Australian Army Museum of Western Australia > Records

World War 1, Europe, Western Front, 1918

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1918

Overview

Australian Imperial Force Field gun detachment with 18 pounder gun

Historical information

The Quick Firing (QF) 18 Pounder was the principal Field Gun of the British Army in World War One. The gun saw service in every theatre of the Great War. Its calibre of 84mm and shell weight made it more brutal and destructive than the French 75mm and German 77mm. Its ammunition had the shell combined with the cartridge thus giving it the description of ‘quick firing’. The gun and its ammunition limber were towed by a team of six light draught horses. A driver was allocated to each two horse team and rode the left horse of each pair. The two wheeled ammunition limber was hooked up to the horses and the trail of the gun was hooked to the limber. Further to this, each gun had two additional ammunition limbers towed by their own team. T
The gun detachments, led by the detachment sergeant on his own horse, rode into action either on the horses or on the limber. During the early stages of the war, an ammunition limber was positioned on the left of the gun, but as the war progressed and larger quantities of ammunition were being used, stockpiles of ammunition were dumped in pits next to the guns.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-32-P1983.109.2y

Item type

Photographs

Themes

War and Conflict
War and Conflict > World War 1

Year

1918

Australian Army Museum of Western Australia

Organisation Details
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