Guest Michael emrys Posted March 20, 2001 Share Posted March 20, 2001 Originally posted by Bullethead: I can't say for sure that ALL WW2 SP guns had this limitation, but all for which I have stats did. After I logged off last night I got the books out and looked up a whole mess of SPA and by and large you are right. The German vehicles mounting the 150mm heavy infantry gun could elevate to 72° (the earliest version would go all the way to 75°) and the American M92 and M93 (240mm and 8" howitzers respectively) would elevate to 65°. But all those were made in very small numbers and except for maybe the German guns not likely to be seen on the CM battlefield. Not worth bothering with, I'd say. Not thrilled . To do this right, you'd have to have full batteries on the map because single guns were almost never detached from their batteries. And by full batteries, I mean the whole 9 yards required to make an arty battery function. Not only all their guns, but also all their ammo vehicles, troop vehicles, support vehicles, piles of shells being fuzed, some sort of tent or covered vehicle for their FDC, some guys forming a thin local security perimeter, a few AA guns, an antenna farm, comm wire laid all over Hell, etc. All in all, a lot of trash you'd rather not have cluttering up the battlefield, costing you purchase points, or being used in non-realistic ways by your opponents. And all of this just to get on-map indirect fire support, which is why you have mortars. Leave the arty in the rear where it belongs A good response that I am happy to go along with. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Michael emrys Posted March 20, 2001 Share Posted March 20, 2001 Originally posted by Bullethead: First, the Priest was by TO&E the exclusive property of armored divisions. I don't think US infantry divisions ever had any and if they did, that was by far the exception. I am certain that at least one of the US D-Day divisions did because I was surprised to see it included in their OoB. I don't know how many infantry divisions had them or how long they kept them after the landings were made. As you say, it was an exceptional situation. I have this notion that some SP 155mm were attached to inf divs involved in the breaching of the West Wall, but I suspect they were actually held at the corps or army level and parceled out as needed. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfe Posted March 20, 2001 Share Posted March 20, 2001 Andreas wrote: Is it possible that the Bison did not refer to the vehicle base but to the gun? Hmmm. Good point. Hadn't thought about that possibility. Though in the PzKpfw 38(t) section of German Tanks of WWII, Forty writes: "The 15 cm SP heavy infantry gun was known as Grille (Cricket), of which 282 were produced in 1943-44 (Some sources call it the Bison, possibly in error.) The 15 cm SP heavy infantry gun was mounted in both PzKpfw 38(t) Ausf H chassis and on the special new Ausf K chassis." You still might be right, though. The 'Bison' could be the gun itself and the 'Grille' the combined sIG33 with 38t chassis. I dunno. - Chris [This message has been edited by Wolfe (edited 03-19-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Michael emrys Posted March 20, 2001 Share Posted March 20, 2001 Don't forget that the 150mm SIG was also mounted on Pz I and Pz II chasses. I haven't been able to track it down, but the name 'Bison' could have been applied to either of those two mods. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfe Posted March 20, 2001 Share Posted March 20, 2001 Originally posted by Michael emrys: Don't forget that the 150mm SIG was also mounted on Pz I and Pz II chasses. I haven't been able to track it down, but the name 'Bison' could have been applied to either of those two mods. Michael Yes, that's why I'm confused. See my first post in this thread which lists the 150mm sIG gun mounted on a variety of chassis. There's also apparently a Hetzer-like mounting which I didn't mention: the sIG33 on a 38t chassis surrounded by thick, sloping armor. And the the 38t chassis seems to have 2 versions: one mounted on the front of the chassis and one towards the rear. - Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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