Canon de 194 mle GPF

Last updated
Canon de 194 GPF
US Army Artillery Museum - 121.jpg
Saint Chamond 194mm GPF at the US Army Artillery Museum at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma.
Type Self-propelled artillery
Place of originFrance
Service history
In service1920-1942
Used byFrance
Nazi Germany
Italy
Wars World War II
Production history
Designer Louis Filloux
Émile Rimailho  [ fr ]
Designed1918
Manufacturer Saint-Chamond
Puteaux
Produced1918-1919
No. built50
Variants19,4 cm Kanone 485/585 (f)
Specifications
Mass29,600 kg (65,300 lb) [1] [2]
Barrel  length6.57 m (21 ft 7 in) L/42.2 [2]
Width2.54 m (8 ft 4 in) [1]
Height7.775 m (25 ft 6 in) [1]
Shell 80.86 kg (200 lb)
Muzzle velocity 640 m/s (2,100 ft/s) [2]
725 m/s (2,380 ft/s){sfn

(from 1921)

| range = | max_range = 18,300 m (20,000 yd) [2]
20,800 m (22,700 yd) [1] (from 1921) | feed = | sights = | caliber = 194 mm (7.63 in) | breech = | recoil = | carriage = | elevation = 0° to 40° [1] | traverse = 55° [2] | diameter = | filling = | filling_weight = | detonation = | yield = | armour = | primary_armament = 194 mm (7.6 in) gun | secondary_armament = | engine = Panhard SUK4 M2 | engine_power = 120 hp (89 kW) | pw_ratio = | suspension = | clearance = | vehicle_range = | speed = 8-10 km/h (5-6 mp/h) }}

Contents

The Canon de 194 GPF (Grand Puissance Filloux - "High-Power" Filloux) - was the first French tracked self-propelled gun (SPG). Designed at the end of World War I, it was a pioneering weapon with many modern features.

Design

The vehicle was designed by colonel Émile Rimailho  [ fr ], deputy chief executive officer of the compagnie des forges et aciéries de la marine (Saint-Chamond). [3] The 194 mm gun was a derivative of the 155 mm GPF [4] [2] and was designed at Atelier de Construction de Puteaux by Louis Filloux. [1] A prototype was manufactured with a 155 mm gun but a weapon of 194 mm calibre was eventually chosen since tracked self-propelled guns were heavy and expensive vehicles and only the more powerful guns were to be used. Saint-Chamond also designed the Mortier 280 mm TR de Schneider sur affût-chenilles St Chamond. Both SPGs used the same two tracked vehicles, avant-train (lead vehicle) and affut-chenille (gun chassis). [5] [4] The lead vehicle carried ammunition and a 120 horsepower (89 kW) Panhard [1] [6] SUK4 M2 [7] [ better source needed ] electrical generator. Both vehicles were powered by two electric motors, [8] energy being sent to the affut by a flexible electric cable. The gun barrel was displaced at the rear of the chassis when the vehicle had to move. [9] Compared to a contemporary British vehicle, the Gun Carrier Mark I which was a tracked vehicle upon which a field gun was sat, the Canon de 194 was much more advanced; it was driven by only one person,[ citation needed ] had hydraulic brakes and the gun had automatically adjusting recoil mechanisms [1] and pneumatic recuperators.[ citation needed ]

Service

Production began in April 1918. Two days before the armistice, the vehicle, without its Puteaux gun, was tested at Saint-Chamont plant. [1] By June 1919, Saint-Chamond was still waiting for the delivery of the oscillating mass, [10] a key component manufactured by Puteaux. [11]

During the interwar, they served in an artillery regiment in Valence, alongside the 280 mm SPGs. [9]

36 were still in service at the outbreak of World War II [12] and some were captured by the invading German forces. [9] Surviving vehicles were pressed into Wehrmacht service as the 19.4 cm Kanone 485 (f) auf Selbstfahrlafette. [13] [ better source needed ] At least three of them were used by the Germans in Russia in about 1942. [8] Two were used by the Italians as coastal guns near Rome under the designation Cannone da 194/32. [14]

Germans also reused the guns on new fixed carriages. The 19,4 cm Kanone 485/585 (f) were used for coastal defense in Denmark. [13] [ better source needed ]

The only surviving example can be found at the U.S. Army Artillery Museum at Fort Sill, OK.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Vauvillier 2007, p. 71.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hogg 2000, p. 76.
  3. ↑ Vauvillier 2006, p. 27.
  4. 1 2 Vauvillier 2007, p. 70.
  5. ↑ Vauvillier 2006, p. 30.
  6. ↑ Vauvillier 2006, p. 32.
  7. ↑ "Allemagne Heer et l'Héritage Francais I° partie les Blindés :Maquetland.com:: Le monde de la maquette". www.maquetland.com (in French). Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  8. 1 2 "Le canon automouvant 194 GPF". artillerie.asso.fr (in French). Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  9. 1 2 3 Vauvillier 2007, p. 75.
  10. ↑ Vauvillier 2007, p. 73.
  11. ↑ Vauvillier 2007, p. 74.
  12. ↑ "L'artillerie automotrice 1914-1918". artillerie.asso.fr (in French). Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  13. 1 2 "Automouvant Saint-Chamond 194mm Aberdeen :Maquetland.com:: Le monde de la maquette". www.maquetland.com. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  14. ↑ Clerici, Carlo Alfredo (1996). Le difese costiere italiane nelle due guerre mondiali (in Italian). Parma: Albertelli Edizioni Speciali. p. 25.

Sources

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