm FK(r) auf Geschützwagen Lorraine Schleppe(f) self-propelled artillery gun.

Which one was the donor vehicle?

Or was it a new build?

10.5cm leFH-18/40 auf GW Lorraine Schlepper(f) (Alkett version)

10.5cm leFH-18/40 auf GW Lorraine Schlepper(f) self-propelled artillery gun. (Baukommando Becker version)

7.5cm Pak 40/1 auf Geschutzwagen Lorraine Schlepper(f) Sd.Kfz.135 – Normandy, 1944 Marder I

Gallery

12.2cm FK(r) auf GW Lorraine Schleppe(f) on the back of an armored train flat truck with ramps.

The ramps at the end of the armored flat-back railway wagon would allow the 12.2cm FK(r) auf GW Lorraine Schleppe(f) SPG to be deployed on the ground to fire at long range targets.

German armored train with the 12.2cm FK(r) auf GW Lorraine Schlepper(f) SPG at the rear at Mutzich station, Alsace, France.

Germans Tanks of ww2

German Self-Propelled Artillery Guns of the Second World War

By Craig Moore

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WW2 German SPG Prototypes

10.5 cm leFH 18/6 auf Waffenträger IVb Heuschrecke 10

Post author By Craig Moore
Post date January 17, 2017
1 Comment on 10.5 cm leFH 18/6 auf Waffenträger IVb Heuschrecke 10

German Reich (1942)
Self-Propelled Gun – 1 or 3 Built

The Grasshopper

The German 10.5cm leFH 18/6 auf Waffenträger Geschützwagen III/IV ‘Heuschrecke IVb’ ‘Grasshopper’ was designated a weapon carrier (waffenträger) and not a self-propelled artillery gun. The reason for this is that the turret could be removed from the top of the modified Panzer IV tank chassis by a block and tackle rig attached to a movable metal frame.
The idea was that the gun crew could keep up with the armoured Panzer Divisions. When needed to fire as an artillery battery, to give long range support firing high explosive shells over the heads of the German infantry and tank crews, The gun would be removed and placed on the ground where it could be fired like a normal artillery gun.

The 10.5cm leFH 18/6 auf Waffenträger Geschützwagen III/IV ‘Heuschrecke IVb’ ‘Grasshopper’ artillery SPG prototype at the Krupp-Grusonwerks factory
The heavy lifting metal framework could be swung upright into position by a hydraulic system or a manual back up system. When not needed it was lowered down and stored on top of the upper track guards on both sides of the tank chassis.
The vehicle could carry 87 high explosive shells. If more were needed the turret could be removed and placed on a gun carriage and towed behind the tank chassis. This allowed for more ammunition to be carried onto the battlefield. The modified Panzer IV tank chassis became a turretless armoured ammunition carrier. This configuration would have only worked in gentle undulating countryside or on roads. The gun carriage wheels and frame were carried on the tank chassis at the rear.
The 10.5cm howitzer could also be fired from on top of the tank chassis. There was no top to the turret. There were a few disadvantages of an open topped vehicle. The crew was exposed to the elements and were also at risk of injury from enemy thrown hand grenades, mortars and shrapnel from air burst enemy shells. A canvas tarpaulin rain cover was produced.

The side and rear of the open topped turret could be folded down to give more room for the crew to work the 10.5cm LeFH 18 gun

It was not a movable pillbox

Some books have argued that the reason for removing the turret was because it could be used as an armoured pillbox. This was not its function. It was an artillery gun that was designed to operate behind the front line. It was not an anti-tank gun. The protective armour that surrounded the gun was not of a thickness that would have stopped armour piercing tank shells. It was only designed to protect the gun crew from small arms fire and high explosive shell and mortor round shrapnel fragments.

Two competing models

The German armament factory of Alkett and Rheinmetall-Borsig based near Berlin had come up with a similar prototype design called the 10.5 cm leFH 18/40/2 auf Geschützwagen III/IV. It did not have the lifting gear on the side of the vehicle but the turret was removable just like the Krupp-Gruson design.
It used the standard Panzer IV tank chassis and had slightly better performance than the Krupp-Gruson’s Heuschrecke IVb Grasshopper. The Alket Rheinmetall-Borsig model was completed in March 1944.

Design

In May 1943 German Army weapon designers decided to build a prototype Heuschrecke IVb. It would built using a Hummel SPG chassis and a 10.5cm LeFH 18/l light field howitzer in a removable turret.
In June 1943 the Krupp-Grusonwerk factory started work on building this new armored fighting vehicle using a new Hummel chassis number 320148. Other sources state that three prototypes were built, with serial numbers 582501, 582502 and 582503.
The Hummel self-propelled artillery gun had powerful 15cm sFH 18 L/30 heavy field howitzer mounted on a specially designed Alkett/Rheinmetall-Borsig lengthened German tank chassis called the Geschützwagen III/IV. It was also referred to as the IVb.
These prototypes were referred to as the Heuschrecke 10 or Heuschrecke IVb. The word Heuschrecke means Grasshopper. It was quite appropriate. The long folded metal lifting equipment kept on top of each track mud guard looked like a grasshoppers insect legs. The number 10 refers to the size of the gun, the 10.5cm. The number IVb refers to the modified Panzer III/IV tank chassis
Components were adopted from both the Panzer III and Panzer IV tank chassis. The more robust final drive wheels, front drive wheels and steering units plus the Zahnradfabrik SSG 77 transmission gearbox were adopted from the Panzer III Ausf.J.
The Maybach HL 120 TRM engine with its cooling system, the suspension, and idler with track tension adjustment were adopted from the Panzer IV. The engine was moved from the rear of the tank to the center of the vehicle to make room for the gun and the armored fighting compartment at the back of the SPG.
The Geschützwagen III/IV tank chassis did not have a hull mounted machine gun. Crews would be issued with a single MG34 or MG42 machine gun, carried inside the fighting compartment, for self-defence.
The Krupp-Gruson designers envisioned that the Heuschrecke IVb would start to replace the 10.5cm leFH 18 auf Gahrgestell Panzerkampfwagen II Wespe self-propelled artillery gun in May 1944.
The tank engineers at the Krupp-Grusonwerk armaments factory made changes to the superstructure and chassis to enable the Heuschrecke turret to be fitted and the installation of the hydraulic mechanism needed to dismount the turret.
The Hummel was powered by a Maybach HL 120 TRM engine that was fitted in the middle of the vehicle to allow more room for the gun crew to work the gun at the back of the vehicle. This was changed for the 10.5cm leFH 18/6 auf Waffenträger Geschützwagen III/IV ‘Heuschrecke IVb’ prototype. The engine and the radiators were moved to the rear of the chassis.
The Heuschrecke IVb prototype turret was armed with the 10.5cm leFH 18/1 L/28 light field howitzer. The production models, however, were to have the newer, more powerful 10.5cm leFH 43 L/28.

The 10.5cm leFH 18/6 auf Waffentrager IVb SPG under going live firing trials. Notice the slightly different configuration of the early hydraulically operated arms for dismounting the turret compared to later photographs. The gun carriage wheels have not been fixed to the rear of the vehicle for these trials. The side and rear turret panels have been folded down to give the crew more room to work the gun.

Weapon Trials

The German Army Weapons Agency (Heereswaffenamt) sent weapon testing inspectors from the Gliederung Waffenamt Prüfwesen (Wa Prüf 4) artillery section to examine the new artillery SPG. They submitted a report following their inspection visit on the 28th September 1943.
On the positive side they noted it used mature tested parts. It could be traversed through 360 degrees and fired at high elevations when dismounted. The design worked and had adequate space for stowage of equipment and ammunition. It could carry 87 10.5cm shells.
On the negative side they concluded the 10.5cm leFH 18/6 auf Waffenträger Geschützwagen III/IV ‘Heuschrecke IVb’ would be expensive to produce and the dismounted turret wasn’t mobile.
The first trials happened on 11th October 1943 at Hillersleben. The hydraulic arms were used to dismount the turret. It was found to be too heavy. A lighter redesigned turret was manufactured and ready for testing by the end of December 1943.
At the end of January 1943, to complement the hydraulic turret dismounting system, the design team at Krupp started work on a backup hand powered system in case of problems with the hydraulics on the battlefield.
On the 28th March 1944 the Wa Pruef 4 artillery weapon testing inspectors were present at a second demonstration of the modified 10.5cm leFH 18/6 auf Waffenträger Geschützwagen III/IV ‘Heuschrecke IVb’.
Their recommendations after that visit were that a hand-operated crane, for dismounting the turret, be fabricated. Wheels were to be added to the dismounted turret frame, and installing a standard gun carriage and recoil management recuperator cylinder from the le.F.H. 18 gun.
On the 31st May 1944 the newly modified 10.5cm leFH 18/6 auf Waffenträger Geschützwagen III/IV ‘Heuschrecke IVb’, with a parallelogram hand-operated crane and wheels for the dismounted carriage, were demonstrated to the Wa Pruef 4 artillery weapon testing inspectors.
This time their report conclusion stopped any further development and design work on this project. They concluded that the 3.8 tonne dismounted turret was unusable on the battlefield. The 10.5cm leFH 18/6 auf Waffenträger Geschützwagen III/IV ‘Heuschrecke IVb’ ‘Grasshopper’ never entered mass production.
There was no dramatic advantage to building this weapon over the 15cm Hummel, 10.5cm Wespe or 15cm Grille artillery self-propelled guns that were already in production. These vehicles were less complicated to produce and operate.

