The first American Shots of WWI - French 75mm - West Point Museum

[gjmontll]

I just discovered this GMIC web site via this thread as I research my project to make a scratch-built scale model of the French 75. Why? Machining is my hobby, and I am the grandson of Lt. Harold M. Hirsh, one of the lieutenants in Battery C of the 6th FA. I saw a newspaper clipping at his house back around 1958, and encountered more artifacts over the past few years while working on our family history (genealogy). Perhaps I'll visit the West Point museum later this year, I need to collect exact full-size measurements in order to create engineering drawings for my scale model (somewhere between 1:10 and 1:5 scale (TBD)). Anybody suggest resources on this?

Full disclosure: as both Lt Hirsh and his CO, Major McClendon have written, grandfather Harold was not right on the firing line, at that moment he was in command of the horse detail. It had not occurred to me early, but it certainly makes sense that having horses adjacent to firing cannons was not advisable, even if no fire was being returned!

[IrishGunner]

gjmotll - welcome to GMIC!  And thanks for reviving this thread - I've been wondering what our friends found out from the various museums.

I am not a modeller myself, but you may not actually need to go to West Point for measurements.  May I recommend two places that have modelling as primary focus, and at the same time are excellent artillery resources.  This site Landships II and this forum Landships WWI Forum as excellent resources for modellers.  Some of the most knowledgeable artillery experts known online frequent these sites and I am certain can help you with the modelling aspects.

As for the 6th Artillery; this is my regiment and I'd be very interested in your historical artifacts regarding the regiment.  As we approach the 100th anniversary of C Battery's historical shot, it would be great to work on an article.

[gjmontll]

Hi IrishGunner,

Thanks for the welcome and the info. Besides GMIC,I also found and joined Landships.net yesterday and am now in correspondence with a French modeler. I just took a quick look at Landships II, it might be useful too. 

The "artifacts" I alluded to are a few writings I came across while working on my grandfather's entry in our family history. 

1.  "The First Shot", Idus R. McClendon, The American Legion Monthly, October 1931, pp 16-19, 58-61. I got a copy of this by requesting it from the publisher. Unfortunately, I omitted two things from the request, 1) a copy of the cover page, which I understand features this First Shot (in an illustration?), and 2) clarification of the copyright or reprinting permission. I will email back to their archivist about these issues.

2. Ancestry.com. U.S., WWI Jewish Servicemen Questionnaires, 1918-1921 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. 

 This is a two page questionnaire, which Capt H Hirsh filled out twice with handwritten answers. I will try to post images of the pages within a few days.

3. http://mediasvc.ancestry.com/v2/image/namespaces/1093/media/595015d7-1e43-4411-a376-d3f4ad5d9ae5?client=TreesUI&maxSide=500

This is an image of my grandfather, LT Harold M Hirsh, in uniform, date and place unknown

Hope this helps,

    Greg

 

 

[gjmontll]

My previous postings, in April 2015, talked about my grandfather's involvement with The First Shot, and how I was starting a model engineering project to design and build one in 1:8 scale. So what have I accomplished over the past 10 months? Basically, I have the axle and the steel/wooden wheels done. Every step in the process has had its own set of challenges! 

One overarching challenge is developing a set of precise engineering drawings for each piece. I have visited two 75mm guns for purposes of measuring, sketching, and photographing them.

The first visit, in April, was at the Camp Roberts Museum, San Miguel, CA. However this piece is one of the US-made versions, a M1897A3, with the dual trail, steel wheel, and rubber tires. Therefore only the "gun" portion was really relevant to my research. The entire piece was painted gray.

The second visit, in July, was to the Old Orange County Courthouse, Santa Ana, CA. This is a French Canon 1897, again painted gray, with some black trim. I got excellent information for making the wheels, which kept me busy for the past 5 months.

The wheels are nearly done, I just need to bolt through the tires, felloes, and felloe plates. Having primer painted the wheels, I needed the exact coloration of the camouflage-painted piece that has been discussed in this forum thread. Attached: a photo of my efforts thus far.

One of my fellow participants on www.hobby-machinists.com responded to my needs for a photo recon mission to the West Point Museum. I spoke with the museum's Arms Curator, Les Jensen, to arrange special access for my photographer, Tino Giusto. During my phone call with Mr Jensen, he said the camouflage was done at the French factory. I had assumed it was done in the field. He also said that not all the names scratched into that paint job actually deserved to be there.

Tino did his photo mission two weeks ago and has posted them on Flickr. One of the them, by my request, shows the serial number on the breech end of the barrel, it is #13579. I see that was a question of discussion in this forum a year ago. Here  is the link to his folder of 172 photos, almost all related to the First Shot gun. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/133495471@N08/albums/72157663157435569/with/24193620309/

I don't believe that is my grandfather standing between the wheel and barrel.

Now I can try to match those colors.

[IrishGunner]

Labors with a personal connection are always worth the long effort.  Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing the photos!