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I have often wondered why gun tractors have such a weird shape. If there is one thing an artillery tractor needs to do is to carry lots of stuff (not only ammunition but crew gear, tents and all the other gear that Artillery people can not live without).

It seems to me that if they built them with a decent standard back they could almost dispense with the limber which must have driven the crew insane with no reversing ability, completely destroying any cross country ability with 90hp trying to drag not only a gun but a heavy trailer as well, finding parking places for such long combinations would have required extra effort.

It would take much longer to come into action having to deal with two heavy bits of equipment instead of one just getting its ammunition directly out of the back of the tow vehicle.

They obviously found it inefficient as limbers are long gone and it would appear that by the end of WW2 they had been replaced largely by more efficient standard trucks.

Artillery people - Is it just fashion or why?

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