argentina "Crusader Argentino"- The tale of an obscure family of SPGs

[OsO73 491]

Crusader Argentino

 

Introduction:

Today we'll be talking about 3 variations of vehicles, all based on the same chassis (this being the crusader artillery tractor), but carrying different guns, all 3 versions were built and saw service with the Argentine Army. I think this could be some nice candidates as new vehicles for various trees, British, maybe Germany or even a future Argentine one. Nonetheless this tanks could be a nice addition to the game, giving players some nice TDs to play in ground battles. 

 

History:

Spoiler

There is no certainty over when the Crusaders arrived to argentina, some sources may claim 1949, or around the period where Argentina was receiving massive amounts of surplus WW2 equipment sent by the British government and other European countries. Along the Shermans and other vehicles, an unknown number of Crusader artillery tractors were sold to the Argentine Army, British sources would estimate about 100 of said vehicles among other claims, but this was found to be false.

(Crusader tractor unmodified)

 

The definitive reason behind the conversion of this tanks into self propelled guns its something that has been properly stated, but most assume that given that the Argentine Army already had assets to do the same job as the Crusaders, its possible that the Army (with approval of the ministry of defense) decided to study the conversion of this vehicles into Tank destroyers/Self Propelled guns, an asset the Argentine Army lacked at the time and it was seen as a tried, effective and cheap concept. 

 

The conversion would undergo in the "Esteban de Luca" Arsenal, the same installations were the Nahuel tank, Yacare tractor and other vehicles were modified and maintained. The crusader itself wouldn't suffer much modifications, as its hull was mostly untouched although its superstructure was enlarged, given a roof and a few more hatches for the crew to access and exit the vehicle. In regard to armament the conversion saw 3 guns being fitted to the vehicles, the first gun was a 75mm Krupp field gun mod 1909 (the same used in the Nahuel DL-43 tank), the second being a longer 75mm Bofors field gun mod 1935 and lastly a 105mm Schneider-Creusot Mod. 1928 field Howitzer. The whole modification of the vehicles was commanded by Col. Bidone, tanker and engineer. 

 

The service of this vehicles is another mystery, among the small number of pictures found of them we can see it crossing rivers in the province of Corrientes, north of Argentina. They did participate in the 1955 "libertadora" revolution on the hands of rebel forces who opposed the Peronist regime, is possible that in this events they were used to take control of Peronist controlled zones. By 1957 the army stated that it had 18 examples in its inventory, 12 of them with the 105mm Howitzer, and 6 with 75mm cannons. 

 

The end of this vehicles its unknown, as none of them survived, and their final destination was probably a scrapping ground. 

 

 

Specifications:

Spoiler

Here we will take a look at all the Technical specifications of the vehicle, dimensions, armor, armament, etc.

Crew:

75mm gun variants: 5 crew

105mm gun variants 7 crew

Weight:

loaded weight: 19 Tons

Dimensions:

Length: 5.30m 

Width: 2.64m

Height: 2.44m

Mobility:

Max speed: 48 Km/h 

Vertical Obstacles: 0.91m

 

Engine:

Nuffield Liberty V12 (340hp)

Gears: 4

 

Armament:

Spoiler

When it comes to this SPG armament, we are going to see 3 different field guns used for them.

• The 75mm Krupp mod 1909

This gun was able to fire AP and HE rounds.

• The 75mm Bofors mod 1935 

This gun was able to fire, AP, HE and HEAT Rounds.

• The 105mm Schneider-Creusot mod 1928

This gun was able to fire HE and HEAT rounds.

 

More detailed specs are going to be posted later. 

 

 

Pictures:

Spoiler

Krupp 75mm in red, Bofors in blue.

 

Sources:

Spoiler

Blindados Argentinos, de Uruguay y Paraguay- Ricardo Fogliani.

(New Vanguard) David Fletcher, Peter Sarson - Crusader, Cruiser Tank 1939-45-Osprey Publishing (1995)

https://www.taringa.net/+apuntes_y_monografias/vehiculos-olvidados-crusader-atp-en-el-ea_13v5pc

https://www.zona-militar.com/foros/threads/tractores-crusader-los-no-tan-conocidos-autopropulsados.49576/

http://web.archive.org/web/20120504004251/http:/mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks

https://www.zona-militar.com/2020/10/03/el-crusader-en-la-argentina/

http://fdra.blogspot.com/2012/08/ejercito-argentino-sph-crusader-mk1.html

 

https://www.nevingtonwarmuseum.com/crusader-ii-gun-tractor.html

https://www.armedconflicts.com/GBR-Crusader-Gun-Tractor-t40769

 

 

 

[super_cacti 1,071]

Open for discussion 

[Milocat 4,848]

+1 for a future Argentinian/South American tree.

[OsO73 491]

5 hours ago, super_cacti said:

Open for discussion 

Thank you so much !!! 

[eleks12 1,079]

+1 for a Argentine/Spanish speaking tree.

[hom3er 154]

love it

+1

 

[yoyolast 1,708]

These SPGS, along with the Nahuel, all deserve to be in the game IMO. The design is very odd and the variety of guns would make each variation interesting to play. +1 from me, with preference for an independent Argentinian/South American tree but I would also like to see it in the German tree if the former option can't occur.

[Solarmod 1,203]

Mmmm weird SPGs

[TheGamer033310 46]

I know this topic is kinda dead, but I've been doing some research, and one of the argentinian crusader variants used a similar cannon to the one used in the Swedish Pvkv II, which is pretty cool...

[G1label 143]

+1. Definitely would like to see it in a future argentinian tech tree.