What did you think about the 155 mm Long Tom of World War Two? Welcome back! If you are new here make sure to hit subscribe to expand your knowledge on Military History and join the growing Premier History Community!
I think that the guns featured from 1:32 to 1:39 are 8 inch (203 mm) howitzers. Notice the shorter, thicker barrels. They used the same carriage as the 155 mm Long Tom so they are easy to confuse.
The Long Tom was a great platform. A similar one was used in Vietnam and we had them in Desert Storm, the Mech 155 that is. It is the grand dad to the M777 & the M109 Paladin. Great systems. Good vid!
I’m shocked! I’ve been studying WWII since I retired 12 years ago and this is the first mention and picture of this weapon I’ve ever seen or heard of this! Thank you for reminding me that no one can know everything about a topic!! I’m subscribing! Any channel that teaches me something new is worth subscribing too and hitting the bell!
@@stunick1573 Good for you! I’ve seen so many documentaries that talk about the German big guns like the Heavy Gustav and others and even the tanks, Tigers or Panthers with the 88’s that shredded the US troops in the Bocage especially but missed the Long Tom somehow. I don’t suppose you kept that model you made?!
@@stunick1573 Tamiya came out with a version of this artillery piece about 5-6 years ago. Comes complete with a crew, rounds, loading tray, powder bags, and other items. Good kit!!
Sadly today's Navy's, the Hold my beer is a 5.9 inch or 149mm gun. With exception to mothballed fleets, are there any Naval guns bigger then a 6in (155mm) of the Zumwalt class?
Nah - the US Army deployed the 240mm M1 Black Dragon howitzer in WW2 and the less successful 203mm (8inch) M1 Gun. The French had a 280mm howitzer which the Germans captured and used on the Eastern Front. There was also a French 520mm railway howitzer captured by the Germans in 1940 - it had sat in storage since 1918 when the first of two blew up during testing. The Germans sent the 520mm to Leningrad where it fired a few shells - and blew up. I guess if you want size then the German 80cm Dora railway gun would trump them all - fired about 50 7ton shells in its career most of them at fortifications around Sevastopol.
The Navy uses a modern self loading long barrel 127mm (5 inch) gun. It can pump some rounds on a target repeatedly. The truly big guns were the 16 inch(460mm) 50 caliber guns on the Iowa's. But their range was tiny compared to aircraft.
I remember seeing a model of the Longtime '56-58 in the Camp Pendleton hobby shop. I believe it was by Revel. Must have been a real noisemaker. Narragansett Bay
I believe that some M-2 carried 155's were used to breech the Siegfried Line! They either creeped up at night, or behind smoke screens. When the German's in whatever bunker finally could see clearly it was too late because the 155 gun (not howitzer, gun) was already loaded, pointed at them and within a second or two, fired....
I think you should have done more research. The US Army adopted the French Canon de 155 Mle 1917 GPF as its standard heavy field artillery in 1918. The GPF was built in the US and it was nearly identical to the French gun with some changes to the trigger to conform to US Army regulations. The Westervelt Board of 1919 promoted the idea of an improved M1918 gun with higher elevation and longer range. After WW1 there was a long period of experimentation to increase the range of 155mm M1918 by developing a new carriage with increased elevation and extending the barrel. In the early 1930s the 8 wheel carriage was developed and with a longer barrel became the 155mm Gun M1 known as the "Long Tom" which was accepted in 1940. The original 155mm M1917/M1918 guns still had a lot of life in them and were used extensively as coastal defense guns in WW2. About 100 M1918 guns were mated to M3A3 tank chassis to create the M12 Motor Gun Carriage. These were supposed to be used for training but eventually were deployed to Europe and served very successfully as artillery support for US Army tank divisions. An improved M12 was built towards the end of the war again using the 155mm Long Tom gun with a modified M4A3 Sherman tank chassis. These were accepted as the M40 Motor Gun Carriage and although they barely saw combat in WW2 were used in Korea. The Long Tom carriage was also used for the US 8nch howitzer and the British 7.2inch howitzer. Just to add to the confusion the French Army was still using large numbers of 155mm GPF guns at the start of WW2 including a version with 4 individual wheels and modified suspension know as the GPF(T). The Wehrmacht captured many GPF guns and used them in North Africa and as coastal defense guns. Just to throw in more confusion the US Army in WW1 had a number of motor gun carriages constructed with 155mm gun, 8inch (203mm) howitzer and 240mm howitzers. After WW1 a further generation of motor gun carriages was built in the early 1920s with 4.7inch gun, 155mm gun, 6inch howitzer and 8inch howitzer.
