New gallery "Field Artillery Tractors (1944-1945)"
This gallery is dedicated to field artillery tractors and contains:
- the M4 high-speed tractor, the tracked tractor that pulls the almost legendary Long Tom, the American 155mm howitzer capable of sending its shells more than 16 kilometres;
- the Mack No truck, a real workhorse produced in only 2,000 examples during the war, which could tow the same artillery pieces as the M4 HST;
- a British Morris C8 FAT (Field Artillery Tractor) towing a 17-pounder anti-tank gun (Ordnance QF 17-pdr), which was also used on the Sherman M4A4 Firefly, one of which can be seen in the ‘Mechanised Warfare’ gallery;
- a German 10.5 cm howitzer (Feldhaubitze 18/40) completes the set-up; this howitzer will one day be accompanied by a German semi-armoured vehicle of the type Sd.Kfz. 251/10;
- a Bedford vehicle from the QL series will introduce you to the ‘so British’ side of the British Army's ‘all-purpose’ truck;
- a American 155mm M1 howitzer, the most famous American artillery piece of the conflict, used during the Second World War by the Field Artillery Battalions (and which was employed until the 2020s);
- and until the end of January 2025 the Tiger II. The Tiger is a huge monster weighing almost 70 tonnes, kindly loaned to us by the Musée des Blindés in Saumur.