www.passioncompassion1418.com
SURVIVING GUN FILE (# 366)
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www.passioncompassion1418.com
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SURVIVING GUN FILE (# 366)
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 France
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 Heavy power artillery
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Contributor :
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Location :
France Batz sur Mer (44) Musée du Gand Blockhaus
Coordinates :
Lat : 47.27030 / Long : -2.46440
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General comments on this surviving gun :
This Mle 1893 barrel is not the 1893/96 version (modified in 1906) used in the ALVF, but it gives a clear idea of the profile of the barrel mounted on the TAZ truck carriages.
Identical items in the same location :
1
Items covered by this file : 1 |
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Markings : ‘M240 1893 Te203 - R 1929 No. 3 23850 - 240 Mle 1893 - R 1895 No. 3 22960’. This tube is therefore a 240 mm Mle 1893 from the previous version and did not see action in the Great War. |
‘Te203 - R 1929’ indicates that this is a 240 mm tube from 1893, recalibrated to 203 mm in 1929 for testing shells of this caliber. It comes from the Gâvres base and is mounted on a sample carriage. |
In 1941, the Germans brought two 240mm Mle 1893/96 guns on TAZ truck mounts to the Batz battery site to defend the mouth of the Loire. This ise not one of these. |
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Historic and technical information
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| Denomination : 240 Mle 1893-96 Colonies |
Origin :
(
Fonderie de Ruelle)
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Saint Chamond )
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Historic context :
A coastal defense weapon nicknamed “colonies” to distinguish it from the ‘Marine’ tubes designed for the cruiser D'Entrecasteaux, the “240 model 1893-1896 colonies cannon” was installed in Saigon and Dakar at the start of the war. The eight existing tubes were repatriated to mainland France to serve in the ALVF. To this end, they were mounted in 1917 on the ‘TAZ’ (Tous Azimuths) Saint-Chamond truck mount, originally intended for 305 mm calibers but which proved too powerful for it.
The standard gauge track had to be reinforced for battery deployment, with the installation of a support platform. The carriage carried a reserve of seven rounds in an ammunition rack directly behind the Manz-type breech with interrupted screw. The gun had to be brought back to a position parallel to the tracks to be reloaded. This device allowed a remarkable rate of fire of up to three rounds in two minutes. With this gun, the 240 mm caliber proved to be the largest that could be accommodated by a TAZ chassis: above this caliber, the recoil force when not pointing parallel to the tracks put too much strain on the chassis, damaging it and even risking tipping the gun. After the French defeat in 1940, the Germans seized the equipment still available in 1940 and used it for the defenses of the Atlantic Wall, to defend Narvik in Norway, and Saint-Nazaire in France (batteries at Kermoisan/Batz sur Mer and Pointe Saint-Gildas). |
Technical data :
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Sources
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