155mm Gun

[Les Freathy]

A nice shot of the 155mm GUN in training in the UK with American troops

[Les Freathy]

Three more from various sites the first two from the Polish institution shws 155s in Italy

[Andrew Morrison]

Some years ago I was told a story which related to a gun which looked much like those in these pictures. It was told to me by a friend of an uncle of mine. Both had been in the Australian army during WW2 being officers in the artillery finishing up in New Guinea / Solomon Islands area. Was told by my uncle not to believe eveything his friend said unlike if he himself told me a story which was always true!

First thing was that they modified the gun carriage from the multi wheel arrangement to singles. This was due to poor in cross country ability in muddy conditions as the mud built up between the dual wheels.

Now my uncles friend went to Bouganville where they had some rather unfriendly Japanese people who were also in the area. One day there was an attack where the Japanese used tanks in an attempt to come through a pass in the mountains. This pass was not unlike what a child would draw being a v between the hills. As there were no anti tank guns they used one of these guns to knock out the tank. Sighting was done virtually down the barrell fired gun and tank dissapeared back wards behind hills. Remember they have no anti tank amunition and this is not normally considered an anti tank gun. Due to low cloud there was no air reconniance to confirm what was happening on the other side of the mountain. Were there a number of tanks attempting to come through but could only fit through one at a time or was the same tank repeated knocked back with the concussed crew removed and another crew put in who were told to try their luck.

Anyone with some knowledge of what might or might not have been happening ?

[Gunner]

Hi Andrew:

The problem with the mud packed wheels may well have resulted in reducing the paired sets to one each but it would have put the tyres way over their safe load limits and I suspect that the gun would have sunk even more deeply due to the weight on much less surface area. Nonethless, I have seen odder things done and, as your Dad said, always believe his war stories!

I have used the modern M109A2 in the anti-tank role and there is a reason why there is no anti-tank ammo made for it... we fire straight High Explosive (HE) with a super-quick fuze and the mess it makes of a 52 ton Centurion leads me to believe that there was little left of the much lighter built 15 ton Japanese tanks after being struck by the 155mm round! I have watched five ton turrets flip up in the air when hit by the 155mm. I suspect that the Japanese simply drove over what little there was left of their previous tank(s) in that V shaped valley!

Mike

[sapper740]

Originally Posted by Gunner

Hi Andrew:

I have used the modern M109A2 in the anti-tank role and there is a reason why there is no anti-tank ammo made for it...
Mike

Mike, I've been out of the loop for almost a decade now with what the CF uses by way of SPG's...and correct me if I'm wrong, isn't the Canadian M109 the A4 model? And do we still have them on strength? I remember reading about the Copperhead round for the 155 some years back and was amazed at it's capabilities...did Canada ever deploy the Copperhead round or a similar smart round? Derek.

[Gunner]

Hi Derek:

The most current mmbers of that family are the M109A4 overhauled in the USofA and the M109A4+ overhauled in Holland. The spotting diffrence is the Leopard style smoke grenade dischargers on the A4+.

Currently they are sitting in mothballs as we debate our future artillery systems. Canada was the first nation to field the M777 in battle and we now have some 24 of them.

The advances in projectile technology are staggering and the Gunners in the sandbox have some esoteric stuff available to them. Opsec!

Ubique! Mike