french railway gun

[Manuferey]

Jos,

I don't see any difference between the barrel of "Timide" and the other 320 mm Mle 1917. Am I missing something?

According to Guy François, only "Atchoum" was different as a 340mm Mle 1893.

Emmanuel

[jopaerya]

Hi Manu

Maybe it's just optical illusion , but the barrel looks shorter and the "rings" on the barrel look different .

Regards Jos

[Sturm78]

Hi all,

Can somebody help me with these two french railway guns?

Images from Ebay
Sturm78

[Manuferey]

Sturm78,

I think that the top picture shows a 274 mm Mle 1887/93 gun and the bottom picture a 320 mm Mle 1870/30 gun. Both guns were mounted on carriages of 320 mm Mle 1870-81 guns.

A locomotive named "locotracteur Crochat" in French is visible on the left of the top picture.

Emmanuel

[jopaerya]

Hello

Sturm78 has posted on jun 02 a photo with the same gun ( 274 mm Mle 1887/93 ) .
The name of the gun is Marie-Louise , offcource a picture from Ebay .

Regards Jos

[Sturm78]

Emmanuel wrote
...and the bottom picture a 320 mm Mle 1870/30 gun. Both guns were mounted on carriages of 320 mm Mle 1870-81 guns.

320mm Mle 1870/30 ??

I don`t know this model. In this calibre only 320mm Mle 1870-81, 320mm Mle 1870-84 and 320mm Mle 1870-93

Regards Sturm78

[Sturm78]

Hi all,

A WWI-era image:

274mm Mle 1893-96 ??

Image from Ebay
Sturm78

[Manuferey]

I think it is a 274 mm Mle 1887/93. The only Mle 93/96 I know is the 305 mm Mle 1893/96.

Emmanuel

[Sturm78]

Emmanuel wrote
I think it is a 274 mm Mle 1887/93. The only Mle 93/96 I know is the 305 mm Mle 1893/96.

Guy Francois in "Les canons de la Victoire. Tome 2 Pag.39" also mentioned a 274mm Mle 1893-96 gun

Both guns are very similar.

Any ideas about these ones?

Image 1: 305 mm Mle 1893/96 or 274mm Mle 1893/96, maybe ??
Image 2: 320mm Mle1870/93 ??

Images from Ebay
Regards Sturm78

[Manuferey]

Sturm,

You’re right for a 274 mm Mle 93/96. I found several mentions of this gun from various sources in my notes. However, the carriage of the 274 mm Mle 93/96 looks very different from the carriage of the 274 mm Mle 87/93 ("affût à glissement de 320 mm Mle 1870-81"). See the pictures posted by jopearya on February 17, 2011 at 09:51:
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 5#p1560085

For the other pictures:
Image 1: it is “Bashful” (see drawing of the Disney character on the side of the gun), thus a 320 mm “à glissement” Mle 1917.
Image 2: 320 mm à glissement Mle 1870/93 or 70/30 (I’m not sure about their differences) but definitely a barrel of a 320 mm Mle 70/93 on a "affût à glissement de 320 mm Mle 1870-81".

Emmanuel

[Sturm78]

Emmanuel wrote
You’re right for a 274 mm Mle 93/96. I found several mentions of this gun from various sources in my notes. However, the carriage of the 274 mm Mle 93/96 looks very different from the carriage of the 274 mm Mle 87/93 ("affût à glissement de 320 mm Mle 1870-81"). See the pictures posted by jopearya on February 17, 2011 at 09:51:
viewtopic.php?f=70&t=114126&p=1560085#p1560085

I think we're talking about different guns. You're referring to the 274mm Mle 1893-96 sur affut a berceau Schneider (Guy Francois "Les canons de la Victoire. Tome 2 Pag.38) and I am referring to the 274mm Mle 1893-96 sur affut a glissement Schneider
(Guy Francois "Les canons de la Victoire. Tome 2 Pag.39)

The carriages of 305mm Mle 1893/96 and 274mm Mle 1893/96 are very similar but I think I've found a small difference.
The frontal part of the 305mm Mle 1893/96 gun is more elongated and have three small holes
The frontal part of the 274mm Mle 1893/96 gun is more short and have not these holes.

On the other hand, thank you for your help about my last two images

The identification of the French railway guns is often very difficult.
Regards Sturm78

[Manuferey]

Sturm78,

You're right about the two different models of 274 mm Mle 93/96. Slightly different 274 mm Mle 93/96 barrels were indeed mounted on the “affûts à glissement” and on the "affûts à berceau”. Some of the 274 mm on “à glissement” carriages were later rebored to 285 mm along with all the 274 mm on “à berceau” carriages. The other 274 mm guns on “à glissement” carriages had their worn-out Mle 1893/96 barrels replaced by Mle 1887 barrels for some and by Mle 1893 barrels for others. There was actually no designation 274 mm Mle 87/93 as such!
(all the above information come from Guy François)

Regarding the comparison of the “à glissement” carriages of the 305 mm Mle 1893/96 and 274 mm Mle 1893/96, I agree with the differences you mentioned. In addition, the carriage of the 305 mm gun had 2 x 6 axles while the carriage of the 274 mm gun had 2 x 5 axles. (information also from Guy François).

The evolution of the French railway artillery in 1917-1918 makes it indeed very difficult to identify often similar guns with identical carriages. I am learning something new about it almost every day !

Emmanuel

[Sturm78]

Hi all,

I found this image on Ebay. I think it is a 400mm Mle 1915 or Mle 1916 St. Chamond french rail howitzer.

Does somebody know how distinguish between both models?

Sturm78

[Manuferey]

Sturm78,

I concur with your identification. But I don't know how to distinguish Mle 1915 from Mle 1916.

Emmanuel

[AIGSPB]

It does indeed.

In addition, the same picture also appeared on ebay.de a year ago along with another picture showing the whole gun. The caption mentioned "52 cm RUSSLAND 1941".

Only one gun remained in 1940 in the French inventory. It was used by the Germans in the siege of Leningrad and blew up on January 5, 1942 due to a defective shell. So the picture would indeed have been taken at the end of 1941.



Emmanuel

Where the 53cm gun was being operated? I know the true story of demolition of an unknown heavy German "mortar" (probably railway) close to Strelna in Dec. 1941 by rockets of a single Soviet fighter I-16, piloted by Matzievich.