WW1 Mark V Tank

[John McGillivray]

Originally posted by Tony Smith
And Vietnam:

The L5 105mm pack howitzer – be gone with you Satan’s spawn!

Canada was foolish enough to buy 58 of these Italian made guns in 1969. 5RALC had 16 of them in Valcartier. I think that they were designed by an Italian Fascist who was still sore about losing the war, and was looking for revenge.

First the breech slid upwards to open. When you rammed a shell home the breech fell under its own weight, guillotine style with the predictable results on gunner’s fingers. The gun was too unstable to tow behind a truck for any great speed or distance. They had to be carried in the back of a deuce. To get them there, one had to pass the winch cable over some pulleys, through the truck cab and out the back so the gun could be hauled up the ramps.

In 1974, all of the L5’s were taken out of service, because cracks were found in their barrels. When the powers that be in Canada had bought the guns, they neglected to buy spare parts. It took more than two years to get the replacement barrels. When they came back into service, they could no longer be fired at charge seven.

When the L5’s were taken out of service in 1974, all of the reserve Artillery batteries had to give up two of their 105mm C1’s to replace the L5’s in the regular army units.