Tag Archives: M7 Priest

Alsace Priest

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80 years ago today. 30 December 1944 – Alsace. Gunners hide “Orléans,” an M7 HMC Priest self-propelled gun of the Free French 1re division blindée (1st Armored Division)’s 68e régiment d’artillerie, under a camouflage net. The outfit at the time was under the command of Maj. Gen André Zeller, a future chief of staff of the army and one of the later leaders of the Algiers coups in 1961.

Germaine Kanova/ECPAD/Defense, Ref. : EARTH 10043-R4

The photograph is by Germaine Kanova (Kahn), born Germaine Sophie Osstyn, a well-known pre-war commercial photographer who pivoted from snapping images of actors and politicians to working with the Resistance– taking photos of sensitive German equipment for review by various Allied intelligence services in London. At age 42 in November 1944, she volunteered to follow the line as an official war photographer– the first female war correspondent of the French army– with the Section cinématographique de l’Armée française (SCA) chronicling the liberation of Alsace and then the invasion of Germany to include the liberation by French troops of the Vaihingen concentration camp outside of Karlsruhe.

Her wartime service was capped with putting down her camera in late April 1945 to fight on the line against German holdouts at Futzen alongside the “black feet” of the 2e bataillon de zouaves portés (2e BZP). These feats would earn her a Croix de Guerre, with a bronze star, in 1945.

Germaine Kanova, SCA, 1944-45

Returning to cinematic photography during the French Nouvelle Vague period in the ’50s, Germaine passed in 1975, aged 72.

Pre-Priest Photoshoot

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Official caption: (early 1942)

The M-7 is the Army’s newest tank destroyer and is really a “killer.” Being tested for desert warfare at Iron Mountains, California. It carries both a 105mm Howitzer and a 50 caliber gun. Lieutenant M. Hutchison of Enterprise, Alabama is on the extreme right. Corporal L. Roberts from Graham, Texas is at post behind the Howitzer. Corporal Downing, whose home is Dekalb, Missouri, is in the turret.

U.S. Army Signal Corps Image now LOC LC-DIG-fsa-8b04892 https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8b04892

Of course, those who are tank and SPG versed will recognize that the T32 Motor Carriage M7— dubbed the “Priest” in British service due to the pulpit-style .50 cal ring (and the fact that the Brits already had a similar SPG named the “Bishop”)– was a self-propelled gun rather than a tank destroyer, although a lucky hit by its 4.1-inch (105mm) M2A howitzer would smash just about any armored vehicle ever made before 1970.

The original chassis was based on the M3 Lee/Grant medium tank chassis.

Over 4,400 M7s would be produced, and the type remained in service with the U.S. Army through Korea and then with allied forces well into the 1960s and 70s including combat with the Israelis in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Some may still endure in the reserves of the armies of Pakistan and Taiwan, just in case they are ever required to prey (pray?) again.