Gosh, I remember the days when the Army used the M107's and the M110's. They were massive guns. The rounds would sound like rockets going through the air. When the rounds impacted, you would feel the ground shake miles away.
Patton liked to use the 155 like a rifle against reinforced concrete bunkers. He said one shot close to the embrasure was enough to make the occupants flee out the back door.
Devastating Weapon I suspect most accurate artillery in WWII. The most interresting use I've heard of was the second battle of Kasserine Pass in N. Africa where they were used in direct firm mode, cranked all the way down to fire directly into on coming German armor and infantry. I believe using fragmentation rounds. Though I can imagine how utterly demoralizing it would be for German forces when a tank took a round and pretty much exploded into several thousand pieces, not to mention the consussion from the shells going off in their midst, incapacitating the strongest for dozens of feet around, stunning those for 50 and more feet. The British and Commonwealth troops used their lighter artillery in direct fire mode to devasting effect in several battles, but as their range was closer to that of attackers, they suffered greatly, I believe one artillery group stopped the German armor and infantry, but only one gun remained operational, with a severly depleted crew of survirors from other guns. The Long Tom gave the gun crews stand off to stop attack before they became cannon fodder themselves, though it must have been a close thing.
George Forty's 'A Pictorial History Of Tanks In Two World Wars' has a fantastic photo of a HVSS Long Tom mid-fire, with almost the entire length of the tracks and bogies lifted off the ground by the recoil.
As a former Redleg I was trained on an m109 self propelled 155 howitzer in Ft .Sill when i got to Germany i was assigned to an m110 8" howitzer battery a monster but the big brains in the Pentagon saw the big picture and removed it from service too bad
From an Osprey book on Guam: "Its crew of 15 could maintain a steady rate of fire of around one round per minute; thus a four-gun battery could maintain a barrage with a round landing on target every 15 seconds. A three-battery section could deliver a barrage with rounds detonating almost continuously."
You are a bit inaccurate in your description of the M12 155m GMC. It was never referred to as the long tom. It has the old French gun with an improved breach. The Long Tom reference only applied to the 155mm M1 or M1A1 and then later as the M59. The mobile version was the M40 introduced late in WW2 and used extensively in the Korean conflict. The M12 was built on a modified M3 tank chassis, the M40 on a modified M4 tank chassis. The M43 was also produced with the 8in gun, but the 155mm was the preferred version with the US Army.
The lines were so screwed up in the Battle of the bulge my father found himself in enemy territory. And if you need to ask? yes, he did in fact Hall ass.
My dad was in armored reconnaissance in the Philippines. There were no "enemy lines" for the most part. Being recon, they weren't supposed to get into pitched battles, but they had to fight their way clear a few times.
@@TuanAnhLeIV i feel like in terms of callibre the sexton fall under the lighter artillery with the likes of the su76, early stug 3 and the m8 scott where the callibre is smaller than 100mm
So if they could load between one and seven bags of powder in the breach how did they remove the big air gap that would be in the breach with just one bag?
M1 and M2 gun carriages? No, not at all. The M1918 155mm GPF gun was mounted on an M3/M4 tank chassis and was known as the M12 Gun Motor Carriage. These had a companion vehicle the M30 Cargo Carrier which was essentially the M12 without the gun mount. A later version using the M1 155mm Long Tom was built using an late production M4 chassis with HVSS suspension. It was designated T83 (later M40). Please research a bit more carefully.
