What do they do with shells?

[Ivashkin]

I found photos of 991th batalion field artillery. Photos made in ardens in December 1944.
155 mm Gun Motor Carriage M12.
Gunners did something with fuzes or projectiles?
Something improvised - put wooden stick to nose (on the fuze?). I think it is for detonation above the ground.

 

[strakv]

They are french 155mm Mle 1918 F.A.T.O. The soldiers are placing the fuze (24/31 R.Y.G. Mle1921) into the shell under the ballistic cap. The fuze has a long wooden rod striker.

 

[Ivashkin]

They are french 155mm Mle 1918 F.A.T.O. The soldiers are placing the fuze (24/31 R.Y.G. Mle1921) into the shell under the ballistic cap. The fuze has a long wooden rod striker.

Why they are placing stick, if fuze has it?

 

[Alpini]

Fuze and wooden sticks are separate pieces (same system like in german Haubengranaten). More interesting is that they were missing the original factory made sticks. One soldier is making his own sticks with a knife. I guess this procedure wasn't written in the official manual

 

[MINENAZ16]

Thread with the same picture : http://www.bocn.co.uk/vbforum/threa...ve-of-M48-and-M51-Fuzes?highlight=FRENCH+FATO


Ryg 21 with optional stick for shell with balistic cap. The stick is made of aluminium.

 

[greif]

In WW2 US troops were testing French 155 mm shells, which were captured on the Germans, to see if they could be fired from US 155 mm guns.
There is a short film on YouTube : https://youtu.be/QGTwxVnnS5Y

 

[Eggburt1969]

In WW2 US troops were testing French 155 mm shells, which were captured on the Germans, to see if they could be fired from US 155 mm guns.
There is a short film on YouTube : https://youtu.be/QGTwxVnnS5Y

Being a prior user of instrumentation, I love the old velocity measuring equipment (skyscreens, etc.).

You'd certainly never live fire when doing something like this now, just in case of an in-bore premature.

 

[bacarnal]

Watched the entire reel. I tend to agree that, by today's standards, the site would be evacuated and the gun fired remotely. Not back then, it appears. You see one of the personnel standing by the R/H side of the track covering his ears as the gun fires.
The second part of the reel shows a Belgian saw mill being used by Engineers. The reciprocating saw cutting the timber in to planks was interesting. Thanks, Bruce.

 

[Eggburt1969]

You certainly wouldn't want something like this happening...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhbSqot_abk

A bore-premature of a Russian 240 mm HE-frag bomb, or rocket-boosted HE-frag projectile, when fired from the 2B8 (2Б8) 240 mm mortar of the 2S4 Tyulpan (2С4 Тюльпан) self-propelled mortar. It doesn't specify what was fired. Supposedly all people survived!!

 

[jvollenberg]

Thanks guys … I was wondering the same thing on this.
Why the holes in the windshield?

Joe