Portée (military)

Portée describes 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. Portée 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.[1] Modern terms for such equipments are technical or gun truck.

Not to be confused with Portree.
Australian Army 2-pounder portée during an exercise in 1942

Interwar

US Cavalry

Portée cavalry was horse cavalry – both the horses and their riders – carried in trucks or other carriers. The cavalry is thus mechanized 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.[2][lower-alpha 1][4][5]

British Army, 1939–1943

2-pounder anti-tank gun portée

An Ordnance QF 2 pounder (40 mm) anti-tank gun mounted on a Morris 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]

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 F60 or C60 with cut down number 13 cab was similarly used.[7] The size and weight of the new gun led to it being dismounted before going into action more often than the smaller 2-pounder.[8]

20 mm anti-aircraft gun portée

An Oerlikon 20 mm anti-aircraft gun mounted on a Morris 15 cwt truck

25 mm anti-tank gun portée

A 25 mm Hotchkiss anti-tank gun mounted on a Morris 15 cwt truck[9]

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.[10]

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 in an armoured shield on a turntable on the back of an armoured AEC Matador chassis.[11] 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.[12]

Operational history

Sidi Rezegh

On 21 November 1941 at Sidi Rezegh in Libya, during Operation Crusader, J Battery, 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery with its 2-pounders resisted a German counter-attack by Panzer IV tanks. The engagement has been cited by modern historians as an epic example of leadership and courage under fire. Second Lieutenant George Ward Gunn fought with his (A) troop until it had only one gun left in action. The battery commander Major Bernard Pinney MC ordered Ward Gunn to remove the dead crew on a serviceable gun and get it back into action. In a short space of time the gun caught fire so Pinney, exposed to enemy fire, got up to put out the fire. Firing around fifty rounds, Ward Gunn destroyed two German tanks while the portée was burning. When Ward Gunn was killed, Pinney pushed his body out of the way to continue single-handed until it was eventually put out of action by direct enemy fire. Pinney was killed by a stray shell the following day. Both men were recommended for the Victoria Cross and Ward Gunn received the award (posthumous).[13]

105th Anti-tank Regiment

Data taken from Perrett (1979) show changes in equipment of an anti-tank regiment, 1941–1944.[14]

  • 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)

Notes
  1. One aspect of this defense was continued testing of portee Cavalry, the use of trucks to move fresh horses to the battle where Troopers would mount up and operate as traditional horse cavalry... The special built tractor-trailers were capable of rapidly transporting eight fully equipped Troopers with their horses to any staging point.[3]

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. Greg Krenzelok. "Walter J. Schweitzer Troop 'C' 107TH Cavalry Horse/Mechanized, Ford Ord, Dec. 1941". Veterinary Corp in WWI. Retrieved November 12, 2014.
  5. Bob Seals (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. Carver 1964, pp. 52–55.
  14. Perrett 1979, p. 29.
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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. ISBN 0-330-23376-9.
  • 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. 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. IV (pbk. facs. Naval & Military Press, Uckfield ed.). London: HMSO. ISBN 978-1-84574-068-9.

Further reading
  • Stewart, A. (2010). The Early Battles of Eighth Army: Crusader to the Alamein Line, 1941–42. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole. ISBN 978-0-8117-3536-0.
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