Schneider armoured observatory
In
every Bulgarian field battery two ammunition wagons of the Schneider 75mm
field gun M. 1904 were equipped with an armoured observatory weighing The
Schneider 120mm field howitzer M. 1911 was equipped with similar observatory,
weighing Similar
observatories were used also by the Serbian and the Greek Army, as well as by
almost every army that bought Schneider guns. Krupp too equipped its field
batteries with armoured observatories that were adopted, among others, by the
Romanians. Unlike
many counties, like Germany and France, Bulgaria did not adopt an observation
wagon equipped with an observation ladder. During
the Balkan wars the armoured observatories were rarely used by the battery
commanders, because it was very difficult to hide them when they were mounted
on the back of the ammunition wagons. Therefore, in 1915 the Artillery
Inspection ordered that the Sofia Artillery Arsenal arrange a model of
support that would allow the shield of the disassembled observatory to be
used to protect an observer who operates standing, kneeling or lying down.
The workshops of the field and the howitzers regiments manufactured the
supports for all the shields of the observatories assigned to their
batteries, but during the First World War, these shields again proved to be
of little use and remained largely unused. |