french railway gun

[Manuferey]

Thank you very much, Guy.

Emmanuel

[ALVF]

Hello,

Some pictures to distinguish some 305 mm french railway guns:

-305 mm modèle 1893-96 on Batignolles mount, the tube and the craddle have been taken on the former battleship "Iéna". Here, we see the gun matriculated R 1899 n° 2 mounted on railway mount which had the name "Anne" in 1916-1918 years:

305 mle 1893-96 Anne du Iéna.jpg

-305 mm modèle 1893-96 on Schneider glissement mount in 1916:

305 Mle 1893-96 P 3052.jpg

-305 mm modèle 1906-10 on Schneider glissement mount in 1940:

305 mle 1906-10.jpg

-370 mm modèle 1915 on Batignolles mount (made by Schneider for this mounting), the gun is the former 305 mm modèle 1887, matriculated R 1892 n° 1 taken from the former coast defence ship, garde-côte cuirassé "Amiral Tréhouart", the gun was shortened and rebored to 370 mm and marked "Tfé" (transformé) R 1916 n° 9. The date of the photograph is 1918:

370 mle 1915.jpg

Yours sincerely,
Guy François.

[schwarzermai]

Thank you very much again, Guy, its always a pleasure to hear from you.
Amazing detailed infos.
uwe

[Manuferey]

I second Uwe. Thank you very much, Guy.

Emmanuel

[EPOCH3]

Supplemental data on the 305 vs 370 Mle 15
Regards

[Sturm78]

Hi all,

An image from Ebay. I can not identify the exact model...

Sturm78

[EPOCH3]

A data point wrt to identifying at least some of the various configurations on this style of chassis.

[ALVF]

Hello,

It is a 274 mm modèle 1917 on a "affût à glissement Schneider".

-50 new guns 274 mm modèle 1917 are ordered in 1917 for the mounting on 2X5 boggies sliding mounts. After the 11th november 1918, only 24 guns were confirmed and built in 1919-1920 years.
The gun is an improvment of former navy gun of 274 mm modèle 1893-96.

-in 1918, they are 49 sliding mounts (50 built in 1916) with 2X5 boggies: 44 of 32 cm (modèles 1870-81, 1870-84 and 1870-93) and 5 of 274 mm or rebored to 285 mm, ( 1 gun 274 mm was scuttled and lost on 27th may 1918 during german "Chemin des Dames" attack).

-in 1920, 16 former 32 cm sliding mounts are refurbished, slightly modified and provided with new boggies. 16 brand news guns 274 mm modèle 1917 are mounted on these mounts.

-in 1940, the 16 guns 274 mm modèle 1917 are mobilized.

The key points to identify the 274 mm modèle 1917:

-1: the breech:

274 mle 1917 a.jpg

-2: the "frette porte-tourillon" with strong bolts:

274mle 1917 b.jpg

-3: the profile of the tube (here is a "réserve" tube):

274 mle 1917 c.jpg

Yours sincerely,
Guy François.

[Sturm78]

Thank you very much for your help, Guy

According to your book "eisenbahnartillerie" 6 of these guns used by Germans with Batteries E.6/100 (x2) and E.692 (x3) as 27.4cm K E 592(f)
At least some of these guns used (?) and abandoned in South France in 1944 by E.692 and the E.6/100 was deployed in Canal coast in 1944

Were these guns used by Germans outside of France during WW2?
Did they really engage in combat or were they abandoned without any use in action?
Which was the fate of the rest of the 16 guns that France had in 1940?

Sturm78

[schwarzermai]

Hello Sturm,

in 1944 - these guns were used at Eisenbahn-Batteries 7./100 and 8./100 too - each with 2 guns 27,4 cm K. 592 (f)

7./100 in action at Heeresgruppe Nordukraine and
8./100 at Heeresgruppe Mitte

uwe

[EPOCH3]

for comparison sake, here is a profile shot of the the older 274mm Mle 1893.

[Sturm78]

uwe wrote
in 1944 - these guns were used at Eisenbahn-Batteries 7./100 and 8./100 too - each with 2 guns 27,4 cm K. 592 (f)

7./100 in action at Heeresgruppe Nordukraine and
8./100 at Heeresgruppe Mitte

Hi Uwe....then the Germans captured/used more than 6 of these guns ....

Here, an image of an 370mm Mle 1915 rail howitzer. I am not sure if this image was taken in WW1 or WW2...

Sturm78

[EPOCH3]

This looks like the same 37cm ALGP 78-x2 based on camo pattern.
See also that it is numbered P. 5012 in the retouched pic/photo which is from a German manual.

[Sturm78]

Thanks EPOCH3,

Were these howitzers reused by Germans during ww1 ?

According to Guy Francois, 4 pieces were captured by Germans in May 1918 and 3 of them returned to France in 1919

Sturm78

[schwarzermai]

Hi Uwe....then the Germans captured/used more than 6 of these guns ....

Sturm78

Hello Sturm,

at Nov. 29th 1944 there were a total of 11 x 27,4 cm K. 592 (f) in german hand

3 x at Feldheer
2 x at OKW use (think this means at OKW Kriegsschauplatz/ OKW-theatre of war)
6 x Feldzeugbestand - from that 4 x ready for use and 2 in maintenance

it was ordered to produce 500 shots a month

Uwe