BL 10-pounder mountain gun

Ordnance BL 10-pounder mountain gun

Indian Army 10 pounder mountain gun and crew, Gallipoli, 1915
Type Mountain gun
Place of origin United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Service history
In service 1901–1918
Used by United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
British Raj
Wars World War I
Production history
Manufacturer Woolwich Arsenal, Elswick Ordnance Company (UK)
Variants MK I
Specifications
Weight Breech: 207 lb (93.9 kg)
Barrel: 197 lb (89.36 kg)
Total: 874 lb (396.4 kg)[1]
Barrel length Bore: 72.4 in (1.8 m)
Total: 76.4 in (1.9 m)[1]

Shell Shrapnel, Common shell[2] 10 pounds (4.54 kg)
Calibre 2.75 inches (69.8 mm)
Action Breech Loading with separate shell and charge
Recoil None
Carriage Wheeled, box trail
Elevation -15° - 25°[1]
Traverse
Muzzle velocity 1,289 ft/s (393 m/s)[1]
Effective firing range 3,700 yards (3,383 m) (Time Fuze)
6,000 yards (5,486 m) (Percussion fuze)[1]

The Ordnance BL 10 pounder mountain gun [3] was developed as a BL successor to the RML 2.5 inch screw gun which was outclassed in the Second Boer War.

History

This breech-loading gun was an improvement on the 2.5 inches (63.5 mm) muzzle-loading screw gun but still lacked any recoil absorber or recuperator mechanism. It could be dismantled into 4 loads of approximately 200 pounds (90.7 kg) for transport, typically by mule.

It was originally manufactured without a gun shield, but these were made and fitted locally during World War I e.g. at Nairobi in 1914 for the East Africa campaign, also at Suez in 1915 for the Gallipoli campaign.[4]

It was eventually replaced by the BL 2.75 inch Mountain Gun from 1914 onwards but was still the main mountain gun in service when World War I began.

Combat service

British mountain guns were operated by men of the Royal Garrison Artillery.

World War I

Guns of the 26th Mountain Battery of the Indian Army were the first British Empire artillery to open fire in the Middle East in World War I, on 26 January 1915, Qantara (Kantara), against the Turkish advance towards the Suez Canal.[4]

The gun was used notably in the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915 by Indian Armies 21st (Kohat) Mountain Battery (Frontier Force) and 26th (Jacobs) Mountain Battery of the 7th Indian Mountain Brigade with 6 guns each at Anzac, and by Scottish Territorial Force (1/4th Highland Mountain Brigade) Argyllshire and Ross & Cromarty Batteries with 4 guns each at Helles and then Suvla. The 21st Battery was granted the title "Royal" in 1922 for its actions including Gallipoli, unique for an artillery battery.[4]

Sgt Paterson, 4th (Highland) Mountain Brigade, circa. 1915.

There is some evidence that the Turkish defenders on Gallipoli were also using the 10 pounder, bought prewar from New Zealand, as the ANZACs discovered 10 pounder shell bodies fired at them made in India which were not from their own guns.[5][6]

In the East Africa campaign, the following Indian batteries used the 10 pounder with distinction in constant action :-

The gun was also used in the Palestine campaign.

See also

Weapons of comparable role, performance and era

Surviving examples

10 Pounder Mountain Gun on display at the Royal Artillery Museum

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Hogg & Thurston 1972, page 41
  2. Common shell were "Special for India" (Treatise on Ammunition 1915, page 159). References will be found to Indian mountain batteries using common shell in World War I.
  3. Britain typically designated smaller ordnance by the weight of its standard projectile rather than calibre. Hence this gun typically fired a projectile weighing approximately 10 pounds (4.5 kg).
  4. 1 2 3 Farndale 1988
  5. Major A. C. Fergusson 21 (Kohat) Mountain Battery, writing in 1916. Reprinted in "The Gallipolian" No.85 - Winter 1997
  6. CEW Bean,"THE OFFICIAL HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA IN THE WAR OF 1914-1918 Volume II" page 65. 11th Edition, published by Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1941
  7. Farndale 1988, page 307-309
  8. Farndale 1988, page 313-314
  9. Farndale, page 351
  10. Farndale 1988, page 344
  11. Farndale 1988, page 345, 346
  12. Farndale 1988, page 338
  13. Farndale 1988, page 351

Bibliography

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