P.7.T AA
Contents
Description
The Citroen Kegresse P.7.T is a Rank I French self-propelled anti-aircraft gun
with a battle rating of 1.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.75 "La Résistance". With its four 13.2 mm Hotchkiss Mle.1930 machine guns, it poses a certain threat to enemy aircrafts while featuring poor mobility (off-road) and armour.
The P.7.T AA is a very classic interwar anti-air defense system with its guns mounted on a mobile but vulnerable chassis.
With only 3 exposed crew members, anything can damage, disable or destroy this vehicle. Its armour does not provide enough cover to the crew from any angle. Even .30 cals guns can easily destroy this vehicle, so be sure to stay out of sight from enemies.
The half-track configuration usually provides increased off-road mobility to wheeled vehicles while enabling to carry more weight over the tracked section, a rule to which the P.7.T AA is no exception: It can reliably move itself across any rough terrain. The only downside to this vehicle is its low HP, which makes hill climbing quite slow. This little engine also struggles to bring this much weight to its max speed: One should go downhill and hit the gas in order to reach 40 km/h. Turning on the spot is also a no-go since tracks do not provide enough traction to the ground: Hit the forward key and gain some speed before attempting any manoeuvre. Be patient and choose your path wisely and you should reach your destination soon enough.
With its four HMGs, this SPAA is quite reminiscent of the GAZ-AAA (4M) while having much more firepower. Since these weapons fire simultaneously, one hit usually means four holes in your opponent's hull, a heavy toll to the early planes (and biplanes) you should be shooting at this BR.
General info
Survivability and armour
- Structural Steel Hull
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tractor Chassis | 3 mm | 3 mm | 3 mm | 3 mm |
The P.7.T AA has practically no armour. Every crewmember sits mostly exposed to enemy fire, so even a machine gun can quickly kill 2 of the total 3 crewmembers. This means that the P.7.T AA should never be expected to sustain any enemy fire, as it will likely die to anything. The only spots that might stop a rifle caliber round on the whole vehicle are the engine block or turret housing, but these do not fully conceal the crew.
Mobility
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 44 | 8 | 2.2 | 28 | 38 | 12.73 | 17.27 |
| Realistic | 41 | 8 | 18 | 20 | 8.18 | 9.09 | |
The mobility is above average and smooth overall, while no terrain poses a challenge due to the half-track system. Due to the relatively high potential speed, the P.7.T AA can quickly get into an advantageous position on the map to shoot down planes. Just be sure to keep an eye out for flanking light tanks or fast medium tanks such as the Panzer III and IV, as anything can annihilate you with mere MG fire.
Armaments
The quad 13.2 mm Hotchkiss HMG's are fantastic at shredding planes and start fires very easily due to the belts containing pure API rounds. With their above-average fire rate, high damage, good accuracy and decent reload speed, they are an AA jockey's dream. It is worth noting that they have a limited magazine capacity, only 30 rounds per gun, but this is more-or-less remedied by the fact that there are 4 guns, allowing for 120 rounds total.
However, due to the P.7's low BR, they can be decent at destroying reserve and 1.3 tanks from the sides and rear. It is not recommended to use it in this fashion, as you leave yourself as an easy target for anything with guns.
| 13.2 mm Hotchkiss Mle 1930 (x4) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity (Belt capacity) | Fire rate (shots/minute) |
Vertical guidance |
Horizontal guidance |
Stabilizer | |
| 1,440 (30) | 450 | -10°/+45° | ±180° | N/A | |
| Turret rotation speed (°/s) | |||||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded | Prior + Full crew | Prior + Expert qualif. | Prior + Ace qualif. |
| Arcade | 52.84 | 73.13 | 88.80 | 98.20 | 104.47 |
| Realistic | 35.7 | 42.0 | 51.0 | 56.4 | 60.0 |
| Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||
| Stock | Prior + Full crew | Prior + Expert qualif. | Prior + Ace qualif. | ||
| 7.80 | 6.90 | 6.36 | 6.00 | ||
Ammunition
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Belt | Penetration in mm @ 90° | |||||
| 10m | 100m | 500m | 1000m | 1500m | |||
| Universal | AP-I,API-T | 24 | 23 | 14 | 10 | 7 | |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 48 | 44 (+4) | 28 (+20) | 4 (+44) | no |
Usage in battles
Overview:
The P.7.T AA has a total lack of armour, so the best strategy is to stay away from enemy ground vehicles and focus on planes. However the guns do have some penetration, so targeting enemy ground vehicles is a possibility. The limited mobility and lack of armor make fighting enemy ground vehicles very difficult for the P.7.T AA.