This is correct. The self-propelled gun shown in the thumbnail is a prototype of what became the M12 gun motor carriage. The M12 used WW1 French GPF guns as a stop-gap until a new gun... the "Long Tom" could be developed. The Long Tom gun did not get a self-propelled mount until the M40 was developed in 1945, with one gun sent to the ETO near the end of the war.
Yes. There were a number of occasions where before the main invasion of a Japanese held island, the Marines would take a few small off-shore islands and but 155mm guns on them to snipe Japanese positions identified by the main body going ashore. The 155 was EXTREMELY accurate.
What did you think about the 155 mm Long Tom of World War Two?
Welcome back! If you are new here make sure to hit subscribe to expand your knowledge on Military History and join the growing Premier History Community!
A great counter battery gun too. Also the carrage was used for the US 8" gun, and the British 7.2" heavy guns.
I think that the guns featured from 1:32 to 1:39 are 8 inch (203 mm) howitzers.
Notice the shorter, thicker barrels.
They used the same carriage as the 155 mm Long Tom so they are easy to confuse.
also naval as I recall?
The Long Tom was a great platform. A similar one was used in Vietnam and we had them in Desert Storm, the Mech 155 that is. It is the grand dad to the M777 & the M109 Paladin. Great systems. Good vid!
I’m shocked! I’ve been studying WWII since I retired 12 years ago and this is the first mention and picture of this weapon I’ve ever seen or heard of this! Thank you for reminding me that no one can know everything about a topic!! I’m subscribing! Any channel that teaches me something new is worth subscribing too and hitting the bell!
Built a Revel (I think) model of the "Long Tom" on the towed carriage back in early 1970's. They have faded with time.
@@stunick1573 Good for you! I’ve seen so many documentaries that talk about the German big guns like the Heavy Gustav and others and even the tanks, Tigers or Panthers with the 88’s that shredded the US troops in the Bocage especially but missed the Long Tom somehow. I don’t suppose you kept that model you made?!
@@stunick1573 Tamiya came out with a version of this artillery piece about 5-6 years ago. Comes complete with a crew, rounds, loading tray, powder bags, and other items. Good kit!!
Big artillery 155mm shell is a 6 inch gun. Navy comes in the room hold my beer son.
Sadly today's Navy's, the Hold my beer is a 5.9 inch or 149mm gun. With exception to mothballed fleets, are there any Naval guns bigger then a 6in (155mm) of the Zumwalt class?
Nah - the US Army deployed the 240mm M1 Black Dragon howitzer in WW2 and the less successful 203mm (8inch) M1 Gun. The French had a 280mm howitzer which the Germans captured and used on the Eastern Front. There was also a French 520mm railway howitzer captured by the Germans in 1940 - it had sat in storage since 1918 when the first of two blew up during testing. The Germans sent the 520mm to Leningrad where it fired a few shells - and blew up. I guess if you want size then the German 80cm Dora railway gun would trump them all - fired about 50 7ton shells in its career most of them at fortifications around Sevastopol.
The Navy uses a modern self loading long barrel 127mm (5 inch) gun. It can pump some rounds on a target repeatedly.
The truly big guns were the 16 inch(460mm) 50 caliber guns on the Iowa's. But their range was tiny compared to aircraft.
I remember seeing a model of the Longtime '56-58 in the Camp Pendleton hobby shop. I believe it was by Revel. Must have been a real noisemaker. Narragansett Bay
I believe that some M-2 carried 155's were used to breech the Siegfried Line! They either creeped up at night, or behind smoke screens. When the German's in whatever bunker finally could see clearly it was too late because the 155 gun (not howitzer, gun) was already loaded, pointed at them and within a second or two, fired....
I think you should have done more research.
The US Army adopted the French Canon de 155 Mle 1917 GPF as its standard heavy field artillery in 1918. The GPF was built in the US and it was nearly identical to the French gun with some changes to the trigger to conform to US Army regulations.
