french railway gun

[Sturm78]

Thank you, EPOCH3 and Guy, for your information.

According to an image of Guy Francois in "Eisenbahnartillerie" book, the Germans nicknamed to one of these rail howitzers "Otto".

On the other hand, an image of an 320mm Mle 1870-84 (or 70-30) railgun captured

Image from EBay
Sturm78

[EPOCH3]

thank you for the additional data Sir.

[Manuferey]

Hello,
[...]
400 mm modèle 1915" were former 340 mm modèle 1887 rebored to 400 mm [...]
400 mm modèle 1916" were built with parts of new navy guns 340 mm modèle 1912, forging tubes and new breechs, tubes rebored to 400 mm.[...]
Yours sincerely,
Guy François.

Thank you very much for this information, Guy.

Is there a visible way to differentiate the two models on pictures?

Emmanuel

[EPOCH3]

French guns are not my forte but I think these may show
at least some of the differences ? Please feel free to correct
me if I miss the mark

Regards

[Manuferey]

Thanks a lot, Epoch3. I can see indeed a very visible difference between the barrels !

Now the question becomes which model is which.

Emmanuel

[ALVF]

Hello,

They are two points to identify a "400 mm modèle 1915" and a "400 mm modèle 1916":

-1): the barrel lenght, but they are also two typs of "340 mm modèle 1887", one had a "corps long" and the other a "corps court".

-2): the breech, quite different in the two models.

These figures are taken fron french Manual of the "Obusier de 400 mm modèles 1915 and 1916":

Barrels of the two typs of 400 mm.

Breech of 400 mm modèle 1915.

Breech of the 400 mm modèle 1916.

Yours sincerely,
Guy François.

[Manuferey]

Thank you very much, Guy.

Based on your documents, I have now figured out that Epoch3's two top pictures show the 1915 model while the two lower pictures show the 1916 model. Is it correct?

Emmanuel

[EPOCH3]

First picture is the real photo used to make the "whitewashed"
edited press photo above (second from top in previous post) - and the second photo is
I believe one of the 400 mm modèle 1916 loaned to AEF (Photo Signal Corp).

Regards

[ALVF]

Hello,

The things are a more complicated because the tubes of former 340 mm modèle 1887 (400 mm modèle 1915) are different:
-they are some 340 mm modèle 1887 guns with tube "à corps long", similar to the drawing of the Manual.
-they are other 340 mm modèle 1887 guns with a tube "à corps court", not illustrated in the Manual.
So, yours photographs:
-Emmanuel: the first two photographs of "Epoch3" are a modèle 1915 "à corps court" but the last are also a 400 mm modèle 1915 with a former tube "à corps long".These photographs are taken from a well known series of 1940 shots of "AT 5015 "Maréchal-des-Logis Lebeau", this is the name of a non-commissioned officer killed in action in 1917 in a ALVF battery (during the Great War, the P 5015 was named "L'oiseau mouche").
-Epoch3: yours two last photographs show two 400mm modèle 1915 also.The last AEF photograph shows a "corps long" tube and the breech from a former 340 mm modèle 1887.
Yours sincerely,
Guy François.

[EPOCH3]

Thanks for the details Sir - so, 340 mm modèle 1887 style breech design = 400 mm modèle 1916 style breech
design after being reworked?

Regards

[EPOCH3]

one more FR 400mm
Regards

[EPOCH3]

A few more from the series mentioned previously.
Regards

[Manuferey]

Hello,

The things are a more complicated because the tubes of former 340 mm modèle 1887 (400 mm modèle 1915) are different:
-they are some 340 mm modèle 1887 guns with tube "à corps long", similar to the drawing of the Manual.
-they are other 340 mm modèle 1887 guns with a tube "à corps court", not illustrated in the Manual.

So, yours photographs:
-Emmanuel: the first two photographs of "Epoch3" are a modèle 1915 "à corps court" but the last are also a 400 mm modèle 1915 with a former tube "à corps long".[ ...]

Yours sincerely,
Guy François.

Thank you very much, Guy. I'll have to dig deeper into these differences.

Emmanuel

[EPOCH3]

Any guesses as to what this model might be? It looks like maybe a 240mm Mle 1876 as the barrel protrudes beyond the front of the carriage frame. It looks like it has been slightly disassembled and then mounted on a heavy trailer for towing. The Germans are seen participating in the activity so I assume it is sometime after the occupation began. This is probably being loaded up to be sent to the scrapyard but is there any record of the Germans using any of the old mounts and/or barrel for ANY other purposes? I don't think I have ever come across any data on that but it would be interesting to know where these older weapons served any purpose other than to feed the smelters. Regards

[ALVF]

Hello,

The photograph shows a "Canon de 24 cm modèle 1876 sur Affût-Truck de circonstance modèle 1916", the gun is on the "Train rouleur monté sur roues à bandages caoutchouc".These trailers were in building in 1918, the trailer neads two Latil TAR heavy tractors for towing, few of them were made.
The photograph is taken to the Museum of "Ecole d'Artillerie de Fontainebleau".This fantastic Museum was entirely pillaged by germans in 1940.This Museum had all the french guns typs made since 18th century and many foreign guns and especially nearly all models of german guns of the Great War with many rarities, the Museum had also a great numbers of small arms, automatic weapons and trench guns.
After 1945, some guns were returned in France, especially old guns but the many 1890 to 1939 guns were nearly all lost in Germany.I have more that 300 photographs taken in 1920 years in this Museum and the variety of german and french guns was very fantastic!
Yours sincerely,
Guy François.