The P107 was a
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 ...
French half-track
A half-track is a civilian or military vehicle with wheels at the front for steering and continuous tracks at the back to propel the vehicle and carry most of the load. A half-track combines the soft-ground traction of a tank with the Car handl ...
.
History
In the 1920s and 1930s
Citroën
Citroën ()The double-dot diacritic over the 'e' is a diaeresis () indicating the two vowels are sounded separately, and not as a diphthong. is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded on 4 June 19 ...
developed a long line of half-tracks based on the
Kégresse patent. In 1934, the company introduced its newest and more powerful P107 model as a successor to the
Citroën-Kégresse P17. But before mass production could take place, Citroën went bankrupt and its new owner,
Michelin
Michelin ( , ), in full ("General Company of the Michelin Enterprises P.L.S."), is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes '' région'' of France. It is the second largest t ...
, chose to focus on the civilian markets.
Unic was therefore able to acquire a license for the Kégresse patent, and took over the production of the P107. From 1937, the vehicles built by Unic received various designations, such as P 107 B, P 107 BU or P 107 U1.
The first order was made in 1935. Two main variants of the P107 were accepted in French military service: a light
prime mover
Prime mover may refer to:
Philosophy
*Unmoved mover, a concept in Aristotle's writings
Engineering
* Prime mover (engine or motor), a machine that converts various other forms of energy (chemical, electrical, fluid pressure/flow, etc.) into ener ...
for the
75 mm,
short 105 mm Bourges and
short 105 mm Schneider guns, and a platform cargo transport for
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
units. A third version was also delivered to transmission units. 1,274 examples were delivered before the war and 1,896 more were delivered until June 1940.
Foreign use
60 P 107s were ordered by
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
on 27 August 1939 but on 22 September they were recalled to France while en route to Poland.
During World War II, the Germans used these captured half-tracks extensively under the name ''leichter Zugkraftwagen 37 U304(f)'' to tow various anti-tank guns.
With German half-tracks in short supply, Major
Alfred Becker of the 21. Panzerdivision (which in 1944 was stationed near Caen in Normandy) suggested converting captured French vehicles. He ordered the conversion of available Unic half-tracks into ''leichter Schützenpanzerwagen'' (light armoured personnel carriers).
References
Sources
*
External links
* http://www.autogallery.org.ru/m/unicp107.htm
{{Commons category, Unic P107
World War II vehicles of France
Half-tracks of the interwar period
Half-tracks of France
Artillery tractors