The Westervelt Board of 1919 promoted the idea of an improved M1918 gun with higher elevation and longer range. After WW1 there was a long period of experimentation to increase the range of 155mm M1918 by developing a new carriage with increased elevation and extending the barrel. In the early 1930s the 8 wheel carriage was developed and with a longer barrel became the 155mm Gun M1 known as the "Long Tom" which was accepted in 1940. The original 155mm M1917/M1918 guns still had a lot of life in them and were used extensively as coastal defense guns in WW2. About 100 M1918 guns were mated to M3A3 tank chassis to create the M12 Motor Gun Carriage. These were supposed to be used for training but eventually were deployed to Europe and served very successfully as artillery support for US Army tank divisions. An improved M12 was built towards the end of the war again using the 155mm Long Tom gun with a modified M4A3 Sherman tank chassis. These were accepted as the M40 Motor Gun Carriage and although they barely saw combat in WW2 were used in Korea.
The Long Tom carriage was also used for the US 8nch howitzer and the British 7.2inch howitzer.
Just to add to the confusion the French Army was still using large numbers of 155mm GPF guns at the start of WW2 including a version with 4 individual wheels and modified suspension know as the GPF(T). The Wehrmacht captured many GPF guns and used them in North Africa and as coastal defense guns.
Just to throw in more confusion the US Army in WW1 had a number of motor gun carriages constructed with 155mm gun, 8inch (203mm) howitzer and 240mm howitzers. After WW1 a further generation of motor gun carriages was built in the early 1920s with 4.7inch gun, 155mm gun, 6inch howitzer and 8inch howitzer.
Gosh, I remember the days when the Army used the M107's and the M110's. They were massive guns. The rounds would sound like rockets going through the air. When the rounds impacted, you would feel the ground shake miles away.
Miles away LOL
Patton liked to use the 155 like a rifle against reinforced concrete bunkers. He said one shot close to the embrasure was enough to make the occupants flee out the back door.
My father was in a 155mm unit. 173rd Field Artillery Group
Not so much the gun itself, but the caliber, 155mm, has become a favorite around the world.
Devastating Weapon I suspect most accurate artillery in WWII. The most interresting use I've heard of was the second battle of Kasserine Pass in N. Africa where they were used in direct firm mode, cranked all the way down to fire directly into on coming German armor and infantry. I believe using fragmentation rounds. Though I can imagine how utterly demoralizing it would be for German forces when a tank took a round and pretty much exploded into several thousand pieces, not to mention the consussion from the shells going off in their midst, incapacitating the strongest for dozens of feet around, stunning those for 50 and more feet. The British and Commonwealth troops used their lighter artillery in direct fire mode to devasting effect in several battles, but as their range was closer to that of attackers, they suffered greatly, I believe one artillery group stopped the German armor and infantry, but only one gun remained operational, with a severly depleted crew of survirors from other guns. The Long Tom gave the gun crews stand off to stop attack before they became cannon fodder themselves, though it must have been a close thing.
George Forty's 'A Pictorial History Of Tanks In Two World Wars' has a fantastic photo of a HVSS Long Tom mid-fire, with almost the entire length of the tracks and bogies lifted off the ground by the recoil.
My father as a captain had a number of these pieces in his command.
Thanks
As a former Redleg I was trained on an m109 self propelled 155 howitzer in Ft .Sill when i got to Germany i was assigned to an m110 8" howitzer battery a monster but the big brains in the Pentagon saw the big picture and removed it from service too bad
I see bag charges? "I Think" 6inch NAVAL GUN adapted and mobile use! COOL!!
From an Osprey book on Guam: "Its crew of 15 could maintain a steady rate of fire of around one round per minute; thus a four-gun battery could maintain a barrage with a round landing on target every 15 seconds. A three-battery section could deliver a barrage with rounds detonating almost continuously."