Tips:
Playing the P.7.T by focusing on air targets is the most viable strategy. Do not spawn this vehicle early game since there will be few planes to shoot at. Do not engage aircraft too early, as you will only expose yourself. Begin firing at less than 1km range for the best effect. Always watch out for multiple aircraft, as if they strafe you, you will almost certainly die. The guns are surprisingly potent, and will quickly dispatch most air targets after a few hits, although some heavy fighters and bombers may prove challenging to destroy. When engaging enemy tanks, you can reverse from behind a building to only expose the gunner to enemy fire.
- Ambusher
Modules
| Tier | Mobility | Protection | Firepower | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | Tracks | Parts | Horizontal Drive | |
| II | Suspension | Brake System | FPE | Adjustment of Fire |
| III | Filters | Crew Replenishment | Elevation Mechanism | |
| IV | Transmission | Engine | Artillery Support | |
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Four 13.2 mm machine guns, able to destroy weakly armoured foes like Ha-Go, AS 42 or T-26, and aircraft like the He 51.
- AP-I/API-T belt as default means it has anti-tank potential even when stock.
- Excellent at actually being an SPAA. A high rate of fire and powerful rounds will shred planes at the rank
- Good at suppressing enemy vehicles
- Light: easy to tow from enemy fire when immobilised
- Can damage some tanks from their weaker sides, like LVT(A) series, Pz.IV C or Pz.II
- Does not lose too much speed when turning due to the half-track configuration
Cons:
- Very low survivability. Crew is exposed, extremely vulnerable to anything especially enemy MG, nearby artillery, bombs and rockets and HE shrapnels. Almost no armour, even 7.62mm MG can damage critical parts like engine or transmission.
- Has difficulty penetrating most enemy tanks frontally, for example Pz.II, B1 bis
- Reload time is rather long, stopping it from firing back in critical times
- Poor off-road mobility and climbing ability makes it slow on hills
- The four canons fire synchronously, which reduces the chances to hit an aircraft
- Gun platform turning and elevation rate are a bit slow (slow reaction, hard to follow close / fast targets)
- Limited elevation of 45° limits its effectiveness against targets directly above it, for example dive bombers like Ju 87 B2. Also it cannot fire in a ~90° arc in front of itself. In a sudden encounter it cannot fight back in time
History
The first half-tracks were built by Frenchman Adolphe Kegresse for Russia in 1910-11. After the First World War Kegresse returned to France to work with Citroen to produce half-tracks for the French Army starting in the 1920s. By 1940, these unarmoured Kegresse-Citroen half-tracks (the P.17, P.19, P.107, and MCG variants) were used primarily for towing artillery, although a small number of closed-top half-track armoured cars (the P.16) were also in service. The P.7.T had been an earlier Kegresse model, built between 1925 and 1927. The French, who had created the first self-propelled anti-aircraft gun-truck back in 1913, would continue through the interwar period experimenting with various truck-mounted AA weapons like those shown in this model.
Media
See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the series of the vehicles;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- encyclopedia page on the tank;
- other literature.
| France anti-aircraft vehicles | |
|---|---|
| Wheeled/Half-tracked | P.7.T AA · CCKW 353 AA · TPK 6.41 |
| AMX-13 Derivatives | VTT DCA · AMX-13 DCA 40 |
| Radar SPAAG | AMX-30 S DCA |
| Missile SPAA | SANTAL · Roland 1 · ▄ItO 90M |
| Other | AMX-10P |
