Available from Morphy’s here:
https://auctions.morphyauctions.com/_D__EXCEPTIONAL_CONDITION_ST_CHAMOND_75MM_FIELD_GU-LOT657326.aspx
The design for the St Chamond 75mm field gun was initially created by Mexican small arms designer Manual Mondragon, who worked extensively in artillery as well as small arms. As Mexico had no domestic artillery production capability, he worked with the engineering team at St Chamond under Emile Rimailho to complete the design, and Mexico purchase 100 of these guns by 1910, forming the backbone of Mexican Army artillery during the period. The gun is a screw breech rapid fire piece, using fully self-contained ammunition (both shrapnel and HE projectiles). It fires a 12-16 pound shell at about 1650 fps, with a range of about 6500 meters.
In September 1914 the French government panic-ordered a batch of these guns, but then reconsidered and cancelled its order in favor of simplifying logistics with just the more common Mle 1897 75mm guns. That decision changed again in 1915, with an order for 200. These were not formally classified by the French Army, but St Chamond called them the Mle 1915. The gun was identical to the original Mexican pattern except revised to use the same ammunition as the Mle 1897 (the classic “French 75”) instead of its original slightly different cartridge. These guns were initially used for general field service, but pulled off the line when it became apparent that their recoil systems were not really able to handle the stresses of the constant firing required. Instead, they were used as the main armament for the initial 210 St Chamond heavy tanks (less the first 48 that did not receiver main guns). After these were used up, the Mle 1897 was used instead.
One final element of combat service for the guns took place in 1948, when Mexico sold 32 of them to Israel, where they were used in Israel’s war of independence. Three examples remain on display in Israeli museums today, more than anywhere else. The one I am looking at today is a Mexican contract piece made in 1904, registered in the US as a live and transferrable Destructive Device.
Great article. Thank you, sir!
st Chamont is not far from st Etienne. In the local accent , it’s St Chemeu. It’s the place of origin of the F1 pilot Alain Prost. There were built the best Chaucjats. It’s funny when in the train you hear the announcement ” st. Chemeu, st Chemeu, Deux minutes d’ arret “.( st Chamont, st Chamont, two minutes. stop. )
1. You skip over the Mexican use- they did plenty of shooting between 1910 and 1920, and again in the ’20s for the Cristero war. Something like a million dead all together.
2. Those little bicycle seats are agony.You never see a combat picture of them being sat in, it’s easier to just stand up.
The elevation on this gun is propably adjustet like in the Modele 97: When firing directly on a target the left gunner holds thze sight on the target using HISW elevation- and windage-handcranks and the right gunner adjusts for distance using HIS elevation handcrank. This makesespecially sense, if firing on a mobile target like cavallery.
The light 75mm guns of that era where optimised for quick deployment on the battlefield for stopping advancing “soft targets”. The main ammunition were shrapnel-grenadesw. So they were rendered useless in WW I, when the trench warfare began.
Regarding the way the windage is taken: ALL light guns of that era (that I know of) used a system, where the whole carriage was traversed on the axel. This system is still found later in the second world war on light guns like the German leichtes and schweres Infanteriegeschütz and the American 75mm Pack Howitzer.
The Mondragon/St.Chamonds that went to Israel mostly ended up as the main guns on Sherman tanks.
Most of the early purchased Shermans the Israelis acquired in 1947-49 came from salvage yards in southern France and Italy. And most of those either had no guns at all, or guns with the tubes slashed off with cutting torches, or at least holes cut through the tubes to render them useless.
The St. Chamond gun tubes could be modified to work in the Sherman concentric recoil system with little trouble. And the Sherman 75mm ammunition was in fact exactly the same as French Mdl 1897 ammunition; the U.S. forces had never changed the shell case or bore spec in any way.
Yes this is why the 75mm Sherman gun ammunition on M4 through M4A4 and the 76.2mm ammunition on M4A376(W), M4A3E8, and etc. are not interchangeable.
clear ether
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St Enemond became St Chamont and in the local accent it’s St Chemeu ! Outside st Etienne,( St Stefan ). Birth place of the F1 pilot Alain Prost, there were manufactured the best Chauchats.Of course because of the charcoal mines of St Etienne.