AMCA Troupes Aeról Portées Mle. 56
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The AMCA Troupes Aeról Portées Mle. 56 is M20 75mm recoilless rifle mounted on an italian Vespa scooter used by the French Airborne Forces in Algeria and Indochina. Produed by ACMA, a licensed assembler of Vespas in France, it mounted an M20, a U.S. made light anti armor cannon which could be fired from the shoulder but still penetrate armour 100mm thick. The recoil is counteracted by venting propellant gasses out the rear of the weapon which eliminated the need for a mechanical recoil system or heavy mounts, which enabled the weapon to be fired within the Vespa frame. The weapon, ammo (attached to the side) and crew were dropped via parachute into action and the weapon could even be fired on the move.
Five parachutes would carry the two-man gun crew, weapon, ammunition, and two scooters safely to earth, and the men would load the weapon on one scooter and the ammo on the other, then ride away. More impressively, because of the lack of recoil a recoilless rifle has, it could be fired effectively on the move by the best of the gun crews. The French military deployed about 800 armed scooters in the Algerian and French Indochina conflicts.
The "Bazooka Vespa" was relatively cheap:Vespa's cost roughly $500 US at the time, and the M20's were plentiful.
