A brief overview of the tractor and self-propelled artillery of the Entente powers during the First World War.
The main means of transport during the First World War was the horse. The horse moved packs, carts, tools. A pair of horses freely carried a load weighing a ton, a four - two tons, and an eight - up to 3.2 tons. The latter weight was the weight limit for horse traction. In many respects, this is why the maneuverability of field heavy artillery on horse-drawn traction left much to be desired. The weight of the heavy guns was impressive - which was especially important for the French front, especially heavily saturated with technology.
From the very beginning of the positional war on the French front, which required the use of powerful artillery, the question arose of giving it special maneuverability. Maneuverability was in demand both during troop transfers and on the battlefield.
During the most significant operational transfers, when the infantry was quickly transported by automobiles, the artillery provided to their vehicles, despite the widespread network of good roads on the French front, often lagged behind by tens of hours, and sometimes even several days. All this required the introduction of mechanical (tractor) traction for the guns, which made it possible for artillery to keep up with the infantry during military transfers. A standard tractor (such as Clayton) could move 10 times the weight limit of a horse-eight - 32 tons. This, in turn, made it possible to increase the power of heavy artillery calibers.
And by January 1918, out of 782 French heavy batteries on the northwestern front, 516 batteries were horse-drawn and 266 batteries were tractor-powered (not counting small-caliber automobile artillery).
The power-driven guns included: a) the American 76-mm cannon of the L. F. A.; b) English 202-mm howitzer model 1916; c) French 155-mm cannon of the O. P. F. system (Filloux).
Since 1916, heavy tractor (Vickers systems) 203 and 228-mm howitzers also appear on the Russian front.
1.203 mm Vickers towed howitzer. Pataj S. Artyleria ladowa 1881-1970. W-wa, 1975.
The advantages of parts of the tractor artillery were: a higher average speed of movement (from 5 to 15 km per hour), a greater compactness of the marching columns (for example, the length of the horse harness of an 11-inch Schneider howitzer is 210 steps, while the tractor system of the same caliber is up to 120 steps), mobility (including when traveling over rough terrain) and a higher size of the middle crossing (instead of 60-70 km for horse-drawn batteries - 120-150 km for tractor batteries).
The creation of self-propelled artillery was of particular importance.
The meaning of the introduction of the tracked movement scheme was the desire to decompose the weight (pressure) of the object when it was moved over a large area (in comparison with the working surface of the wheels). The corresponding mechanism was as follows. The base of the body (frame) had several rollers-wheels on the transverse axes. A chain was put on the front and rear wheels of the frame, raised above the ground. It consisted of separate pivotally connected (by means of bolts) metal shoe plates with special ribs (for coupling to the surface). The rear (gear) wheel of the frame, covered by a chain, was driven by a motor. At the same time, the teeth of the rotating wheel, engaging with the transverse bolts of the shoes of the chain, gave it a circular motion along the wheels covered by the chain. As a result, the frame rollers in contact with it began to roll along the chain - and this caused the translational movement of the entire frame, and, consequently, the entire machine.
It was this scheme that allowed the British tanks that appeared at the front in the fall of 1916 to overcome the trenches and shell craters. The longer the tank was, the easier it was to climb vertical slopes. In many ways, the first tanks were assault weapons. Moreover, French tanks were even called assault artillery.
During the war, the armor thickness of tanks increases from 12 to 16 mm (frontal armor) and from 8 to 11 mm (side armor). German vehicles had armor of 30 and 20 mm, respectively.
The French created tanks (assault guns) of the Schneider systems (weight 13.5 tons, armament - one cannon and two machine guns, speed 4 km per hour) and Saint-Chamon (weight 24 tons, armament - 1 cannon and 4 machine guns, speed up to 8 km per hour). French vehicles were first used in the spring of 1917 on the Craon-Bury-aux-Bac battle area - 850 thousand people, 5 thousand guns and 200 tanks took part in this large-scale offensive.
2. Schneider SA-1.
3. Saint-Chamond.
On April 16, 1917, 132 vehicles of the Schneider system took part in the battle. The first detachment of 82 vehicles began the attack at 7 o'clock in the morning - as the French infantry approached the second line of the German defense. But soon the detachment came under such destructive fire from German artillery that, according to an eyewitness, the ground around the tanks and under them was agitated like the sea from a cyclone. The squad leader was killed in his tank. The detachment lost 39 vehicles from enemy fire, and the infantry fled, leaving the occupied German positions.
The second detachment of 50 vehicles began the attack also at 7 o'clock, but was discovered by enemy aerial reconnaissance after leaving the shelters - and, accordingly, fell under the barrage of German artillery. As a result, the attack ended in failure - only 10 tanks returned from the battle.
In the future, taking these lessons into account, the Allies sought to use combat vehicles only before dawn - otherwise, the movement of these slow-moving ships to the forward day would inevitably lead to huge losses. By the spring of 1918, the French are constructing a new tank - Renault, weighing only 6.5 tons, armed with one gun and a machine gun. These machines, in the amount of 30 pieces, were first used by the French in June 1918 during a counterattack near the Retz forest. It was this tank that was the first vehicle to have the classic "tank" layout familiar to us. That is, it was really a tank, not an assault weapon, like its earlier and heavier "brothers".
Later, in the battles on the Marne in the spring of 1918, in the American offensive in September at Tiancourt, in the Anglo-French offensive in Picardy and in the final pursuit of the Germans from September 26 to November 2, 1918, tanks, acting with variable success, almost constantly suffered heavy losses. So, even during the withdrawal of the Germans, during the battles from 26 to 29 October, the French tank detachment lost 51 vehicles from artillery fire.
In addition to tanks, de facto performing the tasks of self-propelled artillery, the allies used self-propelled guns in the truest sense of the word.
These included, in particular, the French 75-mm cannon of the 1916 model. The engine was located in the front of the tractor, and the gun was located in the rear of the installation (moreover, during firing, in order to avoid overturning, special coulter stands were thrown back). This self-propelled unit developed a speed of up to 25 km per hour.
In addition, there were Schneider's self-propelled howitzers of 220-280 mm caliber.
4.220 mm Schneider howitzer.
5.280-mm Schneider howitzer on the Saint-Chamond chassis.
To reduce the length of the recoil, the barrel of Schneider's 240-mm howitzer, after firing, moved along the frame, which, together with the upper part of the carriage, also moved back and up. Rollback was inhibited by two compressors. The engine power of this self-propelled gun is 225 horsepower.
Wheeled-tracked gun mounts also appeared.
So, a 155-mm gun on a carriage of the Christie system could move on a caterpillar or wheel drive. The speed of movement reached: on a wheel - 27, and on a caterpillar - 15 km per hour.
6.15 mm gun mounted on Christie's chassis.
The main advantages of the first self-propelled units were: the speed of taking up combat positions, constant readiness for battle, ease of maneuvering, the ability to overcome climbs, the small length of the marching columns formed by self-propelled guns, the ability to pass through sandy, viscous and dug-out soil.
The most important disadvantages of these installations were: their weight, the difficulty of selecting the appropriate cover, high fuel consumption (even when driving on good roads), as well as the difficulty and uneconomic (unlike conventional artillery) marching movement of self-propelled guns in one column with the infantry.
