Canon de 240 modèle 93/96 TAZ

The Canon de 240 modèle 93/96 TAZ was used before the First World War in the French colonies for coastal protection, but had to be brought back to France during the war to be used on the western front.

Before the First World War, the Canon de 240 modèle 93/96 guns were used in the French colony cities of Dakar (Senegal) and Saigon (Vietnam) to defend the port facilities.

When the war of positions began on the western front in 1915 and the German fortifications were increasingly protected against the fire of the light French field guns, the High Command had to withdraw all available heavy guns from the fortresses and the coastal protection and bring them to the front. This measure also included the 8 Canon de 240 modèle 93/96 guns, which were withdrawn from the colonies and brought to France by ship.

From 1916, the St Chamond company was already working on the construction of railway guns. They used the Canon de 305 model 93/96 TAZ, but because it was very large and the conversion took a long time, the smaller 240 mm guns from the colonies should replace some of the heavier weapons.

In order to be able to carry the large and heavy coastal guns, two railway cars with 6 axles each were connected to a steel frame. On this frame the platform for the guns was placed. The platform of the crew was slightly raised behind the gun. To load the gun, the barrel first had to be lowered so that the soldiers could reach the breech. The guns themselves had a hydropneumatic recoil system, the railcars had additional ground anchors to absorb the recoil.

Due to problems during the conversion and later problems with weight and recoil during shooting, these railway guns were not delivered until 1918 at the end of the war and were considered very unreliable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the First World War, the railway guns were stored as a reserve in depots of the French army. With the outbreak of the Second World War, these were reactivated, whether they were still used against the German Wehrmacht is not known.

After the capitulation of France in 1940, the Wehrmacht was able to capture all 8 guns. Under the designation 24 cm cannon (E) 558 (f) or 24 cm cannon (E) model 93/96 (f) 4 guns were later used in the Atlantic Wall. The other 4 were first brought to Norway to defend the coast, at the end of the war they were in Naerbo.

 

 

 

Data sheet:

Designation:	Canon de 240 modèle 93/96 TAZ
Manufacturing country:	France
Introductory year:	1893 1916 to 1918 Conversion into a railway gun
Number of pieces:	8 pieces
Calibers:	240 mm
Tube length:	10 meters
Range:	Max. 24.800 meters
Weight:	140 tons

 

 

 

 

 

You can find the right literature here:

 

Flesh and Steel During the Great War: The Transformation of the French Army and the Invention of Modern Warfare

Michel Goya’s Flesh and Steel during the Great War is one of the most thoughtful, stimulating and original studies of the conflict to have appeared in recent years. It is a major contribution towards a deeper understanding of the impact of the struggle on the Western Front on the theory and practice of warfare in the French army. In a series of incisive, closely argued chapters he explores the way in which the senior commanders and ordinary soldiers responded to the extraordinary challenges posed by the mass industrial warfare of the early twentieth century.

In 1914 the French army went to war with a flawed doctrine, brightly-colored uniforms and a dire shortage of modern, heavy artillery How then, over four years of relentless, attritional warfare, did it become the great, industrialized army that emerged victorious in 1918?

To show how this change occurred, the author examines the pre-war ethos and organization of the army and describes in telling detail how, through a process of analysis and innovation, the French army underwent the deepest and fastest transformation in its history.

Click here!

 

 

Breaking Point of the French Army: The Nivelle Offensive of 1917

In December 1916 General Robert Nivelle was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the French armies fighting the Germans on the Western Front. He had enjoyed a meteoric rise to high command and public acclaim since the beginning of the war - he was a national hero. In return, he proclaimed he ‘had the formula’ that would ensure victory and end the conflict in 1917. But his offensive was a bloody and humiliating failure for France, one that could have opened the way for French defeat.

This is the subject of David Murphy’s penetrating, in-depth study of one of the key events in the history of the Great War. He describes how Nivelle, a highly intelligent and articulate officer, used his charm to win the support of French and British politicians, but also how he was vain and boastful and displayed no sense of operational security. By the opening of the campaign, his plan was an open secret and he had lost the ability to critically assess the operation as it developed. The result was disaster.

Click here!

 

 

They Shall Not Pass: The French Army on the Western Front 1914-1918

This graphic collection of first-hand accounts sheds new light on the experiences of the French army during the Great War. It reveals in authentic detail the perceptions and emotions of soldiers and civilians who were caught up in the most destructive conflict the world had ever seen.
Their testimony gives a striking insight into the mentality of the troops and their experience of combat, their emotional ties to their relatives at home, their opinions about their commanders and their fellow soldiers, the appalling conditions and dangers they endured, and their attitude to their German enemy. In their own words, in diaries, letters, reports and memoirs - most of which have never been published in English before - they offer a fascinating inside view of the massive life-and-death struggle that took place on the Western Front.
Ian Sumner provides a concise narrative of the war in order to give a clear context to the eyewitness material. In effect the reader is carried through the experience of each phase of the war on the Western Front and sees events as soldiers and civilians saw them at the time. This emphasis on eyewitness accounts provides an approach to the subject that is completely new for an English-language publication.
The author’s pioneering work will appeal to readers who may know something about the British and German armies on the Western Front, but little about the French army which bore the brunt of the fighting on the allied side. His book represents a milestone in publishing on the Great War.

Click here!

 

 

Artillery in the Great War

Artillery was the decisive weapon of the Great War - it dominated the battlefields. Yet the history of artillery during the conflict has been neglected, and its impact on the fighting is inadequately understood. Paul Strong and Sanders Marble, in this important and highly readable study, seek to balance the account.Their work shows that artillery was central to the tactics of the belligerent nations throughout the long course of the conflict, in attack and in defense. They describe, in vivid detail, how in theory and practice the use of artillery developed in different ways among the opposing armies, and they reveal how artillery men on all sides coped with the extraordinary challenges that confronted them on the battlefield. They also give graphic accounts of the role played by artillery in specific operations, including the battles of Le Cateau, the Somme and Valenciennes.Their work will be fascinating reading for anyone who is keen to understand the impact of artillery

Click here!

 

 

 

 

 

This post is also available in: Deutsch (German) Français (French) Italiano (Italian) 简体中文 (Chinese (Simplified)) Русский (Russian) Español (Spanish) العربية (Arabic)