french autocanon de 75 mle 1897

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attilio
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french autocanon de 75 mle 1897

#1

Post by attilio » 15 Jun 2005, 19:20

Have you any informations about the French Units that used this "autocanon" during the war in north Africa?

(french 75 mm mod 1897 gun mounted on Fargo 4x 2 truck)




Thanks

Attilio
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1118771766.jpg
1118771766.jpg (31.26 KiB) Viewed 3843 times

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Igor Geiller
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#2

Post by Igor Geiller » 18 Jun 2005, 12:06

Hi

You will find some informations on this website:

http://www.chars-francais.net/archives/ ... lindes.htm

Regards
Igor


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David Lehmann
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#3

Post by David Lehmann » 12 Jun 2006, 15:07

Hello,

Trucks with 75mm Mle1897 field guns were used by the Free French in North Africa. There were different models, field conversions etc. I don't know how many and in which units exactly.

There is also e.g. the one on the photo enclosed, named "La Revanche" (the revenge) and armed with a 50mm PaK38. (photo probably from a Militaria magazine, can't remember the issue). IIRC this one was used by the 1st Free French tank company.

Bren carriers were also armed with 25mm SA34 and 25mm SA37 AT guns. On several vehicles it was mounted on the top, with the shield of the guns and on other vehicles it was installed very low on the front. (Photo from INA.fr).

Note that the French troops had already a long tradition of "artillerie portée", that means guns carried on trucks. The Leclerc column in 1941 used e.g. 8 Laffly S15T carrying 75mm M Mle1928 mountain guns.

Regards,

David
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Free French troops in North Africa 25mm SA34 AT gun on Bren Carrier.jpg
Free French troops in North Africa 25mm SA34 AT gun on Bren Carrier.jpg (25.2 KiB) Viewed 3402 times
Free French truck with 5cm PaK38.jpg
Free French truck with 5cm PaK38.jpg (44.83 KiB) Viewed 3404 times

Pachy
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#4

Post by Pachy » 06 Jul 2006, 18:23

Hi David,

The gun on that Bren carrier looks more like a 25 SA 37.

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David Lehmann
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#5

Post by David Lehmann » 07 Jul 2006, 00:01

Hi,

Yes that's totally the case, I mixed the caption on my HD with the following photo.

Regards,

David
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Free French troops in North Africa 25mm SA34 AT gun on Bren Carrier.jpg
Free French troops in North Africa 25mm SA34 AT gun on Bren Carrier.jpg (46.24 KiB) Viewed 3207 times

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David W
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#6

Post by David W » 07 Jul 2006, 09:16

Quick question.

was there much, if any difference between the two 25mm guns penetration qualities?

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David Lehmann
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#7

Post by David Lehmann » 07 Jul 2006, 10:13

Hello David,

The performance of 25mm SA Mle1934 (Hotchkiss) and of the 25mm SA-L Mle1937 (Puteaux) L/72 AT guns are the same but the second one is a complete different gun : different carriage, different shield, different flash hider etc.
The SA34 weights 480 kg while with the SA37 carriage (L = light) the weight is 300 kg.

Regards,

David

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David W
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#8

Post by David W » 08 Jul 2006, 00:52

Thanks. :)

La Revanche
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Re: french autocanon de 75 mle 1897

#9

Post by La Revanche » 10 Jun 2009, 13:55

Dear all,

this is my first post on this forum as I've just registered.
I am currently working on my grand-grand-father memories and I am so happy to find this picture of "La Revanche". My grand-grand-father André Baudry joined the Free French (FFL) in 1940 after being injured at the beginning of WWII in Dunkerque and Belgium battles and taken in a hospital in Great Britain. He wrote his diary during the year 1943 in North Africa and mentions several times his auto-canon "La Revanche" which he says was working good.
You will find a good description of the vehicule, the crew and its use against a German colmun on this extract from the partly online book "Le chemin le plus long".
http://books.google.fr/books?id=ZcwdAMD ... #PPA426,M1
See page 426
If you do not read French, here is a short description of the vehicule :
German 50mm antitanks PAK mounted on 4x4 Canadian Chevrolet truck. The canon was retrieved from the battlefield after El Himeimat battle.
The crew : Ducroux shooting, Vilete driving and Baudry commanding the fire.

You will find attached two other pictures of the vehicule taken by Sergent Baudry and from his private collection.

I would be very interested in knowing where the picture David Lehmann posted was taken from. That's a good one !

Thanks !
Attachments
Notre guitoune à TMIMI Libye le 06.01.1943.jpg
Tmimi, Lybia, January 6th, 1943
Notre guitoune à TMIMI Libye le 06.01.1943.jpg (106.24 KiB) Viewed 1777 times
Last edited by La Revanche on 10 Jun 2009, 14:12, edited 1 time in total.

La Revanche
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Re: french autocanon de 75 mle 1897

#10

Post by La Revanche » 10 Jun 2009, 14:06

Here are some additional pictures
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Auto-canon 50 (montage) 2.jpg
After
Auto-canon 50 (montage) 2.jpg (33.88 KiB) Viewed 1770 times
La pièce de 50 avant son montage, 18.09.1942.jpg
50mm before being mounted on the truck
La pièce de 50 avant son montage, 18.09.1942.jpg (81.13 KiB) Viewed 1771 times

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