| The invention of the tank by the British in 1915 gave birth to many ideas fir its use as a mobile platform for field, medium, and even heavy guns. Early efforts in Britain in this direction were makeshift, eg the loading of a 60-pr on to a tank chassis to transport it to a gun area then the unloading of it to bring it into action. Similar attempts by other nations were made during the last stages of World War 1 and the early 1920s. France produced some promising prototypes. Indeed the French Inspector General of the Artillery correctly foresaw the need for SP guns in the future but unfortunately at the time received no support from his colleagues. When in 1936 they admitted he was right and decided to act it was too late; World War 2 broke out before any useful equipments resulted. In 1925 Britain produced the first true fully-tracked SP gun by taking a standard Vickers medium tank chassis and mounting upon it an 18-pr Mark 5 gun. There were two versions: one operated as a straight field gun, while a later (1926) model which could elevate to 85° functioned in both field and AA roles. Known as the Birch Gun after General Sir Noel Birch, Master General of the Ordnance, who was responsible for its introduction, it was intended to be a model for the supporting artillery of an experimental armoured force but was short-lived. Although the gun passed its trials satisfactorily a number of senior Officers were prejudiced against it; one even called it a 'monstrosity'. They argued about it: was it a gun or was it a tank? Should it be manned by Gunners or should it be manned by Troopers? Interest waned. Money for development was not forthcoming, so around 1930 the whole scheme was abandoned - and the equipments scrapped. Thus when World War 2 soon demonstrated the need for an SP field gun the British found themselves no better off than the French. |
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WL Ruffell Issue 81 March 1994 |
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