Numbers

[Bob McNeill]

Mike, deliberate move and a number of people took photo,s from breech end, note the No 5 Carbine also on trail, shortened lighter muzzle flash hider not accurate, all the problems of the 25,s. Will have to redo the Short into its correct configuration [ the old man can disown it then ] now that we have
a history. this unit has parts of several shorts in its makeup [ 124 , 130 ] as nearly all shorts sold out of Bathurst in 46-47. Thanks

[David Dunlop]

Mike. You have my curiosity now. Why were these guns so disliked?

David

[Mike Cecil]

Hi David,

The crux of the matter was the short barrel, no shield, light weight and no traversing platform, all of which contributed to, at firing, the gun bouncing and getting way off line after each shot and the mighty back blast/shock wave with each shot with the high discomfort for the crew that resulted.

A few shots were bad enough, but apparently the firing a mission was particularly hard on the crew: headaches, ears ringing, etc etc

Doubtless Bob, who has a direct line to an old gunner with Short experience, can provide more, but I think the above pretty much covers the main aspects as I gleaned them from earlier interviews.

Mike C

[Bob McNeill]

Dad started his gunner experience on 18Pr,s of several Marks and when they went to the Middle East the 2-9th had 4.5 howitsers and the British 25,s. On return to Australia, once in Nth Qld they prepared for New Guinea. After using one of the best Field Guns ever made to be given a Short 25 which had 48" off the barrel, 16" off recoil cylinders, no shield, had to be relaid after every shot, regularly cracked the trail welds, did not sit well with the gunners. The fact that the Short 25 was scrapped out in 1946 says something.

[David Dunlop]

Wow! Sounds like something designed by a civil servant and not a gunner!

Thank you both for the explanation.


David

[Bob McNeill]

David , don,t get us wrong, the chaps who worked on building the Short knew what they wanted. The Aust Short 25pr was designed to pull apart into 14 manable loads, and as such was dropped into the Markam valley at Nabziab in support of the U. S. 105th, the First time Australian Artillery had been dropped into action, most of the gunners had never jumped before. It took 3 minutes to pull down and 4 minutes to reassemble, it did its job. Mike Cecils book on 25s list the weights of individual parts, well worth a read.