The 10.5cm gun

Surviving prototype

When the American Army occupied Germany at the end of the war they found a surviving 10.5cm le.F.H.18/1 L/28 auf Waffenträger IVb prototype. It was shipped back to the US Army Ordnance Corps proving grounds at Aberdeen, Maryland for testing and evaluation. It was transferred to Fort Still in 2012 and the Grasshopper 10 was restored by the Fort Sill Directorate of Logistics paint shop.

An article by Craig Moore

Gallery

10.5cm le FH18/1 (sf) auf Geschutzwagen IVB
Factory prototype 10.5cm leFH 18/6 auf Waffenträger Geschützwagen III/IV ‘Heuschrecke IVb’ ‘Grasshopper’ painted in Dunkelgelb dark sandy yellow livery – Illustration by David Bocquelet

10.5cm leFH 18/6 auf Waffenträger Geschützwagen III/IV ‘Heuschrecke IVb’ prototype in panzer grey livery – Illustration by David Bocquelet
10.5cm le.F.H.18/1 L/28 auf Waffenträger IVb prototype.
10.5cm leFH 18/6 auf Waffenträger Geschützwagen III/IV ‘Heuschrecke IVb’ ‘Grasshopper’ prototype

The two large wheels at the back of the 10.5cm leFH 18/6 auf Waffenträger Geschützwagen III/IV ‘Heuschrecke IVb’ ‘Grasshopper’ and the metal strut with the holes it on top of the track mud guards were used to construct a gun carriage.
Turret removal on the Grasshopper
10.5cm leFH 18/1 L/28 auf Waffenträger IVb turret
Gun crews would erect the load carrying gibbet on the back of the vehicle chassis then remove the turret. It was placed onto a the gun carriage frame on the floor. Once it was locked into position it would be raised again so the gun carriage wheels could be fitted. The gun could then be towed.
grasshoper tank carriage

Surviving Grasshopper

10.5cm le.F.H.18/1 L/28 auf Waffenträger IVb at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, USA
Restored 10.5cm leFH 18/6 auf Waffenträger Geschützwagen III/IV ‘Heuschrecke IVb’ ‘Grasshopper’ at US Army Fort Sill, Oklahoma, USA (Photo – Jon Bernstein)

Before it was recently restored the 10.5cm leFH 18/6 auf Waffenträger Geschützwagen III/IV ‘Heuschrecke IVb’ ‘Grasshopper’ was kept out in the open at the US Army Ordnance Corps proving grounds at Aberdeen, Maryland before being moved to Fort Sill.
Close up view of the 10.5cm leFH 18/6 auf Waffenträger Geschützwagen III/IV Heuschrecke IVb Grasshopper turret whilst it was being restored at Fort Sill. (Photo: Jon Bernstein)

The 10.5cm leFH 18/6 auf Waffenträger Geschützwagen III/IV Heuschrecke IVb Grasshopper under restoration in
the Fort Sill workshops. (Photo: Jon Bernstein)

Side view of the restored 10.5cm leFH 18/6 auf Waffenträger Geschützwagen III/IV Heuschrecke IVb Grasshopper at Fort Sill with the rear arms raised. (Photo: Jon Bernstein)

Rear view of the restored 10.5cm leFH 18/6 auf Waffenträger Geschützwagen III/IV Heuschrecke IVb Grasshopper at Fort Sill with the rear arms raised. (Photo: Jon Bernstein)

Waffenträger IVb Specifications
Dimensions (L x W x H)	6.57 m x 2.9 m x 2.65 m (21ft 7in x 9ft 6in x 8ft 3in)
Total weight, battle ready	24 tonnes (26.45 tons)
Crew	5 (commander, driver, gunner, 2x loaders)
Propulsion	Maybach HL 120TRM 12-cylinder water cooled gasoline/petrol engine, 285 hp
Fuel capacity	360 liters
Top road speed	38 km/h (24 mph)
Operational range (road)	225 km (140 miles)
Main Armament	10.5 cm leFH 18/6 howitzer with 87 rounds
Secondary Armament	Hand held 9 mm machine pistol
Hull Armor	Front 30 mm Sides and Rear 16 mm – 20 mm
Turret Armor	Front 30 mm Sides and Rear 15 mm
Total built	1 or 3

Sources

German Self-Propelled Weapons by Peter Chamberlain & H.L.Doyle
Artillerie Selbstfahrlafetten Panzer Tracts No.10 by Thomas L. Jentz
German Artillery at War 1939-45 vol.1 by Frank V.de Sisto.

Germans Tanks of ww2

German Self-Propelled Artillery Guns of the Second World War

By Craig Moore

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WW2 German SPG Prototypes

10.5 cm leFH 18/40/2 (Sf.) auf Geschützwagen III/IV

Post author By Craig Moore
Post date December 25, 2016
4 Comments on 10.5 cm leFH 18/40/2 (Sf.) auf Geschützwagen III/IV

German Reich (1942)
Self-Propelled Gun – 1 Built

Alkett’s Waffenträger Weapon Carrier

The German weapons manufacturers Alkett Rheinmetall-Borsig tried to compete with Krupp-Gruson to produce an amored fighting vehicle that would carry a 10.5cm Leichte Feldhaubitz 18/40/2 L/28 light field howitzer onto the battlefield like a self-propelled gun, and also allow the gun to be lowered to the ground.
This then enabled the tank chassis to function as an armoured ammunition carrier. The driver could return to the nearest supply point and load the vehicle with more high explosive HE shells and propulsion canisters. The gun could also be fired from its armored open top turret on top of the vehicle without the need to lower it.

Alkett prototype 10.5cm leFH 18/40/2 L/28 (Sf) auf Geschüetzwagen III/IV artillery SPG
The Krupp-Gruson design was called the 10.5cm leFH 18/1 L/28 auf Waffenträger IVb. The Alkett Rheinmetall-Borsig design was given the name 10.5cm leFH 18/40/2 L/28 (Sf) auf Geschüetzwagen III/IV. The German word Waffenträger means ‘weapon carrier’ and Geschüetzwagen translates to ‘gun vehicle’ (it was often abbreviated to just GW). Both words are appropriate to describe these vehicle’s function.
It was also called the 10.5cm leFh/40/2 (Sf) Geschutzwagen PzIVb, or 10.5cm leFh/40/2 (Sf) GW PzIVb or 10.5cm le.F.H. 18/40/2 L/28 (Sf) auf GW III/IV. The letters (SF) stand for ‘Selbstfahrlafette’ – self-propelled carriage. The abbreviation leFH stands for the German words ‘leichte FeldHaubitze’ which, translated, means light field howitzer.
To remove the turret and gun on the Krupp-Gruson design, a large folding metal gantry was mounted on the rear of the vehicle. When it was folded down the long metal arms were stowed on top of the track guards. This vehicle was given the nickname of the Heuschrecke, the Grasshopper, as the folded metal arms looked like the legs of a grasshopper.
It is easy to tell the two designs apart. The Alkett Rheinmetall-Borsig 10.5cm weapon carrier does not have any external folding metal struts on top of its track guards unlike the Krupp-Gruson design.
The 10.5cm LeFH 18/40/2 L/28 light field howitzer’s carriage rails and wheels were stowed at the rear of the vehicle on the outside. When the gun crew wanted to dismount the howitzer from the vehicle to use it as conventional artillery gun on the ground, they would unlock the gun from its mount and use a jack to lift it up and off.
The armored superstructure of the turret is hinged at the front to allow it to be folded forward to give more room to the gun crew during the removal procedure. The carriage, carriage wheels, and rear rails would then be reattached. A ramp down from the top of the vehicle would be fitted and a manual block and tackle winch system were used to lower the gun down to the ground. The reverse procedure would be used to remount the gun on top of the vehicle.
The howitzer could be fired from on top of the vehicle like a normal self-propelled gun. It could traverse through 360 degrees, as it was mounted on a turntable gun platform that was counter sunk into the top of the tank chassis.
There was no top to the turret. There were a few disadvantages of an open topped vehicle. The crew was exposed to the elements and were also at risk of injury from enemy thrown hand grenades, mortars and shrapnel from air burst enemy shells. A canvas tarpaulin rain cover was produced to give some protection from the elements.

