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The St Chamond-Mondragón was a Field gun which was designed by Mexican designer Gen. Manuel Mondragón. The Mondragón was built by French arms maker St Chamond before being exported to Mexico.

Design Details[]

The Mondragón followed the conventional design patterns of a field gun of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A basic recoil reducing system was fitted to reduce the effect of the recoil energy pushing the gun backwards meaning that the crew would not have to drag the gun back to its original position after each firing.

The Mondragón was fitted with an interrupted screw to seal the breech, a system which had been used since the 1850's (the Armstrong RBL 20lber being an early example from 1859) which involved screwing the breech closed after the shell had been loaded.

The Mondragón was mounted onto a wheeled carriage which used a single trail to support it. The carriage brought the total weight of the Mondragón to over 1000 kg, more than three times the original weight of the gun which meant that each gun would be towed by three horse teams.

Usage[]

The Mondragón was designed in Mexico, however due to the lack of experianced gunsmiths in Mexico at the time, the French firm Saint Chamond was contracted to manufacture the Mondragón. The Mondragón heavily used during the Mexican Revolution, as well as during the First World War.

Later the Mexican Mondragóns would be sold to Israel in 1948, during the Arab-Israeli War of 1948, the Mondragón becoming known as "la Cucaracha" ("the Cockroach") due to its Mexican origin. Earlier 16 Mondragóns were sent to the Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War, although these were intercepted before their arrival. It is rumoured that America may have intercepted some examples of the Mondragón to take for analysis.

Resources[]

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