Holy Artillery | The M7 Priest

National Museum of Military Vehicles
National Museum of Military Vehicles
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2024-04-20に共有
The M7 Priest Howitzer Motor Carriage, distinct from traditional tanks, merged a formidable 105mm howitzer with the Sherman tank platform, resulting in a highly mobile artillery vehicle. Serving as a versatile artillery platform on the battlefields of WWII, it played a pivotal role in America's mechanization of modern warfare, demonstrating unparalleled adaptability and firepower. Its second iteration, the M7B2, was also used successfully during the Korean War.

1. 105mm howitzer: The M7 Priest was equipped with a powerful 105mm M2 howitzer, providing it with significant firepower on the battlefield.
2. Mobility: Built on a modified M3 medium tank chassis, the M7 Priest was highly mobile, allowing it to maneuver across various terrains and keep pace with advancing troops.
3. Crew Composition: The crew typically consisted of a commander, driver, gunner, loader, and assistant driver and radio operator, each with specific roles in operating the vehicle and its artillery.
4. Versatility: The M7 Priest served multiple roles on the battlefield, including direct fire support for infantry and armored units, artillery barrage against enemy positions, and even as a mobile command post.
5. Artillery Support: With its howitzer capable of firing high-explosive shells, smoke rounds, and even anti-tank rounds, the M7 Priest provided crucial artillery support to ground forces, suppressing enemy positions and fortifications.
6. Adaptability: As the war progressed, the M7 Priest saw various modifications and upgrades to enhance its performance and address evolving battlefield needs, showcasing its adaptability to changing circumstances.
コメント (21)
  • @laughingowl7896
    "If there's ever a Priest in your area, you'd best say your prayers." Nice. I'm an Infantry vet, and while we'd sometimes dust it up with the gun bunnies at the bar, I never forgot "A battery of field artillery is worth a thousand muskets." -William Tecumseh Sherman
  • @johnmcguigan7218
    The artillery was the one branch of the Army (not counting the Army Air Force) that excelled above anything the Axis powers had. Artillery spotting and coordination was excellent, the 155mm Long Tom was unparalleled, and the advent of the proximity fuse at the end of 1944 put our artillery in a class that belonged to the future. Time and again, our ground forces were saved by timely and accurate artillery fire that the Germans couldn't hope to match.
  • @Chilly_Billy
    Excellent video. Armor and Infantry get most of the glory and history books, but Artillery remains the God of War.
  • @pauld6967
    You absolutely nailed the motif. 😎 I have long thought the M7 didn't get the attention and love it deserves. Thank you for covering it.
  • @rhietpas
    Loved the dry sense of humor. Great work
  • @gsr4535
    Artillery's importance is often overlooked. 👍
  • @elijahschwindt7403
    Love the various vehicles! Looks like they'd be packed in tight. Also, the 40k Rhinos made my day 😊
  • @davidk7324
    Well done, Mr. Wilcox. Thanks to you and your team.
  • @doughudgens9275
    For brevity, he skipped who did the calculations on which direction and elevation to point the tubes to fire. The howitzer should never see the enemy, the forward observers do. They give a target location, and the Fire Direction Center knows where the battery is located so it can compute the data needed to get rounds on target. I suspect the battery FDC did the calculations and the battalion FDC managed who gets support. They would say infantry company X gets direct support from artillery battery Y. This means the FO with X calls directly to Y’s FDC with targets in need of servicing. One of the US Army’s strengths in WWII was the ability to mass fires from multiple Battalions with very little effort. A division commander could decide he wanted all his artillery to support one objective with their fires. So something like 70-odd tubes of his Division artillery could fire on one target with a few radio calls (assuming all are within range). If Corps Artillery assets were used, you could almost double that number. The mobility of the Priest is what allowed this massing of fires.
  • @Gundoctor913A
    Wilcox is fantastic at telling these stories and describing these machines! Excellent dry humor, smooth speech and obvious knowledge.
  • @KA-dx2kz
    The Americans had a priest while the British grabbed a bishop
  • @Blutgang
    I like the use of Rhinos in your table talk. Epic choice.
  • @MagicalMuffin12
    Another great video! Feels conversational and I understood what was going on, which is great since I’m not a history buff!
  • @alankjosness2093
    My father was an early draftee because, I think, his secondary schooling in a polytechnic highschool. In early '42 he began learning the trade of artillary observation involving the M7. This was at Camp Roberts in the Mojave Desert. His unit - the 62nd Armored Field Artillary Battalion - boarded ship for North Africa in November 1942. From there the unit travelled through North Africa, Sicily, England, D Day on Omaha Beach, across France, Belgium and into Germany. The M7, (known as the Priest to one of our allies), and her crews, served with destiction throughout the Second World War.
  • @cameronhilburn5628
    Incredible video! Looking forward to more fantastic content from your museum
  • @kellywright540
    My Dad was a scout for the 66th Armored Field Artillery Battalion in Patton's favorite Armored Division, the 4th. I used to think that he was a tanker when I was younger because that's what comes to mind when you think of Patton's Third Army. Needless to say that when I asked him what type of tank he rode around in, he said that he mainly traveled around in a jeep paired up with a tank, which for a kid in grade school sounded pretty boring. Later on I understood the part he played in the 4th Armored Division and as my uncle said, "The whole damn world was at war and there's your Dad, driving around in a jeep, looking for trouble!" He fought in the breakout of Normandy, Northern France, the Ardennes, the Rhineland with a stop at the Buchenwald concentration camps and then into Czechoslovakia at the end of the war.