10.5cm leFH 18/40/2 L/28 (Sf) auf GW III/IV artillery SPG

Design and testing

Alkett submitted its designs for a 10.5cm howitzer weapons carrier self-propelled gun to the German Army Weapons Agency (Heereswaffenamt) Gliederung Waffenamt Prüfwesen (Wa Prüf 4) artillery section on 27th September 1943.
The first prototype was ready for testing on 28th March 1944. It was demonstrated to the Wa Pruef 4 weapons inspectors at Hiliersleben. The gun crew took around 15 minutes to dismount the howitzer and mount it on the newly designed Schiesspilz (firing pedestal). The gun could not be traversed a full 360 degrees on the ground.
The inspectors submitted a report that recommended the protective turret armor was to be increased in thickness, that the Schiesspilz (firing pedestal) be carried on the vehicle, and that the howitzer be modified so that it could fire to the rear of the vehicle at an angle of -5 degrees.
Alkett suggested that the turret superstructure armor could be angled to increase the gun crew’s protection. This suggestion was rejected as it decreased the amount of ammunition that could be stored.
The Wa Pruef 4 weapons inspectors re-evaluated the new modified prototype after a second demonstration on 28th May 1944. They were happy with the changes. As a Panzer III/IV self-propelled gun tank chassis was going to be used, it was felt that field trials would not be necessary as this chassis was already being used in the production of the Hummel and Nashorn self-propelled guns.
The design team at Alkett/Rheinmetall-Borsig had already lengthened a German tank chassis. It was called the Geschützwagen III/IV. Components were adopted from both the Panzer III and Panzer IV tank chassis. The more robust final drive wheels, front drive wheels and steering units plus the Zahnradfabrik SSG 77 transmission gearbox were adopted from the Panzer III Ausf.J. The Maybach HL 120 TRM engine with its cooling system, the suspension, and idler with track tension adjustment were adopted from the Panzer IV.
The first twenty-five production 10.5cm leFH 18/40/2 L/28 (Sf) auf Geschuetzwagen III/IV were due to be completed by October 1944 but there were long delays at the factory. The German Army Weapons Agency (Heereswaffenamt) canceled the order on the 12th December 1944 before any were completed.
A revised design which did not feature the countersunk turntable gun platform was put forward and accepted. The gun would now only have a limited traverse when mounted on the tank chassis like a normal self-propelled gun. This was hoped to make production cheaper and simpler. An initial order for 250 of these vehicles was approved. The first 35 would be built by February 1945 and the rest to follow. There are no production report documents that suggest any of these vehicles were produced.
There was no dramatic advantage to building this weapon over the 15cm Hummel, 10.5cm Wespe or 15cm Grille artillery self-propelled guns that were already in production. These vehicles were less complicated to produce and operate.

The 10.5cm gun

An article by Craig Moore

Sources

German Self-Propelled Weapons by Peter Chamberlain & H.L.Doyle
Artillerie Selbstfahrlafetten Panzer Tracts No.10 by Thomas L. Jentz
German Artillery at War 1939-45 vol.1 by Frank V.de Sisto.

The 10.5cm leFH 18/40/2 L/28 (Sf) auf Geschuetzwagen III/IV prototype painted in Dunkelgelb. Illustration made by Jarja.

The same vehicle illustrated by David Bocquelet

Gallery

10.5cm Leichte Feldhaubitz 18/40/2 L/28 (Sf) auf Geschüetzwagen III/IV prototype artillery weapon carrier self propelled gun.

Gun carriage wheels attached to the rear of the 10.5cm LeFH 18/40/2 L/28 (Sf) auf Geschüetzwagen III/IV prototype artillery SPG
Alkett prototype 10.5cm leFH 18/40/2 L/28 (Sf) auf Geschüetzwagen III/IV artillery SPG
A 10.5cm LeFH 18/40/2 L/28 (Sf) auf Geschüetzwagen III/IV in the middle next to a Nashorn SPG.

Surviving vehicle

Surviving 10.5cm leFH 18/40/2 L/28 (Sf) auf Geschüetzwagen III/IV prototype owned by Kevin Wheatcroft and kept in storage in Southern England.

Along the top of the open casement superstructure are small D rings. These were used to tie down the bad weather tarpaulin.

Notice the empty retractable Gun carriage wheel holders at the back of this preserved 10.5cm leFH 18/40/2 L/28 (Sf) auf GW III/IV.

Specifications
Dimensions (L-W-H)	7.19 m x 3 m x 2.87 m (23ft 6in x 9ft 8in x 9ft 4in)
Total weight, battle ready	25 tonnes (27.55 tons)
Crew	5 (commander, driver, gunner, 2x loaders)
Propulsion	Maybach HL 120 TRM 12-cylinder water cooled gasoline/petrol engine, 265 hp
Fuel capacity	500 liters
Top road speed	42 km/h (26 mph)
Operational range (road)	300 km (186 miles)
Main Armament	10.5 cm leFH 18/40/2 L/28 howitzer with 85 rounds
Secondary Armament	Hand held 9 mm machine pistol
Hull Armor	Front 30 mm Sides and Rear 20 mm
Turret Armor	Front 10 mm Sides and Rear 10 mm
Total built	1

Germans Tanks of ww2

German Self-Propelled Artillery Guns of the Second World War

By Craig Moore

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WW1 German Unarmored Vehicles

Überlandwagen Geländewagen A7V

Post author By Craig Moore
Post date December 16, 2016
3 Comments on Überlandwagen Geländewagen A7V

German Empire (1917-1918)
Tracked Supply Vehicle – 30 Built

The German WW1 rough terrain supply vehicle

The situation in 1915 – 1916 was dire, as Germany, Britain and France had settled into a stalemate. In order to solve the ‘bloody equation’ formed by the artillery-barbed wire-machine gun combination, both Britain and France began development on a vehicle that had the ability to cross trenches with ease and be able to withstand enemy machine gun fire. This tracked vehicle would eventually revolutionise the battlefield. Thus the tank was born.
Although the tanks suffered from mechanical failures and inadequate crew training they had a major physiological impact on the German soldiers. German intelligence subsequently submitted reports to the Oberste Heeresleitung (German supreme command or OHL for short), which then lobbied the war ministry for an equivalent. However, some of the senior officers of the time were more focused on artillery and infantry tactics rather than the development of the tank or similar armored vehicles.

A7V Gelendewagen with taller wooden side panels.

The committee, headed by chief designer Joseph Vollmer, rejected the trench crossing rhomboid shape track system as used on the British tanks because they wanted to build a chassis that could be used on a tank and a ‘prime mover’ heavy artillery gun tractor. This approach lead to problems.
Two Caterpillar-Holt tractors were obtained and adapted to build a working prototype. It had a better speed than the very slow British tanks but its trench crossing abilities were not as good.

Eventually, the Heeresleitung got some funding from the war ministry to make an equivalent. After months of testing and building, they came up with the
A7V. The OHL ordered 100 chassis to be built. The rest were used to develop several A7V variants including the Überlandwagen and an Anti Aircraft version, called the Flakpanzer A7V.

Germany only produced 20 A7V tanks in World War One. Britain and France built over 8,000 tanks between 1916 – 1918. In the battles of 1918 the German Army used more captured British tanks than they did tanks built in Germany.
The Germans were not very imaginative when they gave a name to their first tank. The letters A7V stand for the committee of the Abteilung 7 Verkehrswesen (Department 7, Transport) of the Prussian War Office.

Geländewagen A7V at the factory with the cargo wooden panel sides in the down position

The need for a tracked supply vehicle

The battlefield conditions during World War One were horrendous. The muddy, crater filled terrain proved too difficult and at times dangerous for both men and animals carrying supplies being moved to the front. The German Army felt a need to come up with a way of moving these vital supplies quickly but also safely.

In February 1918 the initial modified order for 100 A7V tanks was changed to just 20 finished units. The remaining A7V production chassis was diverted into making prime movers, tracked supply vehicles that could also tow guns and other broken down tanks, and anti aircraft vehicles.
The ‘prime mover’ supply vehicle based on the A7V chassis had a number of different names. The Germans made distinctions between Strassenwagen = Road vehicle. This vehicle crossed rough undulating ground and was called three different names A7V Geländewagen (Terrain vehicle), A7V Rauoenlastwagen (Caterpillar vehicle) and A7V Überlandwagen (Overland Vehicle).

The first eight A7V Geländewagen vehicles (chassis numbers 508 – 515) were completed by September 1917. In November 1917 they were in use with the German Armee Kraftwagen Kolonne (Raupe) III – AKK(R)111 (111th Tracked Army Motor Vehicle Column) in Northern France. By September of 1918 thirty were in services, with the AKK(R)111 and the AKK(R)1122 Army transport columns.

The A7V Überlandwagen’s carrying capacity was approximately 3 – 4 tons (2.7 – 3.6 tonnes). Although it was able to deal with the muddy terrain, it had limited success due its slow speed, poor rough terrain handling and lack of protection for the crew.

The vehicle chassis number was painted on the right hand side at the front just under the over hanging cargo compartment. Only the number 5 can be clearly seen. This vehicle has a no drivers compartment canopy just wire rails on which a bad weather tarpaulin could be thrown over. It has the taller wooden side panels. The number 8 on a light background in a bordered circle may be the tactical symbol of the German Armee Kraftwagen Kolonne (Raupe) II22 – AKK(R)1122.

Those that did make trips to the front were well received by the soldiers, as the supplies that the Überlandwagen brought intact to the frontline were vital to the men. These supplies would range from clothes to medicine to munitions and at times food. The fate of these A7V Überlandwagens after World War One is unknown, it is possible that they were used sometime afterwards before being broken up and scrapped.

The twin Daimler 100hp engines were mounted side by side in the centre with the driving compartment, arranged for drive in either direction, placed on a platform above the engines. The driver did not have an armoured cab. The seats in the control position swivelled and the controls were duplicated for driving in either direction without the need for turning the vehicle around.

There was a canopy above the driver’s head. In some vehicles rails were added to support a tarpaulin cover over the load spaces. These rails went from the top of the canopy down to the four corners of the vehicle.

The walls of the driver’s cab were only about 2ft (0.6m) tall. He had four large open window that had no glass. In bad weather canvas sheeting was unrolled from the top of the canopy and secured to the bottom of the window opening to give the driver and crew some protection from the elements. The driver and the crew were very vulnerable.

