James Blonde Posted 8 May , 2011 Share Posted 8 May , 2011 On Friday afternoon 06 - 05 - 2011 I had to make a trip from my home to Cluj-Napoca delivering "rations" to my step-daughter Maria who is there attending Uni and doing her Masters in Psychology, the small Bus made a 10 minute pit-stop for the smokers on a lay-by 5.10km from Aiud on the road to Turda, just across the very busy road I noticed a monument to 1944 WW2 and some graves (approx 36 small white crosses) so nipped over with camera in hand and in the long grass found two old artillery pieces one clearly dated 1918:- Connaught Stranger. Photo 2:- "Ouch!" Connaught Stranger. Photo 3:- Connaught Stranger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Blonde Posted 8 May , 2011 Author Share Posted 8 May , 2011 Photo 4:- The second piece has the barrel locked back in full recoil. Connaught Stranger. Photo 5:- Breech has been removed. Connaught Stranger. Photo 6:- Connaught Stranger. Photo 7:- Connaught Stranger Photo 8:- Connaught Stranger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Blonde Posted 8 May , 2011 Author Share Posted 8 May , 2011 Close-up of the markings:- Connaught Stranger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Blonde Posted 8 May , 2011 Author Share Posted 8 May , 2011 B.S. - 1918 Thats all I was able to do in the 10 mins break, next time I am that way in the family car I will try to get better pictures. Connaught Stranger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Wade Posted 8 May , 2011 Share Posted 8 May , 2011 B.S. - 1918 Thats all I was able to do in the 10 mins break, next time I am that way in the family car I will try to get better pictures. Connaught Stranger. Looks to me like there might be an 'A' before the B S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike_H Posted 8 May , 2011 Share Posted 8 May , 2011 The barrel and recoil system look like a French 1897 75mm field gun but lots of small components have been removed. I can't comment on the carriage - a local manufacture? The Romanians were supplied with quite a bit of French kit. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharlieBris Posted 8 May , 2011 Share Posted 8 May , 2011 From "ARTILERIA ROMÂNÃ ÎN DATE I IMAGINI" by Adrian STROEA & Gheorghe BÃJENARU the Rumanian Army had 126 Model 1897 guns on strength in 1926. These had been introduced by the French Military Mission which reorganised the Rumanian Army in 1917 after the defeat by the Central Powers. The guns were modified by rebarrelling with Putilov M1902 barrels in 1936 which could use the M1897 ammunition. The M1897s served in WW2. I note that the recoil guides of the M1897 were also used on the Putilov barrels. The Putilov breech is an interrupted screw - the M1897 used a Nordenfelt (rotating disk) breech. Regards, Charlie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Blonde Posted 9 May , 2011 Author Share Posted 9 May , 2011 Gentlemen, thanks for your additional posts, another point with regards these items is that nearly all the artillery pieces I have come across so far at other memorials are WW2 era Soviet Anti-tank weapons. If you look close on the pictures they were also one time painted blue as traces of that colour remain. Connaught Stranger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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