105 mm, Howitzer, Motor, Carriage, 3.7

[B series]

Armoured tracked vehicles are not my main interest, but this 8x6 photo might be something unusual or non standard and be of interest to someone.  Looks like a Sherman hull to me, but with no turret on the top.

Top right hand corner has an imprinted stamp which reads: PHOTO: ESTAB. WAR DEPT,    see below:

 

 

The reverse of the photo is stamped SECRET in a couple of places in blue ink, and the hand written caption reads: 105 mm, Howitzer, Motor, Carriage, 3.7   Right Front View

 

Maybe it is a standard vehicle and of little interest, there is no date on this photo, but some of the others that I obtained in same batch have WWII dates.

B series

 

[David Herbert]

No, it is not a Sherman but (believe it or not !) a 105mm Howitzer, Motor Carriage, M7 (not 3.7).

Like the Sherman it was developed from the Tank, M3 (Lee and Grant to the British army) and was, as the name suggests, a self propelled mount for the 105mm howitzer. It had an open top hull but provided some protection from the sides for the gun crew and ammunition. The driver sat in the front left and had the opening armoured visor that is closed in the photo to look through. There was a ring mount for a machine gun in the round enclosure front right. This resembled a pulpit and gave rise to the British name of Priest for those vehicles that were taken into British service.

I do not see any sign that this is a British one but it has home made track guards (to reduce the dust) and is obviously well used. The photo is American but I have no idea why it was taken. I suspect that this was an early trials vehicle.. As originally designed these had Continental 9 cylinder radial engines but later ones were built with Ford GAA V8 petrol engines (M7B1). These remained in service with the US Army post war and many were modified with a higher pulpit and main gun mount for high angle fire in the mountains of Korea (M7B2). Some of these have been rescued from ranges in Germany and get presented in WW2 markings which is not really correct.

In British service they were replaced by the roughly similar Sexton self propelled gun which mounted the British 25pdr gun that was the standard British field artillery piece. It is easy to tell the difference as the Sexton does not have the pulpit. The redundant Priests then had their guns removed and were used as armoured personnel carriers (Kangaroos) and ammunition supply vehicles.

I hope this helps,

David