This A7V Überlandwagen supply vehicle has a straight end not a boat shaped bow and is not fitted with a cover for the driver.
Unlike the British that used armoured tanks as supply vehicles that could travel right up to the front line under enemy fire, the German A7V Überlandwagen supply vehicles had to stay out of range of Allied rifles and machine guns.
The suspension was derived from the Holt tractor suspension, the American tractor which had also provided the early inspiration for British and French tanks. The A7V-Uberlandwagen had a front and a rear cargo bay, with wooden panels on the side. Later versions had taller panels. For ease of loading and unloading the wooden panels could be unhitched and swing down on their hinges.

Two tow hooks were fitted to the front and back. These were used to tow wheeled vehicles and guns. They were also intended to be used to help tow broken down, knocked out or stuck in the mud German, British or French tanks back to safety.

Proving ground adjacent to the Damiler Plant near Berlin. This vehicle was used to train drivers and mechanics of the German Armee Kraftwagen Kolonne (Raupe) III – AKK(R)111. The side walls on this vehicle are of the short variety.

Vehicle faults

Early reports were favourable but the A7V Überlandwagens suffered from the same mechanical and design problems as the A7V tanks: they had poor cross country performance and low ground clearance. Radiators and backboards were damaged if the load that was being carried was not sufficiently tied down. When the vehicle traversed very undulating ground the heavy load would slide around at fast speeds and hit the sides of the cargo areas causing damage.
The front and back of the cargo area extended past the tracks. This was problematic if the vehicle happened to descend into a big shell crater or trench. The nose of the vehicle got stuck in the mud wall on the other side of the depression. The tracks could not get a proper grip to drive up the wall. This was a design fault.

Fuel consumption was another big issue, especially in 1918 when fuel supplies were low. The A7V Überlandwagen required 10 litres of petrol/gasoline to travel one km. A wheeled truck only required 3 litres of fuel to cover the same distance. As a result they were not heavily used.

Specifications
Dimensions	7.34 x 3.1 x 3.3 m (24.08×10.17×10.82 ft)
Total weight, battle ready	30 to 33 tons
Crew	3
Propulsion	2 x 6 inline Daimler petrol, 200 bhp (149 kW)
Speed	15 km/h (9 mph)
Range on/off road	80/30 km (49.7/18.6 mi)
Total production	30

Sources

German Panzers 1914-18 by Steven J Zaloga
Tankograd World War One Special A7V First of the Panzers
The Sturmpanzerwagen A7V on Wikipedia
Landships

Gallery

Uberlandwagen A7V illustration

You can clearly see the bad weather tarpaulin window covers rolled up just under the roof of the driver’s canopy in this photo and the wire cargo compartment cover rails which go from the top of the canopy down to the four corners of the vehicle.

The driver’s canopy and cargo cover rails are missing from this vehicle. Also the crew are formally dressed suggesting that this vehicle is being used for driver training.

Ammunition being unloaded from an Überlandwagen A7V near the front line.

Fully loaded Überlandwagen A7V taking supplies up to the front on a sunny day in Northern France. The AKK(R) 111 unit swastika tactical symbol is painted on the front and the sides of the vehicle.

An Überlandwagen A7V belonging to the AKK(R) 111 crossing a small trench during driver training.

A pair of A7V Gelandewagens in service with the AKK(R) 111 believed on a training run and no load is being carried. The swastika sign in a white octagon insignia was the AKK(R) 111 tactical symbol. (photo NARA)

An A7V Gelandewagen prime movers function was to bring supplies to frontline troops over rough terrain. In this photo senior German officers were being shown what it could do with a full load. (Photo NARA)

This image has nice symbolism with a team of horses in the trench below the Überlandwagen A7V: the new and the old. The old was still needed. The Germans used 1.8 million horses in WW1 and 2.7 million in WW2

An Überlandwagen A7V undergoing trials at the proving grounds of Daimler-Werkes in Berlin-Marienfelde. The side boards are of the smaller type. In the background a building of Fritz Werner Werkzeugmaschinen AG in Berlin-Marienfelde.

Überlandwagen A7V number 521 being driven of a flat-bed railway truck

Überlandwagen A7V waiting to be scrapped. It is believed that this photograph was taken in the early 1920s, in Aldershot, England. Several of these machines were taken for examination & testing.

A fully loaded Überlandwagen A7V moves off the road onto a muddy field. This is what the vehicle was designed for.

Tank Hunter: World War One

By Craig Moore

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Cold War British SPG Prototypes

FV3805

United Kingdom (1956)
Self-Propelled Gun – 2 Prototypes Built

The Design

The vehicle itself started back in the late 1950’s based upon the idea of using the hull of a Centurion tank and fitted with a BL 5.5 inch QF field gun (140mm howitzer) in a built up casemate on the hull. The idea was a good one offering commonality of automotive parts with the Centurion tank which was the main tank in service with the British Army at the time. A wooden mock-up of the vehicle had met with approval and two prototypes P1 and P2 were manufactured and underwent testing.

This is the wooden mock-up of the Centurion FV3805 Artillery SPG prototype
The project eventually lost out by the early 1960’s to the FV433 self-propelled gun known commonly as the ‘Abbot’ and both prototype Centurion FV3805 SPG P1 and P2 were thought to have been sold for scrap. The Abbot was chosen because the FV3805 SPG was not air-portable and with NATO standardization of 105mm and 155mm guns the British 5.5 inch gun (140mm) was being made obsolete. With a limited traverse of the gun it was an inferior design to the smaller, lighter and more capable Abbot anyway.
The vehicle is built ‘backwards’ very similar to the WW2 Archer 17pdr SPG. The engine and gearbox are at the front and the superstructure built over the front of the machine but facing over the engine deck. The driver position was moved to the center of the vehicle on the left side.

Wooden mock-up of the Centurion FV3805 Artillery SPG prototype in firing position
Following the unsuccessful trials P2 had its 5.5 inch gun and mounting removed and a steel plate with vision port welded over the hole in the front of the superstructure. Centurion FV3805 SPG P2 lived on in service as an Artillery Range Observation vehicle sporting the name ‘Major Picton’s Palace’ until sometime in the 1970’s when again it has vanished from military records. Research is still trying to locate the fate of P1 which is still lost. (Information – Andrew Hills)

Centurion FV3805 artillery self-propelled gun prototype

The British BL 5.5 inch Artillery Gun

This artillery field gun was produced between 1941 to 1945. It weighed 13,647 lbs (6,190kg) and had a barrel length of 13ft 9in (4.19m). Its caliber was 5.5 inch (140mm). It fired a high explosive HE shell that weighed 100 lbs (45.5kg) and a smaller one that weighed 82 lbs (37kg). The 100 lbs shell could be fired at a maximum range of 9.2 miles (14.81 km). The lighter 82 lbs shell could be fired at a maximum range of 10.28 miles (16.55 km). The letters BL stand for ‘breach loading’.
FV3805 Centurion Artillery SPG gun crew
It was fitted with a Welin breech and Ashbury mechanism with a hydro-pneumatic recoil system. It had a rate of fire of two rounds per minute. The 100 lb shell was fired at a muzzle velocity of 1,675 feet per second (511 m/s) and the 82 lb shell was fired at 1,950 feet per second (590 m/s).
It fired two part ammunition. The high explosive HE shell was loaded first followed by the propellant charge canister that would have the correct amount of powder bags in it for the range of the target. It could also fire 100 lb smoke or colored flare marker shells. The normal HE fuze was No 117. In late 1944 a VT fuze T100 became available.
This gun was first used in the deserts of North Africa in 1941. Most British, Polish and Commonwealth forces were equipped with this gun. The normal organization was an artillery regiment of 16 guns organized into two batteries. It continued to be used during the cold war in conflicts like Korea. It was purchased by many different nations. Both Pakistan and India used this gun in their border wars. In the British Army it was replaced by the L121 FH-70 155mm towed Howitzer. It remained in UK service with Territorial Army regiments until 1980.

The 5.5 inch QF gun fitted inside the enclosed casement on the top of the Centurion tank chassis

Ammunition

The following information was found in an original document covering the ammunition stowage on the FV3805 SPG.
(a) At least 25 HE rounds (fused) and 5 HESH (fuzed) are to be carried in the SP. It is desired to carry 35 HE and 5 HESH.
(b) Provision shall be made fro the stowage of:-
12 Bulk packed VT Fuzes
5 Cartridges charge 2 (7 if 35 rounds HE are stowed)
12 Cartridges charge 4 (17 if 35 rounds HE are stowed)
18 Cartridges charge super (27 if 35 rounds HE are stowed)
40 Tubes P.S.A
768 rounds .303 ball SAA
288 rounds .303 tracer

The 105mm gun

At one point in 1964, the Centurion FV3805 SPG was tested with a 105mm gun. The following reference was found on official records “16.2.64. Abbot mounting fitted to 5.5in SP (P2). Proofed at K Battery at 7½°. Recoil at 14 in – steady’”

MOD Shoeburyness

The following account is from Roger Walton who actually drove the Centurion FV3805 artillery SPG prototype whilst he was in the British Army: – In 1977 whilst serving in Northern Ireland I noticed a posting requiring a driver of tracked vehicles. I loved driving so I put my name down. In February 1978 I arrived at the Army MOD Shoeburyness and Foulness Defence Evaluation and Research Agency [DERA]* weapons testing complex, near Southend-on-Sea in Essex.
It was not a glamorous posting. I was in a team of 3 drivers, a Lancer from the 16/5th, one from 3rd Royal Tank Regiment RTR and myself being Queens Own Hussars, plus REME and 120 gunners.
It was my first time in a weapons proofing establishment and I was expecting to see loads of Chieftain tanks. My first Monday at the tank workshops I was horrified to learn that they only had one Chieftain, a rare mark one which was being used to calculate various things which the civilian boffins thought we didn’t need to know.

