Hello and welcome back to another Forgotten Hope 2 update.

Today we are showing off the third and final vehicle in out little mobile artillery themed trilogy: the Priest Kanagroo.

The Kangaroo was a series of conversions of surplus tank chassis into armoured personnel carriers. Several Stuart tanks had had their turrets removed in Africa to work as artillery tractors, but their thin armour precluded their use as improvised APCs. The first successful use of the conversion was undertaken by the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, who were in the process of switching from US provided Priest self propelled guns to towed 25 pdr gun-howitzers.

72 of these Priests were "defrocked" by the Advance Workshop Depot, with the guns and stowage removed and extra armour plates added. They first saw use in August 1944 in Operation Totalize south of Caen, supplementing the halftracks and universal carriers that were in short supply at the time. The Kangaroo would prove to be a useful vehicle, and further conversions were made from obsolete Ram tanks, as well as Churchill and Sherman IIIs. Our Priest Kangaroo was made by max3dd, Stubbfan and Matt Baker.

Finally today we have another render that was long forgotten: our M2HB and tripod. The M2HB was modified from DICE's original model by ctz, and the tripod was made by Seth soldier and Kev4000.

With the current events in Ukraine, we feel that it is important to highlight the good work of Médecins Sans Frontières in helping people in need. If you wish to donate to them, please follow the link above.

That's all for this week, but be sure to come back next time for another update. Until then, feel free to visit our Discord, our public forums, our Twitter, our subreddit, and/or Facebook pages to discuss this update and other news.

Hello and welcome back to another Forgotten Hope 2 update.

While we presented the Renault UE nearly five years ago when it was released in German hands on Pegasus Bridge, we have yet to show you off the trailer towed by the small armoured vehicle, the Renault UK trailer.

In the early 1930s, the French Army would issue a requirement for a new armoured vehicle able to carry supplies to the infantry while under fire. It would also have to carry the new 81mm Brandt Mle 27 mortar. This was issued to three French firms: Renault, Citroën and Brandt. Brandt decided to import some Carden-Loyd Mark VI from Vickers and propose it to the commission. Instead, the three firms were invited to loosely copy the British design to avoid buying a license.

Given that the Carden-Loyd Mark VI was equipped with a towable trailer, it should be no surprise that the selected Renault UE Chenillette had its own trailer, the Renault UK. Renault largely copied the suspension system from Carden-Loyd and even patented it. This solved issues with tracks being thrown at high speeds that Renault's original designs had suffered from.

In addition to the 350kg capacity of the tractor basket (less than the 500kg required) the towed trailer could carry around 600kg, more than the 400kg required. The trailer could be easily unhitched from the inside of the vehicle, meaning the crew did not have to leave the vehicle while under fire. An antitank gun could also be towed at the rear of the trailer.

Our UK trailer was made by Kraetzer, who also made the original UE.

With the current events in Ukraine, we feel that it is important to highlight the good work of Médecins Sans Frontières in helping people in need. If you wish to donate to them, please follow the link above.

That's all for this week, but be sure to come back next time for another update. Until then, feel free to visit our Discord, our public forums, our Twitter, our subreddit, and/or Facebook pages to discuss this update and other news.

Hello and welcome back to another Forgotten Hope 2 update.

Today we are showing off the successor to last week's T19, the mainstay of the US mobile artillery.

The need for mobile artillery support for armoured units had been identified early on, and this was realised first with the T19. This was however seen as only a stopgap, and a fully tracked vehicle was the preferred choice. It was decided to take the same 105mm M2A1 howitzer and mount it to the chassis of the M3 Medium Tank.

The height of the transmission and drive shaft through the M3 necessitated the gun being mounted quite high up, with the fighting compartment being surrounded by vertical armour plates to provide some protection to the crew. It was decided that a defensive armament would be required, and a ring for mounting a machinegun was added to a small tower on the front right corner. Eventually, production would switch over to using the M4 hull, and additional ammunition storage was fitted.

The M7 Howitzer Motor Carriage would first see combat with the British at El Alamein, who would call it the Priest. It would serve on all fronts with the Western Allies, although would be quickly superseded in British use due to logistical reasons. They were an extremely successful design that stayed in US service through the Korean War, with other nations such as Israel and Germany using it into the 1960's. Our M7 HMC was made by max3dd, Stubbfan and Matt Baker.

Following on from his work updating Rad's venerable 40mm Bofors model, Seth Soldier also went on to produce one of the many variants that were used by the Finns. The main difference that you will notice is with the reflector sights. There were many licensed manufactures of the Bofors, and as such there was much variation in the types of gunsights fitted to them. The type that we have gone with is probably a variant of the original model chosen by Bofors, and was used by Finland and Hungary. A simpler version of this sight was also used by the Belgians, French, British, Finnish and the Polish.

With the current events in Ukraine, we feel that it is important to highlight the good work of Médecins Sans Frontières in helping people in need. If you wish to donate to them, please follow the link above.

That's all for this week, but be sure to come back next time for another update. Until then, feel free to visit our Discord, our public forums, our Twitter, our subreddit, and/or Facebook pages to discuss this update and other news.

Hello and welcome back to another Forgotten Hope 2 update.

Today we are showing off a render of a vehicle that you might remember seeing back during our Dev Remembrance event. It is of course the T19 HMC.

The T19 Howitzer Motor Carriage was an interim answer to a 1941 request for a mobile artillery piece to equip the expanding US Armoured Force. While it was desired to have a fully tracked vehicle, this would take more time to develop, and work began on adapting the M3 Halftrack to carry a 105mm M2A1 howitzer.

The howitzer in a slightly strengthened version of its normal carriage was mounted on a table in the rear of the halftrack, and a modified gunshield was fitted to provide some crew protection. The vehicle design was accepted as the T19 in October of 1941, and 324 would be produced by the Diamond T Motor Company in the first 4 months of 1942.

The T19 HMC would serve in Operation Torch and the subsequent fighting in Tunisia, with some units continuing to use it through Sicily, Italy and Southern France. Ultimately the T19 was quickly replaced by the fully tracked M7 HMC Priest and would be declared obsolete in July 1945. Ours was made by Stubbfan and Matt Baker using Agus and Rad's halftrack and Darren01's howitzer.

Secondly, while putting together some of the renders for 2.6, CptBocquier volunteered to go back and make a few renders for already existing content that never got made before. The first of these is the venerable 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft cannon, a veteran of 2.0 and originally made by Rad with some recent improvements by Seth Soldier.

That's all for this week, but be sure to come back next time for another update. Until then, feel free to visit our Discord, our public forums, our Twitter, our subreddit, and/or Facebook pages to discuss this update and other news.