Some crackers here. All new to me (though I'm sure the RA specialists will have seen 'em): 40mm Bofors firing over open sights at ground targets. | Flickr - Photo Sharing! Royal Artillery 25-pounder gun/howitzer crew in action in Italy | Flickr - Photo Sharing! 3.7-inch heavy AA guns being used as ground artillery.| Flickr - Photo Sharing! British troops capture a Nebelwerfer | Flickr - Photo Sharing! A 17-pounder and an 88mm in Normandy, 1944 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! Pottered onto while Googling '25pdr open sights'. Probably should have put 'em in appropriate threads, but maybe someone has more 'Unusual' Artillery pictures to add? ~A
3.7-inch heavy AA guns being used as ground artillery.| Flickr - Photo Sharing! ~A Now why didn't Monty and his predecessors in the desert do that? Excellent links as always Mr Poop!
I think that first one (40 mm Bofors) was taken at the same time as some film footage. I'm sure there was the same shown in a film clip in that current WW2 Forgotten Heroes series that Jim (Driver-Op) has featured in. They were doing a piece on taking out OP's in church towers etc.
Adam, A very interesting post. The troops with the Nebelwerfer all have great facial expressions as if they had won the lottery. My late father always said that this German weapon was a nasty piece of kit, when you were on the receiving end, as he was in sept 44. Regards Tom
Picture 1 above states muzzle velocity -high,below a 1940 publication -Reduction of charge 40mm Bofors round to reduce muzzle velocity by 50 metres per second increasing barrel life from 500 rounds to 1000 rounds. Ammunition Bulletin N°8 - UK - 1940
Nice pics. It is a pity that Firepower does not have the space to display all the guns that used to be at the Rotunda, let alone all the others dotted round Woolwich Garrison. Chris
Adam, A very interesting post. The troops with the Nebelwerfer all have great facial expressions as if they had won the lottery. My late father always said that this German weapon was a nasty piece of kit, when you were on the receiving end, as he was in sept 44. Regards Tom Blackburn describes a Canadian Artie group who find an intact, fully loaded Nebelwerfer in Normandy. They cannot resist the urge to turn it on their former owners, with many spectators around to watch the firing. The Germans having ranged the location, caused dozens of casualties with an immediate artillery response. The boys in the photo were wise to change locations.
I seem to remember seeing a post somewhere in this group that indicated that Monty and his boys did use 3.7 inch HAA as a ground artillery weapons. Usually, they were kept in reserve for AA use as the Germans were notorious for combined air and ground assaults, especially during the latter months of the Afrika Campaign. In the years after the war, RNZA changed over from BL 6 inch MK VII to 3.7 inch HAA for use in coastal defence, primarily as a cost-cutting measure as the 3.7 inch round is cheaper than the 6 inch.