The FV3805 being driven at the MOD Shoeburyness and Foulness Defence Evaluation and Research Agency weapons testing complex, near Southend-on-Sea in Essex
Back at the workshops, I was introduced to a number of AFV ‘funnies’ used for towing, recovery and as gun platforms. The Centurion FV3805 SPG was sat in yard. Never having seen this vehicle before I was keen to find out more so I asked after the beast.
It was explained that it was a prototype and had been intended for the artillery. At this time it was a none runner fitted with a 105mm gun from an Abbot Artillery SPG.
It was soon sanctioned by the powers that be to get it running so it could be used as an ammunition carrier whilst out on the sands firing range.
It did not take long to get her back in a running condition. I soon learned the quirkiness of this vehicle. The engine and gearbox were what I normally found in an old Centurion tank, except the drive was all reversed.
The gun was on a fixed/limited traverse facing over the engine decks. The driver sat to the left of the gun. The drivers control sticks, gear stick had all been shortened.
It didn’t drive any differently to a normal Centurion tank, but I do remember having a limited view to the front. I was totally blind due to the gun being on my right. You could see bugger all to the right. Also due to the higher than normal driving position obstacles had to be carefully negotiated. As a driver you had a small hatch which you had to be careful using due to the height from the ground.
The only obstacle on the base at this time was the sea wall. As you crested this we had to turn right to go onto the beach drive 100 yards or so to get onto the ramp onto the sands.
It was being used to carry and store ammunition for other vehicles being tested at the base. I remember one time it being used to take ammunition onto the beach to supply an American M110 that was being put through tests. After delivering the ammo the FV3805 withdrew back down the beach during the live firing of range safety rules.
*DERA is now known as QinetiQ (pronounced kinetic)

Artillery Observation Vehicle

At some point, the 5.5 inch gun was removed from the prototype FV3805 and the vehicle was converted into an artillery observation vehicle to be used on the firing ranges. The holes left by the removal of the gun were blanked off with armor plate and an observation glass panel was added instead. It was painted light blue instead of the traditional British Army olive green so it was noticeable on the firing range. It was eventually transported to Duxford when it was no longer needed where it stood out in the rain, sun and snow for a number of years.

The FV3805 Centurion (on the right) was painted light blue and used as an artillery observation vehicle after the 5.5 inch gun was removed. On the left is the FV207 Conqueror SPG prototype fitted with a 4.5 inch naval gun. Other guns were tried. The protective armoured casement has not been constructed yet.(MOD Shoeburyness beach firing range 5th June 1984.)

The Centurion FV3805 SPG P2 restoration project.

FV3805 P2 reappeared on the Isle of Wight, in Southern England at the Military Museum. Here she has sat outside in the salty air rusting away quietly and becoming rather sorry looking until 2015.
Phase 1 of the restoration; moving the vehicle under cover to dry out has been completed. The next steps will be to organize the stripping of the paint and components from the tank for restoration.
Phase 2 is getting the vehicle running. The biggest hurdle being the Rolls-Royce Meteor MkIVB engine which on inspection appears to be completely seized and likely is unrepairable. The gearbox is intact but needs an overhaul. The wheels and tracks are all complete.
Phase 3 is fitting the gun. The gun itself is problematic. There is a lack of 5.5 inch guns for sale at the moment.
The focus at the moment is on restoration of the running components so she can be shown to the public. The FV3805 Restoration Project is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/FV3805
(Information – Andrew Hills)

FV3805 awaiting restoration on the Isle of Wight, England (Photos: The Mighty Jingles)

Ammunition stowage

At least 25 high explosive HE rounds (fused) and 5 HESH (fuzed) rounds are to be carried in the self-propelled gun. It is desired to carry 35 HE and 5 HESE.
Provision shall be made for the stowage of:-
12 Bulk packed VT fuzes
5 Cartridges charge 2 (7 if 35 rounds are stowed)
12 Cartridges charge 4 (17 if 35 rounds HE are stowed)
18 Cartridges charge super (27 if 35 rounds HE are stowed
40 Tubes P.S.A.
768 rounds .303 ball SAA
288 rounds .303 tracer.

Specifications
Dimensions (L-W-H)	7.82 m without gun x 3.39 m x 3 m (25ft 7in x 11ft 1in x 9ft 9in)
Total weight, battle ready	50 tons
Crew	4 (commander, driver, gunner, loader).
Propulsion	Rolls-Royce Meteor; 5-speed Merrit-Brown Z51R Mk.F gearbox 650 hp (480 kW), later BL 60, 695 bhp
Speed	48/30 km/h road/cross-country (29.82/18.64 mph)
Range/consumption	190 km (118 mi)
Armament	British BL 5.5 inch Artillery Gun
Gun depression	3 degrees
Gun elevation	70 degrees
Gun traverse	30 degrees left and right from centre line
Rate of fire	3 rpm for 10min or 1 rpm for 3 hours.
Armor	35mm-195mm (17mm-58mm on cab)
Ammunition used	100 lb HE shell, 82 lb HE shell, 100 lb Smoke shell, 100 lb coloured flare shell.
Ammunition Stowage	76 shells and 96 charges
Total production	2 prototypes

Sources

Ed Francis – The FV3805 Restoration Project
The Wight Conflict and Remembrance Museum
The National Archives, Kew Memorandum TR 4/57, TR 1/58 Effect of 5.5 inch gun-muzzle blast on FV 3805
The Centurion and variants on Wikipedia
BL 5.5 inch Medium Gin on Wikipedia

Gallery

Wooden mock-up of the Centurion FV3805 artillery SPG. Notice the drivers escape hatch and vision slit to the left side of the 5.5 inch gun.

Centurion FV3805 artillery SPG prototype with limited travers ‘turret’ built inside a fully covered casement.

Centurion FV3805 SPG with the 5.5 inch gun at full elevation.

Side view of the Centurion FV3805 SPG with the 5.5 inch gun.

Centurion FV3805 SPG ammo storage racks on the right side of the vehicle.

Centurion FV3805 SPG ammo storage racks behind the drivers position.

View of the rear hatch at the back of the Centurion FV3805 SPG with more ammo storage racks on both sides of the vehicle.

Centurion FV3805 artillery SPG in firing position at MOD Shoeburyness.

A photo of the Centurion FV3805 SPG showing the top/rear hatch intact and open.

Centurion FV3805 SPG showing the top/rear hatch open.

Centurion FV3805 SPG with the top/rear hatch closed.

Artillery observation vehicle

Artillery observation vehicle centurion FV3805 with the 5.5 inch gun removed. An observation window was inserted into armour plate to fil0e the gap left by the gun’s removal

Restoration project

This photo confirms that the last remaining FV3805 Centurion PG was the P2 prototype. It is not known what happened to the P1. P2 was nicknamed ‘Major Picton’s Palace’. For many years Major Ian Picton was in charge of ‘A’ Section Trials and normally involved with Sands Shoots at MOD Shoeburyness. It was warm inside and was a good place to lurk on a rainy day.

This photograph was taken of the Centurion FV3805 SPG at IWM Duxford before it was moved to the Isle of Wight. (Photo – Ossie)

Because the Centurion FV3805 rear hatch is so large it is hoped that when the vehicle is restored to a running condition it will be the first AFV that can offer ‘tank rides’ to veterans and members of the public in wheelchairs.

The Centurion FV3805 SPG was originally painted British Army Green.

Centurion FV3805 SPG P2 at The Wight Military and Heritage Museum 2015.

May 2019 Update

Tanks Encyclopedia writer Mark Nash visited the Wight Military and Heritage Museum in May 2019 to inspect the progress in the restoration of the Centurion FV3805 self-propelled gun P2. Unfortunatly there has not been any work undertaken on the vehicle for the past four years and, in the words of a staff member “has all but ground to a halt”. It is left out in the open without any covering and spider webs cover the hull. Its condition is deteriorating. This is very sad as it is the only surviving example of this vehicle. The owner has offered to sell it but the price he is asking is very expensive. (There is also an ownership dispute that has not yet been settled). The vehicle used to run but the engine has now seized due to water getting into the engine via the exhausts. Any useful engine parts have been cannibalised.

