Drag Ropes: How are they used??

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Wayne Henderson

Great illustration of 6 guys who have never moved a 25 pdr before.

Well, from experience I can tell you that the guy at the barrel has a very important job to do. If the fellow at the lunnette holding the handspike lets go at that level of elevation, the gun is going to nose in. Trust me, they are very heavy and hard to make right again without use of a vehicle.

Myself and one other fellow were setting up a display at an old folks home when we nosed in with a 25 pounder. I literally lifted the other guy off the ground. There was an old artillery veteran sitting on a bench watching us and chuckling when it happenned. We asked him if he had ever done that. With a glimmer in his eye, he answered "oh yes".

We had to hook the Bren gun Carrier onto it and block the wheels to get it to come back down.

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

With the mention of moving 25 pounders, my grandfather was in the 2/1st Pioneers and it is reported that ...."after two days in Port Moresby, A, B, and C Companies moved to Owers’ Corner at the base of the Kokoda Trail and up the track through Uberi to Ioribaiwa. The battalion patrolled and manned defensive positions along Imita Ridge and helped the 14th Field Regiment move their 25-pounder guns up the track to the foot of Imita Ridge". (Accessed February 28, 2017 from: https://www.awm.gov.au/unit/U56185

So I suppose there was the odd trick learned about how to get them up a mountain side.



Photographs sourced from the Australian War Memorial - Accessed Tuesday, 28 February 2017 from:
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/027024;
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P02424.024; and https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P02424.004

Kind Regards
Lionel