Landships II

Ralph Lovett · General

French Fourgon Wagon in US Army service

28juni14 · Hero

Ralph,

This vehicle was far superior to both the Brit and German service wagons; simply because it was sprung so well. I have searched for a surviving example for years, and was able to locate only one. It resides in Fort Seclin in northern France. The fort is privately owned by the Boniface family had has limited hours for visitors. I had no luck getting a response from them a couple years ago, but your French may be better than mine.

jch_in_uk · Captain

I looked at their website, to visit it seems you need to :

FOR ANY REQUEST, SEND US BY MAIL :

The desired day
The occasion (they also do weddings / parties etc.)
The number of people
Your phone number
receptions@fortseclin.com

Until 11/11/18 there is a 100th anniversary exhibition, which means that there is more on display at present.

I hope this helps.

jh

Ralph Lovett · General

Jack

Thanks for that photo. I did not know about this one. I just got back from France and have found one in that is a mix of parts. It looks like an older mle/1874 Fourgon with German wheels on the back. The odd thing is the brake wheel is on the left side of the wagon, which is the opposite of others I see in photos and technical drawings. I hope to visit Fort Seclin in the next few months so that is another reason to take a camera and measuring instruments.

By the way, this is the link for the official reason for my visit to France. A staff ride following 29th Division's 116th INF REGT and 115th INF REGT path at Meuse-Argonne: http://www.lovettartillery.com/News.html

Hope you are doing well

R/

Ralph

-- Edited by Ralph Lovett on Friday 28th of September 2018 11:27:56 AM

28juni14 · Hero

While at the fort, please make an effort to locate their 76.2mm M02 and limber. Photo evidence suggest both gun and limber are in near excellent condidtion. I don't think the owners are aware of the rarity of these two individual items of interest. If you come up with pics, I will do a 3D rendition of that fourgon for your personal collection.

Also, if your visiting the Argonne sector, be sure to trod the remains of Montfaucon. As you likely know, the AEF suffered more casualties there than the Bulge 24 yrs later.

On the subject of 3D projects, here is my FK96 n/A and a Zeebrügge diorama; took over a year for that one. I've been busy.

Ralph Lovett · General

Jack

A few days ago, while I was in France I visited Fort de la Pompelle near Reims. It was defended by French Colonial troops and Imperial Russians. They have an excellent condition Russian 76.2cm M1902 on display there. I think these were sold as surplus in recent years by Finland along with the limbers for these guns. In the 1980s the limbers for the Russian 76.2cm M1902 were sold in the USA very cheaply ($2000-$3000 range) in fairly large numbers. For this reason, there are quite a few in private collections. I looked over one a friend has in Newport News, Virginia this weekend.

I have attached a few photos of the Russian 76,2cm M02 at Fort Pompelle and will add the limber photos from VA later.

R/

Ralph

Ralph Lovett · General

I have just added many more drawings of French Army wagons in WW1 Era service including the Fourgon mle/74 and many variations of the telegraph wagon:

http://www.lovettartillery.com/French_Army_Saddles_Wagons_WW1_.html

I hope this is of interest to some of you

R/

Ralph Lovett

-- Edited by Ralph Lovett on Tuesday 2nd of October 2018 03:33:03 AM

Ralph Lovett · General

Jack

This is the 76.2cm M1902 Limber in Virginia.

R/

Ralph

28juni14 · Hero

Your associate doesn't seem to have prioritized that limber for anything in the near future! It appears reasonably intact and needs a better home; say in Georgia.

As I've shared with you in the past, the Ruskie M02 was the best divisional gun in the war; my humble opinion. It fired the most potent 3 inch round of the war; again in my opinion. Decades ago Walter Spielberger suggested to Tom Jentz (months before the former scummed to cancer) that Rheinmetall designed the Pak 40 projectile around the ballistically superior Russian 76.2 round of WW1. Have you ever heard this theory?