12-inch Rail-Mounted Howitzers

[David Dunlop]

A cousin of mine in England just sent me a copy of a book entitled 'The LMS at War" as there is a picture of my uncle in it in the L.M.S. canteen at Willesden Junction.

Apparently, the London Midlands and Scottish Railway had a very large Shops facility in Derby and it was involved in quite a diversified bit of wartime production. One of the items they built was the above titled gun and the picture shows a number of them ready for delivery.

I am curious now as to who used this equipment and where. Be interesting to know if any survived as well.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi David

Would be interesting to know when these were built? Wonder if they were part of mobile defense effort early in the war when the German invasion threat to England was high. Also wonder if these were purpose built new weapons or were they taken from older ships or coastal defense positions?

Very interesting photo

Cheers Phil

[David Dunlop]

Hi Phil.

Been looking at possible info on the net for this equipment in use in World War 2 but finding little reliable data. The guns themselves definitely seem to be late WW1 design and production. Two different makers built 12-inch Rail Mounted Howitzers during WW1. One maker had a longer barrelled design, which these appear to fit. They came in a Mk !, Mk II and MK III version, The latter very distinctive in that both the recuperator and recoil assemblies were combined in a single unit on it, below the barrel. The earlier marks had one above and one below. The Mk III was also distinctive in that it was capable of 120 degrees traverse on the rail car, left and right. The Mk II could traverse roughly within the width of the rail car and the Mk I had no traverse capability at all, relying soley on moving up and down a curved track at it's firing point to achieve 'traverse'. These WW2 howitzers would likely be recycled WW1 Mk V's, sitting on brand new designed rail cars. None of the WW1 photos on line show any rail mounts looking at all like these from LMS.

World War 2 usage of these howitzers is alluded to on several sites, ranging in time from 1940 to at least 1943. One photo credited to a Newfoundland Artillery Regiment shows them firing one somewhere in England in 1941, but the rail car does not look like those shown. A second photo credited to an Australian Artillery unit shows a heavily camouflaged one being fired somewhere in France in 1944. The design of part of the rail car looks like those shown, but the gun itself is too well hidden to confirm if it is the same or not. I also do not know if the Australians had any heavy artillery units in NW Europe at that time.

Cheers for now


David

[Bruce MacMillan]

From what I can find they were used for coastal defense.

Here's a photo from the IWM showing guns at Catterick
http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205197349

The location here is specified as Dorset
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...bruary1941.jpg

Bruce