Thanks for sharing Ralph, very impressive weapon
155mm. lLong Toms and their M40 self-propelled versions also used in Korean War👍👍
You are a bit inaccurate in your description of the M12 155m GMC. It was never referred to as the long tom. It has the old French gun with an improved breach. The Long Tom reference only applied to the 155mm M1 or M1A1 and then later as the M59. The mobile version was the M40 introduced late in WW2 and used extensively in the Korean conflict. The M12 was built on a modified M3 tank chassis, the M40 on a modified M4 tank chassis. The M43 was also produced with the 8in gun, but the 155mm was the preferred version with the US Army.
Not sure what they used in the Army, but Navy rifled bag guns used a .30 cal blank as the primer.
Same practice in the US Army from WW1.
Long Tom is still the gold standard.
Great weapon
I trained on a 155 mm in Fort Sill Oklahoma 1973
Nice one, thanks for sharing!
The lines were so screwed up in the Battle of the bulge my father found himself in enemy territory. And if you need to ask? yes, he did in fact Hall ass.
*haul
Nice one, thanks for sharing
My dad was in armored reconnaissance in the Philippines. There were no "enemy lines" for the most part. Being recon, they weren't supposed to get into pitched battles, but they had to fight their way clear a few times.
Seems like most artillery is now 155mm.
Because other common artillery piece is 105mm. Far too short range.
203mm is too heavy and not much range advantage.
So only 155mm is left.
@@AKUJIVALDO make sense, thanks
Didn't they use the barrels as bunker buster kinetic weapons dropped from modern jets?
I know which end of this I'd rather be on! 😁
My dad was on a long tom crew in Germany.
Thanks for sharing Joe!
Given how much advancing the U.S. military did during WWII, it is ironic that the Hummel and Wespe are more famous than U.S. self-propelled artillery.
Yeah that’s a good point you make
Yeah it's a bit ironic considering the longtom and the m7 priest were far more numerous.
Sexton is crying in the conner
@@TuanAnhLeIV i feel like in terms of callibre the sexton fall under the lighter artillery with the likes of the su76, early stug 3 and the m8 scott where the callibre is smaller than 100mm
Those that don’t study military history will forever underestimate artillery’s role and value.
Large BANG creator
Also known as the Long Range Sniper.
So if they could load between one and seven bags of powder in the breach how did they remove the big air gap that would be in the breach with just one bag?
They don't. The gap would be filled with gas from the powder being burned off thus propelling the projectile.
@@Predator42ID Thanks.👍
Today no one is safe behind the lines.
M1 and M2 gun carriages? No, not at all. The M1918 155mm GPF gun was mounted on an M3/M4 tank chassis and was known as the M12 Gun Motor Carriage. These had a companion vehicle the M30 Cargo Carrier which was essentially the M12 without the gun mount. A later version using the M1 155mm Long Tom was built using an late production M4 chassis with HVSS suspension. It was designated T83 (later M40). Please research a bit more carefully.
Long Tom is still in active services in Taiwanese Army
Interesting!
We need a Long Tom in War Thunder 😄
Thumbnail isn't a long tom. Certainly doesn't make me want to watch
This is correct. The self-propelled gun shown in the thumbnail is a prototype of what became the M12 gun motor carriage. The M12 used WW1 French GPF guns as a stop-gap until a new gun... the "Long Tom" could be developed. The Long Tom gun did not get a self-propelled mount until the M40 was developed in 1945, with one gun sent to the ETO near the end of the war.
@@stevenflebbe I though it was an M12 also.
Wehrmacht 155 had a bit more range.
American 155 had a bit more ammo
Did the Marines use this weapon?
Yes. There were a number of occasions where before the main invasion of a Japanese held island, the Marines would take a few small off-shore islands and but 155mm guns on them to snipe Japanese positions identified by the main body going ashore. The 155 was EXTREMELY accurate.
@@Mishn0saipan to tinian
longue portée Filloux
Not quite - GPF - Grande Puissance Filloux
instead Grande Portée Filloux : I apologize
Huge? Maybe 155mm was huge in the Civil War......
Not a long tom.😊
First.
Nice