Portee

Australian Army 2-pounder portée during an exercise in 1942

Portée is the practice of carrying an artillery piece on a truck which can be fired from the vehicle or quickly dismounted and fired from the ground. The term is most often used to describe anti-tank equipments used by the British, Commonwealth and imperial forces in the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. Modern terms for mounting weapons on vehicles are technical or gun truck.

Interwar

US Cavalry

portée cavalry was horse cavalry – horses and riders – carried in trucks or other vehicles. The cavalry is thus mechanised for strategic and operational movement and horse-mounted for tactical deployment. Portée cavalry units were briefly tested in the American army during the interwar period change from fully-horsed cavalry to fully-mechanized cavalry but were generally found to be overcomplicated and not worthwhile.

British Army, 1939–1943

2-pounder anti-tank gun portée

An Ordnance QF 2 pounder (40 mm) anti-tank gun mounted on a Morris CS8 15 cwt truck, Chevrolet WA or WB 30-cwt truck, Canadian Military Pattern Ford F30 or Chevrolet C30 trucks and fired over the tailboard.

6-pounder anti-tank gun portée

Six-pounder portée, 1942

An Ordnance QF 6 pounder (57 mm) anti-tank gun, mounted on a Bedford QLT 3-ton lorry or Austin K5 3-ton lorry. Both vehicles had a special frame-only body carrying the gun, crew, ammunition and the rarely used side shields. A Canadian Military Pattern lorry (CMP) Ford F60 or Chevrolet C60 with cut down number 13 cab was similarly used. The size and weight of the new gun led to it being dismounted before going into action more often than the smaller and lighter 2-pounder.

20 mm anti-aircraft gun portée

An Oerlikon 20 mm anti-aircraft gun mounted on a Morris 15 cwt truck[citation needed]

25 mm anti-tank gun portée

A 25 mm Hotchkiss anti-tank gun mounted on a Morris 15 cwt truck

37 mm anti-tank gun portée

A Bofors 37 mm anti-tank gun mounted on a Bedford MW or Morris CS8 15cwt used by 106 Royal Horse Artillery during Operation Compass at Beda Fomm.

Deacon

AEC Deacon

The AEC Mk I Gun Carrier "Deacon" introduced in 1942 in the Desert War was a more sophisticated successor to the portée. The 6-pounder gun was mounted within a three-sided and roofed armoured shield on a turntable on the back of an armoured AEC Matador chassis. The limited traverse of the gun was mitigated by the Matador driver turning the vehicle. A battery of Deacons were issued per anti-tank regiment as a mobile reserve but by the end of the North African Campaign in May 1943 were obsolete and were replaced by US M10 tank destroyers before operations began in Europe.

Operational history

105th Anti-tank Regiment RA

Changes of equipment from 1941 to 1944.

  • 1941–1942: Western Desert, 2-pounder portée
  • 1942–1943: Western Desert and Tunisia, 2 batteries 6-pounder portée, 2 batteries Deacon
  • 1943: Sicily, 2 batteries 6-pounder towed, 2 batteries 17-pounder towed
  • 1944: Italy, 1 battery 6-pounder towed, 1 battery 17-pounder towed, 2 batteries M 10 (12 guns per battery)

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ One aspect of this defence was continued testing of portée Cavalry, the use of trucks to move fresh horses to the battle where Troopers would mount and operate as traditional horse cavalry... The specially-built tractor-trailers were capable of rapidly transporting eight fully-equipped Troopers with their horses to any staging point.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Playfair 2004, p. 442; Playfair 2004a, p. 505.
  2. ↑ "Army Mechanization Before WW II". Olive-Drab. Retrieved November 12, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Army Mechanization Before WW II". Olive-Drab. Retrieved November 12, 2014.
  4. ↑ Krenzelok, Greg. "Walter J. Schweitzer Troop 'C' 107TH Cavalry Horse/Mechanized, Ford Ord, Dec. 1941". Veterinary Corp in WWI. Retrieved November 12, 2014.
  5. ↑ Seals, Bob (May 7, 2009). "In Defense of the Horse: Major General John H. Herr, Chief of Cavalry". The Long Riders Guild Academic Foundation. Retrieved November 12, 2014.
  6. ↑ Henry 2004, p. 24 (G); Bidwell & Graham 2004, p. 231.
  7. ↑ Henry 2004, p. 47.
  8. ↑ Perrett 1979, p. 25.
  9. ↑ Bishop 2002, p. 190; Henry 2004, p. 5.
  10. ↑ Moreman 2010, p. 26; Bishop 2002, p. 98.
  11. ↑ Henry 2004, p. 14.
  12. ↑ Perrett 1979, pp. 4, 25–26.
  13. ↑ Perrett 1979, p. 29.

References

  • Bidwell, S.; Graham, D. (2004) [1982]. Fire-Power: The British Army Weapons & Theories of War 1904–1945. Pen & Sword Military Classics (No. 44) (Pbk. repr. Pen & Sword, Barnsley ed.). London: George Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-84415-216-2.
  • Bishop, Chris (2002). The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II. New York: Sterling. ISBN 978-1-58663-762-0.
  • Carver, M. (1964). Tobruk. London: B. T. Batsford. OCLC 1089494.
  • Henry, C. (2004). Drinkwater, Simone (ed.). British Anti-tank Artillery 1939–45. New Vanguard (No 98). Brian Delf. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84-176638-6.
  • Moreman, Tim (2010). Long Range Desert Group Patrolman: The Western Desert 1940–43. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84603-924-9.
  • Perrett, B. (1979). Windrow, M. (ed.). Allied Tank Destroyers. Vanguard. Mike Chappell. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 0-85045-315-1.
  • Playfair, I. S. O.; Flynn, F. C.; Molony, C. J. C. & Gleave, T. P. (2004) [1960]. Butler, J. R. M. (ed.). The Mediterranean and Middle East: British Fortunes reach their Lowest Ebb (September 1941 to September 1942). History of the Second World War United Kingdom Military Series. Vol. III (Pbk. facs. Naval & Military Press, Uckfield ed.). London: HMSO. ISBN 978-1-84574-067-2.
  • Playfair, Major-General I. S. O.; and Molony, Brigadier C. J. C.; Flynn, Captain F. C. & Gleave, T. P. (2004) [1966]. Butler, J. R. M. (ed.). The Mediterranean and Middle East: The Destruction of the Axis Forces in Africa. History of the Second World War United Kingdom Military Series. Vol. IV (pbk. facs. Naval & Military Press, Uckfield ed.). London: HMSO. ISBN 978-1-84574-068-9.

Further reading