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Earliest self-propelled guns?

Discussion in 'Pre-World War 2 Armour' started by Skua, Mar 9, 2006.

  1. Skua

    Skua New Member

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    Didn't the French deploy some kind of self-propelled gun in WWI? Or am I completely off the mark?

    Anyway, what was the first self-propelled gun to see service? And the very first tank destroyer?
     
  2. Ricky

    Ricky Well-Known Member

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    The British did develop one in WW1, basically an artillery piece (posibly a howitzer?) mounted on a tracked chassis. I have no idea if it even got past prototype stage - I'll have a dig around.
     
  3. Boba Nette

    Boba Nette New Member

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    Check the thread about WWI tanks.
    I sent PanzerProfile a pic of a French WWI gun.
     
  4. Skua

    Skua New Member

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    Yes, I saw it, and I have seen the picture before too. I believe Liang posted some pics of it some time ago. But is it WWI? I remember something, although I might be wrong, about this particular SPG being post-WWI.
     
  5. Gunter_Viezenz

    Gunter_Viezenz New Member

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    The French had a couple SPG's.

    The Schneider M16 and St Chamond M16.

    Schneider M16
    Weight 13.5tons
    Speed 5mph
    Frontal armour 24mm
    Aramant 1X75mm and 2mg (donno what guns)

    St. Chamond M16
    Weight 23tons
    Speed 5mph
    Armour 17mm
    Aramant 1X75mm, 4mg

    Supposedbly used from April of 1915 till the end of teh war.
     
  6. Roel

    Roel New Member

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    I believe these were just their tanks, though. Tanks didn't have turrets in WW1 so by our standards they'd all be SPGs.
     
  7. Tomba

    Tomba New Member

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    Interesting story with German Artillery here. SPG...well, I guess it was. What they did was make a huge, huge gun with could fire over many, many miles, which was actually on the back of a train. From their positions, the Germans managed to hit Paris a few times, but people had no idea what the heck was hitting them because it was so far away. Due to the hugeness of the gun and the operation crew which I believe was over one thousand people, it wasn't used much, heh.

    Cheers,
    Tomba
     
  8. Boba Nette

    Boba Nette New Member

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    They are commonly refered to as rail guns.The Paris Gun and Leopold are two that come to mind.
     
  9. Ricky

    Ricky Well-Known Member

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    Here we go:

    [​IMG]

    I have only ever seen any referance to this in one book, 'Tanks and weapons of WW1', I think it's by Cassels. I bought it from my local library, who were selling it because some charming person had cut big chunks of it out!

    The caption for this picture says
    "The British Gun Carrier Mk1. More a self-propelled gun than a tank, the first Gun Carrier was in service by January 1917. The model pictured here carries a 60-pounder gun, though other Gun Carriers were fitted with a 6-inch howitzer. In the static war of the Western Front, the appearance of mobile guns caused considerable confusion to artillery spotters."


    If anybody can add any info about this SPG - or even confirm its existance, I'd be delighted!
     
  10. Ricky

    Ricky Well-Known Member

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  11. Tomba

    Tomba New Member

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    Thankyou - I wasn't exactly sure what they were called.

    Cheers,
    Tomba
     

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