SOMUA MCG

SOMUA MCG
MCG5 on display at Musée des Blindés
Type	Artillery tractor, armor recovery vehicle
Place of origin	France
Specifications
Mass	6.8 t
Length	5.30 m
Width	2.17 m
Height	2.85 m
Crew	2 + 8 passengers
Armor	none
Engine	4-cylinder, petrol, 4712 cc 60 hp
Payload capacity	1500 kg
Maximum speed	31 km/h

The SOMUA MCG was a half-track artillery tractor and recovery vehicle of the French forces during World War II.

It was used to tow medium artillery pieces such as the 155 mm mle 1917 howitzer and the 105 mm mle 1936 field gun, as well as their specific ammunition trailers. Of this main version 345 were produced: 264 until 1 September 1939 and another 81 until the end of May.

There was also a recovery version, fitted with a crane, to recover broken-down tanks, of which about 440 were produced.

Foreign use

After France surrender, many Somua MCG and MCL halftracks were captured by the Germans and put to use in the German army. Some were used as artillery tractors. Most were converted by Major Alfred Becker's workshop (Baustokommando Becker) into armoured halftracks. These were used to fill a variety of roles in 21st Panzer Division, when it was reformed after its destruction in North Africa. Variants of these included an armoured rocket launcher with a 8 cm R-vielfachwerfer, a self-propelled mortar mounting a 8 cm Reihenwerfer multiple mortar array and a tank destroyer version with a 75 mm Pak 40 anti-tank gun.

Greece acquired 48 Somua MCG halftracks and used them to tow 85 mm guns and 155 mm howitzers. An unknown quantity also went to Turkey.

Gallery

• 
• 
  Somua MCG recovery in Lussinpiccolo 1943
• 
  SOMUA MCG with PaK 40 in north Italy.
• 
  Armoured SOMUA MCG modified by Alfred Becker for use by the Wehrmacht

See also

• Adolphe Kégresse
• Kegresse track
• Alfred Becker

Bibliography

• Vauvillier, F. & Touraine, J.-M. L'automobile sous l'uniforme 1939-40, Massin, 1992, ISBN 2-7072-0197-9