Working "Turn" of the army part 2
Motor column BK 10 at the bus stop. In the foreground is the TKS tank transporter - temporarily in the role of a gasoline vehicle.
At the end of the 621s, the basis of the armament of the Polish military was Polish Fiat 2L trucks with a carrying capacity of up to XNUMX tons. In addition to the most common transport version of the vehicle with a simple wooden cargo body, the army used a licensed chassis for a number of other, more or less complex tasks. Today it is impossible to list all - sometimes very diverse - options that were used by the Polish Army, the State Police and other public services. The second part of the article is devoted to selected versions, only some of which were described in only a few sentences.
Anti-aircraft installation
The anti-aircraft version of the PF621 is perhaps the most complex and spectacular option. Its presence in the 1st Anti-Aircraft Regiment was the result of the earlier use of 12 French 75-mm automobile anti-aircraft guns in the unit. Why was it decided to change the chassis to self-propelled guns and use the PF621? The reason was very simple: at the beginning of 1936, all French chassis were considered badly worn and outdated. The assessment was so critical that the equipment inspection report did not hesitate to point out directly that military equipment is completely losing its value on the De Dion-Bouton chassis currently in use.
On the modernization of automobile anti-aircraft guns, commented on the conclusion of July 22, 1936, army inspector Major General V. Norwid-Neugebauer, writes: Remake of the French automobile plot. 75 mm in terms of rebuilding from the old Dion Buton chassis to the Fiat chassis, in particular, changing the masses of the wheels to cylinders, I consider it appropriate due to the improvement in the cruising speed of the equipment, better depreciation of the measuring equipment is placed on the department and by reducing the dead angle. The issue of reworking these guns should be considered very urgent in connection with this year's inter-divisional exercises, in which cardion art. the site is to take part and gain the necessary further experience for air defense on the move.
According to a report prepared in mid-1936, 6 out of 12 wz. 18/24, with each gunner consisting of two vehicles - a gun and a lizard. The first of these was in 1 chatter already at the beginning of June, and not - as incorrectly reported - in August 1936. Both the car-gun complex and the lizard boxes were transferred directly from the French De Dion-Buton vehicles to the Italian-Polish counterparts without major modifications. Initially, anti-aircraft TOURs still had armored shields that covered the gun crew, but in some photos the vehicles do not have this type of special equipment. The initiator of the entire reconstruction process was DowBr Panc., which covered the costs of restoring the model gun section from its own budget.
According to archival data, 1 grandma was supposed to field 6 guns (3 batteries and 2 guns) at the September exercises; hence the question arose, but what about the next five, not yet reassembled sets. The cost of work to supplement the chamber with the expected composition for the exercises amounted to PLN 170 (PLN 000 for the modernization of each gun + lizard gun, including PLN 34 for each PF000L chassis). The pace of work announced by PZInż. it was fast - 14 cannon per week. The resources needed to cover this "emergency operation" were to be provided by DowBrPank. from their own budget, then receiving appropriate compensation guaranteed by the 000th and 621th Deputy Ministers of Military Affairs. The sum in 1 204 zł, relating to the second batch of six guns/horses, was to be allocated within the 000/1937 budget, which, as we know, never happened.
In July, a protocol was prepared, which presents the most important parameters of newly built vehicles. A 140 km road test showed that the maximum speed with the engine not running was 45 km/h. The average pace of a 110-kilometer walk was 34,6 km / h for Fiats. The De Dion Bouton chassis could not exceed the threshold of 20 km/h. without damaging the measuring instruments. The off-road section was short - only 14 km. Tests have shown that the gun can move freely on off-road, on a forest road and on a sandy road with small hills. Comparison of the ability to overcome country roads of guns on the Fiat 621 chassis with guns on the De Dion Bouton chassis is clearly not in favor of the latter. The sensitivity of the newly assembled guns to country roads can be determined in such a way that it will not be difficult to take up firing positions in the middle area.
