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Number of allied AT guns in France 1940.

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by hambi22 (U2309395) on Sunday, 8th August 2010

  Please does somebody now how many antitank guns the French and the BEF have had in France 1940?
  I guess the German had about 9000 AT guns, I would wonder if the allies had the similar number.

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by PaulRyckier (U1753522) on Sunday, 8th August 2010

  Hambi, my Czech friend, (Jan, if I recall it well)
  
  I have no time to seek in the site Forum Axishistory. I mentioned the forum in the thread: "War lost?" message 20. Don't be afraid of the Stahlhelm avatar (image?). I used it many times and found nothing controversial (up to now!)and they say of themselves that they are apolitical. There are many Frenchmen overthere writing in English and it is one of the best for weaponry of WWII and all that.
  
  Kind regards (and happy to see you posting again), and with esteem (especially for your English language),
  
  Paul.

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• Message 3

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  Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Monday, 9th August 2010

  We were down at the R A museum over the weekend, and there was a 2 pounder A/T gun on show. The card along side suggested that over two hundred were lost in France, and although they could no longer do the job, production of the 6 pounder was delayed to allow the two pounders to be turned out. One other reason given for this was that the returning crews would have had to be retrained on the new 6 pounder. Then by the time the 6 came into service, it was already passed its sell by date. Oh, the museum is well worth a visit, with the staff helpful and full of funny stories.

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• Message 4

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  Posted by RedGuzzi750 (U7604797) on Monday, 9th August 2010

  Blessed is the 7.2 - yer only safe at 20,000 yards! (as per Spike in Algeria!).
  
  Thats a bit mad Fred to continue production of an outclassed gun, but then the British War effort was littered with such decisions I think. Quite a few aircraft that were useless for combat were produced because "well they might turn out usefull for SOMETHING!"

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  Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Monday, 9th August 2010

  S S, I can see the logic though. The troops are back from Dunkirk with no A/T guns, and Jerry may be right behind them. Do you keep turning out 2 pounders, or stop production and retool to produce 6 pounders.I can't see the logic of the retraining. I mean a gun is a gun. Most of the parts like the breach will be the same, only bigger. A trained gunner should be able to pick up the knowhow in a few hours.
  
  GF

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• Message 6

  , in reply to message 4.

  Posted by cloudyj (U1773646) on Monday, 9th August 2010

  Thats a bit mad Fred to continue production of an outclassed gun, but then the British War effort was littered with such decisions I think. Quite a few aircraft that were useless for combat were produced because "well they might turn out usefull for SOMETHING!" Β 
  
  They were still quite good against many German tanks and at short distances good be effective against some of the better ones. In such desperate circumstances, I guess they thought lots of guns which worked against most German tanks were better than few guns which worked against all. It's similar logic to the allies standardizing towards the Sherman tank rather than trying to produce the perfect heavy tank.

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  Posted by Backtothedarkplace (U2955180) on Tuesday, 10th August 2010

  Hi GF SS
  
  The main problem was that there were a limited number of lathes cpable of turning gun barrels of the relevant size. It wasnt possible to make both at once. Once new factories were brought on line and it was safe to do so the machinery was turned over to producing the six pounder.
  
  But not with the barrel length it was designed for as the lathe beds were too short to turn out a barrel the right length. It was well into 1943 before new machinery could be brought in from the US to actually make the gun as designed. Once that happened the 6 pounder was actually quite a good anti tank gun, capable of handling almost everything the Germans were likley to throw at it including the Tiger.

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• Message 8

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by PaulRyckier (U1753522) on Wednesday, 11th August 2010

  Re: Message 1.
  
  Hambi,
  
  did some research.
  Some 1,094 42mm. AT guns in May 1940
  
  Some 4,500 25mm. AT guns in May 1940
  
  Also
  Separately from the 2 pounder and the battle of Arras I didn't find that much about the BEF in France in 1940. What I found the French exchanged 220 25 mm. AT guns for other weaponry because of their lack of 2 pounders ATs.
  
  Kind regards,
  
  Paul.

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• Message 9

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  Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Thursday, 12th August 2010

  While at the R A museum, I looked at the 17pounder. Now that was a tank stopper. As I say if you are in London, the museum is well worth a look. Our Special Needs Grandson went on the Vickers machine gun 3 times. First time he score 37 out of a hundred. The second 87, and the third time 93. The staff there are fantastic, and the food in the cafe is good. In fact I gave it the highest rating a Liverpool person can give. "Sallright.

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• Message 10

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  Posted by Sambista (U4068266) on Saturday, 14th August 2010

  One of the worst effects of continuing 2pdr production was that the 25pdrs in the desert were pressed into service as AT weapons, which meant they were unavailable (or at best wrongly deployed) to act in their designed role. If you are comparing the number of tank killing guns available to the French & the BEF, you should probably factor in the 18/25pdrs and the French 75mm 1895/33 model, which was specifically updated to improve its AT capabilities

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