Type: Self-Propelled Artillery
Nation: Canada
Period: World War 2
Location: Musée Mémorial de la Bataille de Normandie, Bayeux, France
The QF 25-pounder gun was the standard towed howitzer of the British and Commonwealth forces in World War 2. Since the artillery needed to keep up with the mechanised formations, an improvised self-propelled 25-pounder gun version based on the Valentine chassis was created in 1941 and fielded in North Africa in 1942. This vehicle was called “Bishop”, suffered from numerous problems and was therefore only in service for a short time. The much better US-built M7 Priest became available under Lend-Lease in October 1942, but it was equipped with a 105 mm gun – a calibre not used by the British. The Americans however did not want to build a 25-pounder version of the M7 which their own troops would have no use for.
The solution was found in Canada where the continuation of domestic cruiser tank production of the Ram II (based on the American M3 Grant/Lee) and the Grizzly (based on the M4A1 Sherman) had just been declared unnecessary – because the United States’ production capabilities turned out to be great enough to supply all Allied forces with M4 Mediums. In 1943 the Canadian production lines were switched to the successfully tested new self-propelled 25-pounder vehicle based on the Ram II chassis: About 100 called Sexton I and roughly 2,000 Sexton IIs which also used components of the Grizzly.
This particular vehicle is of the latter version, which features two typical boxes for batteries and an auxiliary generator on the engine deck. Also, the return rollers on the suspension bogies are of the trailing type, indicating Sexton II’s Grizzly heritage rather than having the earlier centered return rollers from the Ram and Sexton I. But bogies can be changed of course. Besides being used by British and Canadian troops, Sextons were also in service with the Polish Army in Italy, Normandy and the following campaign – which is why this one is painted in the markings of the Polish 1st Armoured Division. Its badge, a winged helmet, can be seen both on the front and the rear and the name „Racławice“ refers to a Polish village where a famous battle had taken place in 1794.
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One response to “25-pr SP tracked, Sexton II”
[…] Alarmed by the Fall of France in 1940, Canada had developed the Ram I cruiser tank based on the US-built M3 Lee/Grant. However, in 1942 the decision was made to equip Canada’s armoured formations with the same medium tank as their American and British allies. After some delays the production lines at the Montreal Locomotive Works were switched from the Ram II to the Grizzly in August 1943. But as it soon became clear that the American factories were perfectly able to churn out enough Shermans to supply all allied armies, production of the Grizzly gun tank was halted in December 1943 after only 188 completed vehicles. The Grizzly’s chassis stayed in production nonetheless – as the basis for the successful self-propelled gun Sexton II. […]
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