Failure of the "King of American battlefield" in the Vietnam War
During the war in Vietnam, the U.S. has the M107 175mm self-propelled artillery nicknamed "King battlefield" war song "king" was defeated at the hands of Vietnam M46.
Operations "king battlefield" M107 175m not a simple thing, in the picture, a border M107 is fired in Khe Sanh campaign in 1968.
Artillery fighting the campaign has become an important part of the war from the second half of the 20th century. The major military campaign opened with terrible artillery duel. Party win the artillery duel almost grasp the opportunity to win a whole.
In particular, during the war in Vietnam, the campaign artillery duel has become a very important factor in heavy fire and assist the forces attacking or defending. Battlefield Vietnam has witnessed the confrontation between modern artillery ground in the world at that time.
In the gun ground combat in Vietnam, the confrontation between the M107 175mm self-propelled artillery and American 130mm M46 in Vietnam was considered typical. This is the second gun has a range of most distant time.
M107 175mm with firepower but slow rate of fire makes "battle king" appear overshadowed by the smaller caliber guns but shoot fast speed 130mm M46. M107 175mm self-propelled artillery gun is ground biggest caliber in the Vietnam War, it was dubbed the "king of the battlefield" by the power of its formidable firepower.
M107 has an overall length of 11.25 meters, 3.15 meters wide, 4.47 meters high, weighing 28.2 tons. It is equipped with caliber 175mm M113 cannon mounted on M578 chassis.
Range of 175 mm M107 cannon of about 34 km is equipped with a 79 kg warhead lethal radius of 50 meters. Republic of Vietnam M107 is painted "battle king" on the barrel to flaunt its power. To operate his "battle king" This is hard work, requires guns up to 13 people.
On vehicles with two rear rack to hold warheads, three people standing on the car is responsible for pushing the bullet, then release the breech dose again, the rest transported warheads, risk free, the barrel after firing . They have run out of cars to three miles for impulse firing bullet after leaving the barrel of very large.
To reload, forced down barrel after barrel to finish loaded up to shoot, the maximum rate of fire found only 2 / min, the average release / min.
M107 is deployed to the U.S. war in Vietnam in 1968 and its mission is to tame "iron elephant" 130mm M46 Army Vietnam.
M46 artillery fire in Quang Tri 1972 campaign, although not with the caliber M107 but faster firing speed M46 was created for dominance of firepower.
On our side, the M46 130mm long barreled gun and thin sled was put into use in the Soviet Army in 1954. At the time of its introduction, not an artillery duel ground enough for that range.
M46 1300 Cannon mounted on a frame with 2 rubber-coated wheels, can be towed by trucks or armored vehicles. Braking System shock 2 is placed above and below the cylinder barrel. Cannon has a V-shaped shield protecting the artillery, but the protection of this shield is quite limited and vulnerable teams before the enemy bullets.
M46 series guns are fired campaign opened Buon Ma Thuot released 3/1975. Photo: VTV.
M-46 gun barrel is long, thin, low angle shot, which could allow a range of 27.5 km, 38 km when used to increase the range artillery, muzzle velocity large indirect fire capability very good gun.
Artillery and anti-tank capable of extremely dangerous when shot directly with the ability to cross borders incredible. In particular, artillery equipped infrared night vision systems to support direct fire capability.
Deposed king battlefield
M107 175mm but have a range, firepower, but the rate of fire is too slow and not capable of firing indirectly. Meanwhile, M46 M107 130mm equivalent range but faster firing speed greatly, the average firing rate of 5 found / min, max 8 development / min. With artillery duel game, shooting speed is the determining factor.
During the artillery duel duel in the campaign such as Khe Sanh, Quang Tri, South Laos Route 9, Ho Chi Minh campaign, M107 cannon always proved overshadowed by M46. Along with the other ground artillery 122mm D74, M46 artillery gave armies Vietnam overwhelming advantage in artillery, which had an important contribution in the liberation and unification.
Today, towing artillery M46, D74 with 122mm self-propelled artillery guns are still major campaign of the People's Army of Vietnam.