Looking in through the rear hatch, you can see the Drivers position in the front left corner of the superstructure. (Photograph: Mark Nash Photography)

This tattered piece of tarp weight down by a pallet and old tyre is the only protection the vehicle has from the elements. (Photograph: Mark Nash Photography)

A view of the cannibilised engine through the vehicle’s rear hatch. (Photograph: Mark Nash Photography)

Illustration of the FV3805 Centurion Self Propelled Gun (SPG) prototype by Jarosław Janas

WW2 German SPGs

10.5 cm leFH 18/3 (Sf.) auf Geschützwagen B2(f)

Post author By Craig Moore
Post date November 25, 2016
8 Comments on 10.5 cm leFH 18/3 (Sf.) auf Geschützwagen B2(f)

German Reich (1942)
SPG – 16 Built

The Giant SPG

With the fall of France in May 1940, the German Army captured a lot of French Army tanks and vehicles. They called them Beutepanzer (trophy tanks). The approximate numbers of French AFVs captured by the German Wehrmacht are as follows: 300x Panhard-178; 3,000 Renault-UE; 350 to 360x Lorraine 37L and 38L; 1700x Renault FT Tanks (various versions); 843x Renault R35; 550 to 600x Hotchkiss H-35 and H-39; 50x FCM-36 tanks; 297x SOMUA S-35 tanks and 161x Char B1 bis tanks. More than 5,000 captured French army armoured fighting vehicles were repaired or converted in French factories. Vehicle manuals were translated into German and the vehicle spare part production initiated.
One such Beutepanzer trophy tank was the very large Char B1 bis heavy tank. Many of them had been abandoned by their crews after running out of ammunition or fuel. The French Army supply system was poorly organized in 1940. Very few of these monster tanks were knocked out by enemy action.

Factory fresh 10.5cm le.F.H.18/3 (Sf) auf Geschuetzwagen B2(f), having just been driven out of the workshop doors.
They were given the German designation Panzerkampfwagen B2 740(f) shortened to Pz.Kpfw. B2 740(f). The letter ‘f’ signified that it was a French built tank. Hitler issued a directive in March 1941 that sixteen of these tanks were to be converted to self-propelled artillery guns and used to support the Flammenwerfer auf Pz.Kpfw.B2(f) flamethrower tanks as they assaulted Soviet positions on the Eastern front.
It took longer than initially planned to convert the Char B1 tanks to self-propelled artillery guns. Lack of equipment, vehicles, guns and parts were blamed. The Flammenwerfer auf Pz.Kpfw.B2(f) flamethrower tanks went into action without supporting artillery SPGs in June 1941.
The Panzer-Abteilung (Flamm).103 was disbanded by mid-July 1941. The B2 Flammenwerfer tanks were a disappointment to the Germans. They kept on breaking down with mechanical problems. They were not reliable and could not be depended upon to get to an enemy strong point and neutralize it.

Livery

Most of the 10.5cm leFH 18/3 (Sf) auf Geschützwagen B2(f) artillery self-propelled artillery guns were painted ‘Panzergrey’ at the factory but a few were repainted in the standard late war paint scheme of sandy yellow ‘Dunkelgelb’ with brown and yellow mix.

10.5cm le.F.H.18/3 (Sf.) auf G.W.B2 in the Rheinmetall-Borsig factory with bad weather tarpaulin on the top painted in ‘Dunkelgelb’ sandy yellow not ‘Panzergrey’.
The following photograph ends the discussion as to what colour the 10.5cm leFH 18/3 (Sf) auf Geschützwagen B2(f) artillery self-propelled artillery guns were painted. The first vehicle is painted in the sandy yellow ‘Dunkelgelb’ and the one following it is painted in the earlier ‘Panzergrey’.

Design and Production

The design contract was given to Rheinmetall-Borsig, which was based in Dusseldorf. They created blueprints for a mount placed on top of the tank chassis that could take the 10.5 cm leFH 18/3 artillery howitzer. The gun crew would be protected from small arms fire by an open top armored casement. Its armor plate thickness ranged between 30–40 mm (1.18-1.57 in) thick at the front and 20–30 mm (0.79-1.18 in) at the sides. Tarpaulins would cover the open top to give the crew shelter from bad and hot weather.
It had a five-man crew: commander, driver and three gunners. The Char B1 main gun in the hull had been removed. It was not replaced with a hull mounted machine-gun. For self-defence, a 7.92 mm (0.31 in) MG 34 machine gun was available to be fitted to the top of the gun casement. The crew also had access to handheld 9 mm (0.35 in) machine pistols.
The Char B2 tanks already had a very high profile. With the mounting of the 10.5cm leFH 18/3 howitzer on the top, it was very tall. Its height was 3 m (9ft 11in). This made it easy for the enemy to spot, so it had to be deployed behind the initial front line of tanks.
The French army radios were replaced. Some could only send messages by Morse code. Modern German Fug.5 radios, that could provide voice communication, were fitted in the machines. The removal of the hull mounted 75 mm (2.95 in) gun increased the amount of room there was available for the storing of extra equipment and ammunition.

Operational Service

Five were produced by January 1942, five in the following February and six in March. The sixteen 10.5cm le.F.H.18/3 (Sf) auf G.W. B2(f) were issued to Artillerie-Regiment 93, 1.Abteilung (1st Battalion) of the 26.Panzer-Division which was in France. The 1st Battalion had three batteries with four self-propelled artillery guns in each battery. The four remaining vehicles were issued to the HQ battery on reserve. Reports stated that the vehicle was prone to frequent mechanical breakdowns.
An Artillerie-Regiment 93’s combat strength report dated 31st May 1943 reported that they had fifteen 10.5cm le.F.H.18/3 (Sf) auf G.W. B2(f) SPGs of which 14 were in an operational condition. This report also recorded that twelve Wespe 10.5cm SPGs had been issued to the 1.Abt./Artl.Rgt.93 as replacement vehicles for the mechanically unreliable 10.5cm le.F.H.18/3 (Sf) auf Geschuetzwagen B2(f) SPGs. These were then used as training vehicles to teach new tank drivers, gunners and mechanics their trade skills. The 26.Panzer-Division was sent to Italy in July 1943.
Orders had been issued to send these vehicles to Sardinia to be part of the strength of the 90.Panzergrenadier-Division. No records have been found to confirm that the fifteen remaining vehicles were transferred to Sardinia or what their ultimate fate was. The 90.Panzergrenadier-Division withdrew to Corsica from Sardinia and was then sent to northern Italy. It fought at Anzio, Rome, the Caesar and Gothic Lines and the Po River. It was destroyed near Bologna, Italy, April 1945.

The 10.5cm LeFH 18/3 howitzer

The 10.5 cm leFH 18 gun was a German light howitzer used in World War II. The abbreviation leFH stands for the German words ‘leichte FeldHaubitze’ which, translated, means light field howitzer. It was fitted with a ‘Mundungbremse’ muzzle brake to allow longer range charges to be fired and reduce the amount of recoil on the gun. This increased the operational life of the gun barrel.
The 105 mm (4.13 in) high explosive HE shell weighed 14.81 kg (32.7lb). The armor piercing shell weighed 14.25 kg (31.4 lb). It had a muzzle velocity of 470 m/s (1,542 ft/s) and a maximum firing range of 10,675 m (11,675 yds). With a good gun crew, it had a rate of fire between 4-6 rounds per minute.
The high explosive shell was in two pieces. It was a ‘separate loading’ or two-part round. First, the high explosive HE projectile would be loaded and then the cartridge propellant case. Depending on the range of the target different sized bags of propellant were inserted into the cartridge. More bags were used for longer range targets.
The 10.5cm leichte Feld Haubitze 18 gun was not very useful in the direct-fire mode against enemy armored vehicles. It could only penetrate 52 mm (2 in) of armor plate at a very short range of 500 meters (550 yd).
A HEAT-round for the 10.5cm leFH 18 was developed in June 1940. It went into service in a large number in winter 1941/42, probably as a reaction to the T-34s and KV-series tanks appearing on the Eastern Front. There were 3 different types of HEAT-rounds, the GR H1/A, GR H1/B and GR H1/C. The GR H1/A was the first one developed in June 1940, followed by the GR H1/B sometimes in 1941 and the final GR H1/C in 1942.

An article by Craig Moore

Geschützwagen B2(f) specifications
Dimensions (L,W,H)	7.62 x 2.4 x 3 m (25′ x 7’10” x 9’11”)
Total weight, battle ready	32.5 tons
Crew	5 (commander, driver, gunner, 2x loaders)
Propulsion	Renault 307 water cooled, 6-cylinder gasoline/petrol engine, 272 hp
Top road speed	28 km/h (17 mph)
Off road speed	21 km/h (13 mph)
Operational range (road)	135 km (84 miles)
Main Armament	10.5 cm (4.13 in) leFH 18/3 howitzer
Secondary Armament	7.92 mm (0.31 in) MG34 machine gun
Armor (chassis)	Front 40-60 mm (1.57-2.36 in) Sides and rear 55 mm (2.16 in)
Total production	16

Sources

Beute-Kraftfahrzeuge und panzer der deutschen Wehrmacht by Walter J. Spielberger
Beutepanzer der Wehrmacht by Alexander Lüdekes
Die Feldartillerie des Heeres in der Panzerabwehr 1939–1945 (Militärgeschichte” issue 1/1994, page 9–15) by Wolfgang Fleische.
Profile AFV Weapons 55 – German Self Propelled Weapons by Peter Chamberlain and H.L.Doyle.
German Heavy Field Artillery 1934-1945 by Joachim Engelmann
German Artillery at War 1939-45 Vol 1 vy Frank V. de Sisto.
German Army S.P. Weapons 1939-45 part 2. handbook No1 by by Peter Chamberlain and H.L.Doyle.
Panzer Tracts by Thomas L.Jentz and H.L.Doyle
Assistance of Marcus Hock and Steve Osfield

German Army 10.5cm leFH 18/3 (Sf) auf Geschuetzwagen B2(f) self-propelled artillery gun by David Bocquelet

10.5cm leFH 18/3 (Sf) auf Geschuetzwagen B2(f) in Dunkelgelb livery by David Bocquelet

Gallery

Two 10.5cm le.F.H.18/3 (Sf.) auf G.W.B2(f) self-propelled artillery guns on the move. They were designated alphabetically in capital letters (A – P).

