The armed forces of any country can "boast" of ridiculous and curious types of weapons, both tested and adopted. One of these highly controversial decisions can be found among the French airborne forces. The name of this miracle invention is the Vespa 150 TAP self-propelled artillery unit.
The troops understood both bicycles with rifles and motorcycles with machine guns, but the French went even further: they equipped a small single-cylinder (145 cc) Vespa scooter with a recoilless seventy-five millimeter gun! The funniest thing was that the gunner driver literally sat on the gun while driving. And, just imagine, our T-34 had almost the same firepower (main gun 76.2 mm) And here - a scooter … and almost a tank! The armor penetration of the cumulative projectile of the M-20 gun was at the level of 90-100 mm.
On the one hand, the developers can understand - since the Vespa 150 TAP was intended for the Airborne Forces, the low weight and size made it quite easy to throw into the enemy's territory, and any paratrooper was capable of setting up a simple unit for further use. It was planned to use "Bazooka Vespa", as the soldiers called it, in tandem with the same "Vespa", but without a weapon: it carried shells.
The scooter was capable of accelerating to 120 km / h, and in combat performance - to almost 70 km / h. Two in one, the designers considered, and the enormous firepower and small size of the Vespa itself, coupled with a decent speed of movement.
Promotional video:
Of course, during the tests and subsequent participation in hostilities (yes, the Bazooka Vespa took part in the battles in Algeria and Indochina in the fifties of the twentieth century), a whole bunch of flaws and absurdities came to light. Firstly, that very motor was rather weak, because the total weight of the scooter with a rider, a gun and shells was approaching the trusts with more than a few pounds. Secondly, cross-country ability - if on the highway "Vespa" felt fine, then on the off-road and in the sands it turned out that the wheels were too narrow and got stuck at the slightest opportunity. And for a rather long time of "deployment" for firing, followed by "folding" and "retreat": even small dimensions did not save the enemy from return fire.
Despite all this, nearly eight hundred Vespa 150 TAPs were put into service and fought. Although many are in their "normal" state - the officers removed the gun and made motor scooters a simple means of transportation for couriers and signalmen. Many of these "tank scooters" have survived to this day. If you want and have enough money in your pocket, you can even buy one for yourself.
