There seems to be a bird of prey resting on the gun, a mascotte ?( stuffed)
The 280 TR mortar was studied in 1909 by the Schneider Company at the request of the Russian government for an 11-inch siege mortar. In 1912, the first prototype of this 11-inch (279mm) mortar was tested at Otchakoff against various armor and concrete and the Russian government ordered 16 mortars of this type to be delivered in 1915. For its part, France finally became aware of its delay in the development of a modern heavy mortar and order from Schneider, in 1913, 18 mortars of the Russian type which differ from this one by some details of the organization of the breech but which retain the 11-inch caliber, "francized" in 280 TR.
In 1915, the Russians accepted that the first materials of the Russian order, the most advanced, go to France and then the deliveries were mixed. In fact, 126 280 TR mortars were built during the war, 26 of which were delivered to Russia until October 1917. At the armistice, France had 97 280 TR mortars, 25 of which were in Parks . This considerable figure is explained by the power of this modern and rapid-firing equipment which has only one flaw: it was designed at the request of the Russians for horse-drawn traction and it therefore has no suspension components , fragile which limits its movement speed. The French Army employs it as soon as it is put into service in the Heavy Tractor Artillery, where this defect is quickly felt.
Many officers also believe that the 280 TR mortar is at the low limit of effectiveness for a material intended primarily to demolish the permanent fortification but, under the conditions of positional warfare, its ability to destroy the temporary fortification of the battlefield and blockhouses is certain and in this respect it is far superior to the dreaded German Mörser of 21 cm.
In the spring of 1917, the French Army was able to line up 24 mortars of 280 TR which had shown their effectiveness the previous year in Verdun and on the Somme.
Translate from an article by Général Guy François, La destruction du Winterberg Tunnel
Blitz model in 1/35
The colour and markings used on the 28 granates are a speculation, I made the model before I got the photo's where some marking can be seen. Addtional information will be most welcome.
I think I can help with the projectile colours - the French archive gallica.bnf.fr has scans of the 280mm Howitzer manuals available -
these have images of the projectiles (attached).
The resolution on the images is pretty low - if you want to read the text get back to me and I'll get you higher resolution images.
I think the images you have in your post are from a later incarnation of the gun. The original was designed to have ammunition delivered by narrow gauge railway
with the tracks running at right angles to the rear of the gun. The attached image may have been taken at Schneider's proving ground - the uniforms are one version of the
Schneider "house" uniform.
Regards,
Charlie
-- Edited by CharlieC on Monday 31st of May 2021 12:54:42 AM
Perfect, that exactly what I needed. Have to strip the granates and repaint in right colour. ( I have casted them myself in a high temperature Silicone mould so limit to thre amount I can make..)
Thank you very much.
I will search in Gallica for the references you mentioned, willcome back on your offer for high resolution if I can find what I'm looking for. Gallica is a tresure trove but sometimes hard to search through..
I'm sorry to inform you that I can not find the maneul on Gallica. Can you direct me further?
Searched on;
Instruction mortier de 280mm and Manuel d ' artillerie
Thank you,
Regards Harry
The latest (1925) manual is: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9630140z
Generally the French manuals have the phrase "Règlement de manoeuvre de l'artillerie"
The manual for the 280mm howitzer on the Saint-Chamond tracked chassis is also there - https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9668769t
The Yellow House site on vk.com has a Russian atlas of drawings and photographs of the Russian version of the 280mm howitzer -
https://vk.com/albums-49466084?z=photo-49466084_457280178%2Fphotos-49466084 (is the title page - scroll back through the images arrows on each side of the image)
you may have to sign up for vk to get access but this isn't onerous.
