C7P (an abbreviation of ''Ciągnik Siedmiotonowy Polski'', "7-tonnes Polish Tractor") was a Polish tracked

artillery tractor An artillery tractor, also referred to as a gun tractor, is a specialized heavy-duty form of tractor unit used to tow artillery pieces of varying weights and calibres. It may be wheeled, tracked, or half-tracked. Traction There are two m ...

, used by the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the Army, land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military histor ...

before and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The tractor was developed by the design bureau of Witold Jakusz of the PZInż company between 1931 and 1934. In 1931 Poland bought several dozens of British

Vickers E The Vickers 6-ton tank or Vickers Mark E, also known as the "Six-tonner", was a British light tank designed in 1928 in a private project at Vickers. Though not adopted by the British Army, it was picked up by several other armed forces, and l ...

tanks and a license to build additional tanks at home. The

also considered purchase of the Vickers Medium Dragon artillery tractor, based on the Vickers E, but the purchase never happened. As the British tank was considered not suited for service in the Polish climate and needed adaptation, it was decided that a similar Polish tank be built as a modification of the Vickers design. The tank, initially code-named VAU-33, in time became the 7TP. Simultaneously, work started on a new

for the

that was to replace the Citroën-Kegresse tractors built in France in the early 1920s. The main advantage of the new model of artillery tractor, dubbed ''C6P'', ''C6T'' and finally ''C7TP'' was to be its low price, ease of manufacture and durability. For that purpose, the C7P shared many parts with the 7TP light tank, produced simultaneously. In fact the

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

was almost a direct copy of the tank, while the superstructure was partially borrowed from a license-built

Saurer Adolph Saurer AG was a Swiss manufacturer of embroidery and textile machines, trucks and buses under the Saurer and Berna (beginning in 1929) brand names. Based in Arbon, Switzerland, the firm was active between 1903 and 1982. Their vehicles were ...

bus.

In 1933 the first two

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...

s were constructed in the Ursus factory of the PZInż, the C6P and the C6T. The ''C6P'' had the engine placed in the front and used

front wheel drive Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of internal combustion engine, engine and transmission (mechanics), transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel-drive vehicles feature ...

, while the ''C6T'' had the engine placed behind the crew compartment and used

rear wheel drive Rear-wheel drive (RWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the rear wheels only. Until the late 20th century, rear-wheel drive was the most common configuration for cars. Most rear-whee ...

. After a series of tests the C6T's engine was moved from the rear of the fuselage to the front. These modifications resulted in the C6T/II. The C6P's engine was moved to the rear and the cab was modified, whereupon it was given the designation C7P/I. Further modifications to the C7P/I resulted in the C7P/II and C7P/III prototypes, and the C6T/II was upgraded to C7P/II standards. In 1934 production started. Out of approximately 350 ordered, only 151 were built by the outbreak of

. Approximately 108 were deployed to the artillery units, where the C7P was used as an artillery tractor in the regiments of heaviest artillery, mainly for towing of heavy 220 mm wz.32 Škoda mortars. An additional 18 tractors were attached to various tank units, mostly the Polish 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade for towing of immobilized tanks and for transport of tanks to the battlefield on specially designed towing platforms. Finally, two tractors were delivered to the engineering units for road maintenance and destruction of railways in case of a war. Until 1942 an additional 52 were to be delivered to various communal services, where they were to be used as

snowplow A snowplow (also snow plow, snowplough or snow plough) is a device intended for mounting on a vehicle, used for removing snow and ice from outdoor surfaces, typically those serving transportation purposes. Although this term is often used to ref ...

s to keep the roads in good condition in case of a war. During the

Invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

of 1939 all C7P were used in active service. Most were captured by the Germans and were used as towing machines and snowplows at least until 1941. No example of the C7P survives today. However, a single C7P hull was recovered near Volgograd in around 2001. This hull was restored with a BT-5 or BT-7 turret and now looks like a T-26 tank. It is now on display at the

Museum of the Great Patriotic War, Moscow The Museum of the Great Patriotic War, also known as the Victory Museum (), is a history museum located in Moscow at Poklonnaya Hill, Poklonnaya Gora. The building was designed by architect Anatoly Polyansky. Work on the museum began on March 3, ...

, Poklonnaya Gora

Production History

*1933 - 2 prototypes *1934 - 1 prototype (C7P/III) *1934-1936 - 73 C7P tractors *1938 - No data available *1939 - 29 C7P for use as artillery towing tractors as well as 13 standard models for armored forces

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:C7p Artillery tractors World War II vehicles of Poland Military engineering vehicles Military vehicles of the interwar period Military vehicles introduced in the 1930s