Dieppe to Berlin: SP Guns

Sexton SP Gun

PHOTO: Sexton Self-Propelled Gun

In 1942, it was decided that the US-made Priest 105-mm SP Gun serving with British units would be replaced by a gun of standard British caliber due to problems with supplying the US ammunition. It was obviously more convenient to have a similar piece of equipment but fitted with the British 25-pdr. After a number of unsuccessful attempts, the British Tank Mission branch requested that a similar design be built in Canada, using the chassis of the Ram tank then in production and based on components of the US M3 medium tank.

The Sexton was a relatively simple open-topped superstructure on the running gear of the Ram. In the front plate, the 25-pdr was fitted so as to allow full elevation and a traverse of 25° left and 15° right. The recoil system was adjusted and locked so as to give a constant recoil length of 508 mm (20 in). The driver and five man gun detachment all rode in the fighting compartment and 112 cartridges and equivalent number of HE, smoke and AP projectiles could be carried.

PHOTO: Sexton Self-Propelled guns of the 8th Field Regiment, R.C.A., firing 21 gun salute to celebrate VE Day, Groningen, Netherlands, 8 May 1945.

The first 124 vehicles built were designated Sexton I and can be distinguished by the tapering rear deck. The later Sexton II had a vertical box at each corner, one containing the vehicle batteries and the other an auxiliary generator for changing them. Sextons served with the British Army and the Commonwealth from 1943 until the end of the war. A small number of Sexton Command Post tanks were also produced. These used the same hull but without the gun, and had additional radios and fire-control equipment.