Gun crew standing next to a 10.5cm le.F.H.18/3 (Sf) auf Geschuetzwagen B2(f)

The fighting compartment that surrounded the gun of 10.5cm le.F.H.18/3 (Sf) auf Geschuetzwagen B2(f) N had an open top. In bad or very hot weather, a tarpaulin covered the top.

Notice that 10.5cm le.F.H.18/3 (Sf) auf GW B2(f) SPG ‘D’ is carrying a large wooded box on the back.

10.5cm le.F.H.18/3 (Sf) auf GW B2(f) Artillery Self-propelled Gun, with vehicle identification letter D (source: ebay)

Here is a side view of another 10.5cm le.F.H.18/3 (Sf) auf GW B2(f) SPG carrying a large wooded box on the back.
The 75mm gun was removed from the Char B1 hull when the tank was converted into an artillery self-propelled gun.
The 75 mm (2.95 in) gun was removed from the Char B1 hull when the tank was converted into an artillery self-propelled gun.

Side view of 10.5cm le.F.H.18/3 (Sf) auf GW B2(f) Artillery Self-propelled Gun, with vehicle identification letter N, being inspected by senior officers (Giuseppe Bianco)

Front view of 10.5cm le.F.H.18/3 (Sf) auf GW B2(f) Artillery Self-propelled Gun, with vehicle identification letter N, being inspected by senior officers (Giuseppe Bianco)

ssssssssss — 10.5cm le.F.H.18/3 (Sf) auf GW B2(f) Artillery Self-propelled Gun, with vehicle identification letter C (source: ebay)

Germans Tanks of ww2

German Self-Propelled Artillery Guns of the Second World War

By Craig Moore

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WW2 German Other Vehicles

Gas Powered Fahrschulwanne Tanks

Post author By Craig Moore
Post date November 18, 2016
20 Comments on Gas Powered Fahrschulwanne Tanks

German Reich (1939-1945)
Tank Driving School Vehicles – Unknown Number Built

German Fahrschulwanne

The German Army needed vehicles to train tank crew drivers but the big problem was fuel. Diesel and gasoline (petrol) was required for front line vehicles and there was a massive shortage with no solution in sight. German engineers looked for an alternative fuel source. They came up with two solutions. One was a device that burnt wood and produced combustible gas that could power an engine. The other was to use compressed gas bottles that contained gas similar to that supplied to homes in Germany for cooking.
These vehicles were called “Fahrschulwanne”. This is a term used by those who were trained on these vehicles and a combination of “Fahrschule” (Driving school) and the German term “Wanne”. This does not mean the lower hull of a tank but is malapropism (the mistaken use of a word in place of a similar-sounding one, often with an amusing effect) of the term “Badewanne” (Bathtub).

It is a German Army tradition to use nicknames or funny designations for any kind of vehicle. The modern German Army still does this. It calls their Amphibious-Company M3 Amphibious Rigs “Wasser-Bus”, which means water-bus. The term ‘Fahrschulpanzer’ translates to ‘Driving School Tank’. Fahrschulepanzerjäger means Tank-Destroyer-Training-school-vehicle.
A number of books and websites have miss-identified these vehicles as battlefield smoke generators because of the similarity to the Allied smoke generators.

Wood Gas powered tanks – Holzgas

The commercial term for a wood gas generator, or Holzkohevergaser in German, was the Imbert-holz-gas system which then was shortened to Holzgas. The gas was used to fuel vehicle engines thus saving on petrol/gasoline and diesel. The Imbert system is a closed external combustion system designed to produce gas that can be cooled and used in an internal combustion engine.
The Imbert system uses wood pellets and the gas produced needs cleaning and cooling prior to passing to the cylinders of the vehicle, otherwise it would choke up with residue. During the production process, biomass or other carbon-containing materials are gasified within the oxygen-limited closed environment of a wood gas generator to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
These gases can then be burnt as a fuel within an oxygen rich environment to produce carbon dioxide, water and heat. In Germany, around 500,000 gas powered vehicles were in use at the end of the war due to the lack of petroleum.

Holzgas wood gas burner diagram

Town Gas powered tanks – Stadtgas

As WWII progressed, gasoline / petrol and diesel became increasingly scarce in Germany. In order to save precious fuel, the Panzer driving schools (Panzer Fahrschule) frequently used vehicles equipped with Stadtgas (city gas) in the form of LPG compressed gas bottles fixed to the outside of the tank chassis for safety reasons. A German fuel shortage in World War 2, caused largely by Germany’s small natural oil reserves, was a factor in the German defeat. The Allied bombing program also depleted urgently needed stocks of fuel.
Prior to WW2 Germany, was heavily dependent on foreign fuel imports. It consumed 44.6 million barrels of oil annually and only produced 12.8 million barrels of domestic oil and synthetic oil. Germany did have a large deposit of coal and lignite which enabled them to increase the amount of synthetic fuel produced but it was never enough. This was one of the reasons Hitler decided to open up the Eastern front, in order to capture oil production plants.
German towns used coal gas sometimes called town gas or Stadtgas for heating, lighting and cooking. It was made by blowing air through an incandescent fuel bed (commonly coke or coal) in a gas producer. The reaction of fuel with insufficient air for total combustion produces carbon monoxide (CO); this reaction is exothermic and self-sustaining. It was discovered that adding steam to the input air of a gas producer would increase the calorific value of the fuel gas by enriching it with CO and hydrogen (H2) produced by water gas reactions.
Luckily, Town gas or Stadtgas can be bottled. When mildly compressed it easily changes to a liquid state. This allows a large amount of gas (stored energy) to be contained in a relatively small space. The reverse process is just as fortunate – if decompressed (allowed to escape the pressure vessel) the liquid gas will quickly revert to its gaseous state (vaporize).

Fahrschulpanzer I

One of the first tanks to be used as a turretless driving school vehicle was the Panzer I. At first, the fuel shortage problems had not been realized, and these vehicles did not need Holzgas or Stadtgas. The tank school was still using petrol to fuel their vehicles. This soon changed and they were quickly converted. Some were powered by a Holzgas wood burner and others by compressed Stadtgas in high-pressure bottles.

The first Panzer I batches were delivered without superstructure or turret, to be used as driver training vehicles.

These vehicles were named Fahrschulepanzerwagen I Ausf.A

Another image of a Fahrschulepanzerwagen I Ausf.A, at work in a winter scenery.

A group of Fahrschulepanzerwagen I Ausf.As fording a shallow lake or river.

A Fahrschulepanzerwagen I Ausf.B with what looks like a Stadgas generator.

A Fahrschulepanzerwagen I Ausf.A with an experimental Festbettvergaser Holzgas generator

The rear of a Fahrschulepanzerwagen I with Holzgas generator

Several Holzgas Fahrschulpanzer Is were modified to resemble tanks and used to train the Volkssturm in 1945.

This Panzer I Ausf.A chassis is powered by a wood gas burner and is fitted with a Panzer III turret. It was used for turret crew training.

German tank school wood gas powered Fahrschulpanzer I Ausf.A chassis and a Panzer III turret armed with 3.7 cm (1.46 in) gun used for teaching three-man turret crew procedures.

Fahrschulpanzer II

After the invasion of France in May 1940, the Panzer II light tank was considered obsolete and was withdrawn from front line service. Some were issued to Panzer schools. Some were also fitted with a tall wood burning gasifier combustion chamber of the Holzgas system standing erect, fixed to the rear of the tank. The long tubes were used to store and cool the gas down before it was piped into the engine.

Fahrschulepanzerwagen II with Imbert Holzvergasser wood gas burner with tanks from Pz.Abt 202, at Sentvid, Medvode near Ljubljana, Yugoslavia

A Fahrschulepanzerwagen II being transported by rail, next to an Italian M15/42 with an added rear bustle.

Another Fahrschulepanzerwagen II. These photographs were taken in 1945 Yugoslavia and had been captured by Soviet forces along with some Italian tanks.

Another view of the same Fahrschulepanzerwagen II.

Fahrschulpanzer III

The Panzer III tank was the main battle tank of the German army from mid-1940 to 1943. Tank crews needed to be trained on that vehicle type. They could not be expected to learn how to drive a tank in a light tank, like a Panzer I or Panzer II, and directly master a much heavier and bigger machine.
Special versions of the Panzer III tank were built without a turret. They had a large open central area which held the students and the instructor.

This Fahrschulpanzer III was powered by gasoline (petrol). This photo was taken early on in the war.

Notice that there are only five track road wheels on this Fahrschulepanzerwagen III, and not the normal six wheels. This tank is a rare example of a Panzer III Ausf.A, the first version of the Panzer III that entered service with the German Army. They were first delivered in 1937. The wheels are bigger than the wheels used in later versions.

This Fahrschulpanzer III was converted to run on compressed Stadgas. Four large gas bottles were strapped to the top of the track guard, two on each side.

Fahrschulpanzer IV

The Panzer IV tank chassis was also used for tank driver training. Some had the turret removed and Stadtgas bottles fitted at the rear of the vehicle. A special boxed container was mounted in a frame at the end of the engine compartment. The gas cylinders were placed vertically inside the box.

