The Birch Gun

The Birch Gun. Only a handful were built.

Developed at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich in 1925, the Birch Gun was the first functional self-propelled artillery gun. Named after the Royal Master of General Ordnance, General Sir Noel Birch, the Birch Gun was mounted on a Vickers Mark II tank chassis and armed with an 85 mm gun. Later versions reduced the size of the gun to 75 mm.

The gun sat on an open turret and had a 360 degree field of fire and it could also fire into the air as AAA. The British created a handful of test service models and placed them in experimental formations. Despite the utility of the gun, despite its stability and ability to project power this machine was abandoned.

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Tagged as: self propelled artillery, The Birch Gun

Originally published at civilianmilitaryintelligencegroup.com on November 13, 2014.