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 ...

, used by the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history str ...

before and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The tractor was developed by the design bureau of

Witold Jakusz Witold may refer to: *Vytautas the Great (ca. 1350–1430), ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania *Witold (given name), people with the given name ''Witold'' {{Disambig ...

of the PZInż company between 1931 and 1934. In 1931 Poland bought several dozens of British Vickers E tanks and a license to build additional tanks at home. The

also considered purchase of the then-constructed Dragon Medium Mk IV 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 an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpa ...

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 wer ...

bus.

In 1933 the first two prototypes were constructed in the Ursus factory of the PZInż. The ''C6P'' had the engine placed in the front and used

front wheel drive Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longi ...

, 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-wheel ...

. After a series of tests the C6P was chosen as a better option. In fact the new tractor, later redesignated as C7P, was much superior to its contemporary counterparts, particularly the British Dragon Medium Mk IV and the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

T-26T More than 50 different modifications and experimental vehicles based on the T-26 light infantry tank chassis were developed in the USSR in the 1930s, with 23 modifications going into series production. The majority were armoured combat vehicle ...

, both in terms of power and additional equipment. The final project included a closed crew compartment and a motor-driven

winch A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in (wind up) or let out (wind out) or otherwise adjust the tension of a rope or wire rope (also called "cable" or "wire cable"). In its simplest form, it consists of a spool (or drum) attac ...

. 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 re ...

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

Invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week af ...

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 ( Russian: ''Музей Победы'') is a history museum located in Moscow at Poklonnaya Gora. The building was designed by architect Anatoly Polyansky. Work on the museum ...

, Poklonnaya GoraT-26 walkaround
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Notes

{{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