Landships II

First reports say this is a Saint-Chamond. Seeking further information.

Saint-Chamond SPGs were very much WW1 vehicles. The first prototype of the dual vehicle  (tractor plus gun carrier) was tested

in 1918. The production vehicles, 25 with 280mm Schneider howitzer and 50 with 194mm GPF gun were delivered in 1919.

The SPGs were in reserve between the wars and mobilised in 1939 - the 194mm vehicles were used as support artillery for the Maginot line 

and some served with the Wehrmacht and even the Italian Army after the French surrender in 1940. The 280mm vehicles were deployed to

support the French Army in the north, many were destroyed by their crews in the retreat. 

Charlie

There was an article some years ago on the fate of the 280mm SPGs in WW2 perhaps many of them were destroyed in this area - I'll have to dig it out. 

Even better if it was a tractor vehicle - there are two surviving gun vehicles - a 194mm which was picked up by the US Army outside Paris in 1944 and is now at

Fort Sill, OK and a 280mm, found buried outside Hannover (I think) and is now at the Bundeswehr Museum in Dresden. No tractors seem to have survived. 

Charlie

Later - the article is:

J-Y Mary "1939-1940 Le Rendez-Vous Manque Des 280 sur Chenilles" Histoire de Guerre Blindés & Materiel Nov-Dec 2006, No. 74, pp.36-39.

It seems as if the 280mm SPGs were deployed further south than I had thought in the Meuse region. Most of the 280mm SPGs eventually were burned out or abandoned

around Clefmont, Haute-Marne.

-- Edited by CharlieC on Wednesday 18th of May 2022 11:10:16 AM