A good side view of a Fahrschulepanzer IV and its Stadtgas cylinders.

The front part of the Stadgas cylinder holder. Some piping can be seen, which probably took the gas from the containers to the engine.

A better view of the cylinders from the rear.

A turreted Panzer IV with the gas cylinders fixed in a horizontal position on the outside of the tank at the rear.

Another turreted Panzer IV, but with the gas cylinders fixed vertically at the rear. Also, notice the full Schurzens.

Fahrschulpanzer I, petrol powered

Fahrschulpanzer I petrol powered tank with raised rear for students

Fahrschulpanzer I Holzgas with a mock-up turret. It was meant to simulate an enemy tank during the training of Volkssturm troops

Fahrschulpanzer II Holzgas

Fahrschulpanzer Sd.Kfz.251/1 Ausf.C

Sd.Kfz.251/1 Red Cross ambulance powered by Stadtgas

Fahrschulpanzer V Panther

The Fahrschule Panther used six Stadtgas bottles, three on each side, in brackets attached to a platform. A system of conduits and nozzles ran over the engine deck to connect the bottles to the Panther’s fuel system. Because of the obvious safety risks vehicles with Stadtgas were only used for training and didn’t see combat.

Stadtgas Fahrschulepanzerwagen V Panther Ausf.D with its crew in front of it

Another photo of a Fahrschulepanzerwagen V Panther powered by Stadtgas cylinders. The image is obviously overexposed.

Fahrschulepanzerwagen V Panther powered by Stadtgas cylinders. Notice that the hull machine-gun flap is closed.

Fahrschulpanzer VI Tiger

Many people may be shocked to discover that the feared German Army Tiger tank was also modified to run on cooking gas and wood gas. They were not used in combat on the front line. They were used as Fahrschulpanzer Tiger tanks (driving school Tiger tanks). The first photograph shows

A Tiger tank chassis converted to run on the Holzgas system. The wood burner combustion unit is in the middle at the rear and it is flanked on each side by the vertical gas storage and cooling cylinders.

Tiger tanks that were converted to be powered by Stadtgas. The four compressed gas cylinders were fixed to the rear of the vehicle, two on each side.

Notice that the cylinder mounting is different from the previous photograph. That had the top of the gas cylinder pointing towards the front of the vehicle at a downwards angle, while this vehicle other has it pointing to the rear of the tank.

Fahrschulepanzerwagen VI Tiger tank with mechanical problems. The Stadtgas cylinders can be seen at the back.

This photo shows the way the Stadtgas cylinders were fitted at the rear of the tank school Tigers.

Stadtgas powered German tank school Tiger on parade. The gas cylinders are at the back.

German tank driving school lesson gone wrong – Credits: Micro antic

Stadtgas powered German tank school Tiger on heathland. The gas cylinders are at the back.

Fahrschulpanzer Beutepanzer M14/41

Turretless Beutepanzer captured Italian M14/41 tank powered by Holzgas used to train drivers. It has a Balkenkreuz cross on the superstructure. It could be a Semovente M42 75/18 SPG. It is hard to tell as they use the same chassis.

Fahrschulpanzer Marder III

Self-propelled anti-tank gun crews also had to learn how to drive their vehicles. This is a photograph of a Marder III Ausf.M converted into a Fahrschulpanzer Marder III tank driving school vehicle. As the vehicle was smaller than the tank chassis used in driver training, only two gas cylinders could be fitted to the outside on the Marder III.

Fahrschulepanzerjäger 38(t) Ausf.M Marder III Holzgasantrieb

Fahrschulpanzer 38(t)

The Czechoslovakian built Panzer 38(t) tank chassis was used as a basis to manufacture tank hunters like the Hetzer and self-propelled anti-tank and artillery guns. It was also used to make wood gas powered German tank driving school vehicles.
The tall towers fixed to the rear of the vehicle are the wood burning gasifier Holzgas combustion unit. It was an airtight vessel into which was introduced a charge of wood, charcoal, or anthracite coal. The fuel was heated either internally or externally in order to initiate a self-sustaining gasification of the fuel in an oxygen deprived environment.
The precipitation tank is on the side, behind the three long gas cooling and storage pipes affixed to both sides of the tank chassis.

Four Fahrschulpanzer 38(t) vehicles in a line in a post-WW2 scrap yard, waiting to be cut up.

Fahrschulpanzer Sd.Kfz.251/1 Halftrack

German military driving schools also converted Sd.Kfz.251 half tracks to run on wood gas Holzgas burners as well as compressed Stadtgas. The half-tracks that were fitted with a wood burner, like in the first photograph below, had the gas from the burner piped into the reservoir, and then into the modified engine carburetor. Wood-gas modified vehicles were therefore technically a dual fuel vehicle. The self-sustaining gasification of the wood charcoal or coal required another fuel to start the process.
Gas reservoir sizes depended upon the vehicle, engine, and gasifier size. The gas storage containers were smaller on the half-tracks, as they had an engine with a better fuel consumption rate compared with the very thirst tank engines. In the case of small engines, like on the Kubelwagen car, the wood gas was piped directly into the modified engine carburetor.

Sd.Kfz.250/1 Ausf.A leichter Schützenpanzerwagen (Holzgas)

You can see the Holzgas wood burner on the back of this half-track

Schützenpanzerwagen Sd.Kfz.251/1 Ausf.B Stadtgas

This Stadtgas powered half-track has been used as a battlefield ambulance.

This wood gas powered German half-track has a lower profile burner at the back.

German Supply vehicles

Many German supply vehicles that operated behind the front-line were fitted with wood gas Holzgas burners because of fuel shortages.

Latil 4×4 TAR Heavy Artillery Tractor and Lorry

Sturmpanzerwagen A7V 506 ‘Mephisto’

Panzerspähwagen II Ausführung Škoda

Grille 17/21 Self-Propelled Guns

Schneider CD Artillery Tractor

Tank Mark VI

Killen-Strait Armoured Tractor

Chieftain Casement Test Rig (CTR) SPG

Raupenschlepper Ost Artillery SPG

Tank AA, 20 mm Quad, Skink

Hummel-Wespe 10.5 cm SPG

Pioneer Tractor Skeleton Tank

8 cm Schwerer Granatwefer 34 auf Panzerspähwagen AMR 35(f)

12.2 cm FK(r) auf Geschützwagen Lorraine Schlepper(f)

10.5 cm leFH 18/6 auf Waffenträger IVb Heuschrecke 10

10.5 cm leFH 18/40/2 (Sf.) auf Geschützwagen III/IV

Überlandwagen Geländewagen A7V

FV3805

10.5 cm leFH 18/3 (Sf.) auf Geschützwagen B2(f)

Gas Powered Fahrschulwanne Tanks

France (1913) Tractor/Lorry – 3,000 Built

The Latil Company

The Latil TAR

The Delahaye ‘Mécanisme à Chenille’ Tracked Units

Surviving Vehicles

Sources & Acknowledgements

The Rarest Tank in the World: 506 ‘Mephisto’

The A7V

The History of ‘Mephisto’

A Home Down-Under

Commemorative Book

Source

Tanks Encyclopedia Magazine, #1 Republished

German Reich/Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (1940) Light Tank – 5 Prototypes Built

Name

Design

Alterations

Fate

Specifications

Sources

German Reich (1942) Self-Propelled Gun – 1 Built

The Tiger gun carrier

Design and Problems

Armament

Crew members

Mobility

A Troubled End

Gallery

Wrong photos

Grille 17/21 specifications

Sources

France (1917-1918) Tow and Supply Vehicle – 330 Built

Schneider Char de Dépannage

Design and Production

Post WW1 service

The Schneider CD3 Char de dépannage

Specifications

Gallery

WW2 German Army Schneider CD tractors

WW2 5 cm Pak für Küstenbefestigung auf Selbstfahrlafette Schneider CD(f)

Surviving Schneider CD

Sources

United Kingdom (1917-1918) Heavy Tank – 1 Wooden Mock-up Built

The Commander’s Post Battle Conference

The need for change

The Side Sponson

The 6pdr Gun

The Tank Tower

Sources

Mark VI specifications

United Kingdom (1917-1918) Armored Tractor – 1 Prototype Built

A first tank contender

R.N.A.S. Armoured tracked vehicle line drawings

Sources

Movement trials

Barbed Wire dragging and cutting trials

Company catalogue Artwork

Straits Tractor Specifications

United Kingdom (1972) Self-Propelled Gun – 1 Prototype Built

The Chieftain CTR ‘Jagdchieftain’

France (1913)
Tractor/Lorry – 3,000 Built

German Reich/Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (1940)
Light Tank – 5 Prototypes Built

German Reich (1942)
Self-Propelled Gun – 1 Built

France (1917-1918)
Tow and Supply Vehicle – 330 Built

United Kingdom (1917-1918)
Heavy Tank – 1 Wooden Mock-up Built

United Kingdom (1917-1918)
Armored Tractor – 1 Prototype Built

United Kingdom (1972)
Self-Propelled Gun – 1 Prototype Built

German Reich (1943-1944)
Self-Propelled Gun – 4 Prototypes Built

Dominion of Canada (1944)
SPAAG – Approximately 3 Built

German Reich (1944)
SPG – 12+ Built

United States of America (1918)
Tank Prototype – 1 Built