Name this WW2 Gun ...

Well folks, it's about time I got back to contributing something to this Candadian WW2 History and it's Preservation forum about things on topic, SO, while out walking to and from the Post Office today, I was finally able to detour and take some photos I've been meaning to for some time, to post in here for you all. The SNOW has covered much of the gun by now, but when the snow is gone, I'll go back and take some more photos so you all can have a better look.

The gun is displayed sitting outside the front entrance (keeping watch?), along with a Plaque, of the Local Legion Branch 24.

Fingers crossed that these photos will upload ...



Karmen

The Plaque next up ...

Several views of the gun coming up ...

Gun .... what is it??? The wheels are very old weathered wood, how old is this gun?

another partial view, closeup ...

Close up rear view ...

That's all for now ... I hope you all enjoy the photos



Karmen

[Richard Farrant]

Karmen,

More like WW1 I would say. Not clear with the snow still on, but my feelings are it is a captured German gun. If it is, there is a coincidence here, because the small town of Cranbrook, Kent, England had two german guns similar to this, given to them after the First world war, the story goes that they had to be rescued from the village pond on several occasions after the local youths pushed them in.....nothing changes then. One dissapeared and a few years ago reappeared and was going to be restored and put outside the town's Royal British Legion club.

Richard

Thanks Richard,

I'd thouigh that because of the old worn wood of the wheels that it was a lot older than WW2, but wasn't sure, because of the Plaque beside it. That had me confused.

Thats a very interesting story about England's Cranbrook and the German guns. I know there is a Cranbrook, England because when I search for anything "Cranbrook" I get links for the England one as well. This town must be named after it, is my guess

I know the gun looks nothing like the WW2 ones I've seen when in Toronto and going to the events. This gun here just looks VERY old and the metal even looks "old/different" than guns/pounders etc, that I've seen.

Maybe I could call the Legion and ask about the history of the gun. In fact, I think I will soon, and post what I've been told, in this thread.



Karmen

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

I ain't arty... but this LOOKS like a WW1 vintage 18-pdr. Either way, the bloody thing shouldn't be sitting there rotting under the snow.

Originally posted by Geoff Winnington-Ball
I ain't arty... but this LOOKS like a WW1 vintage 18-pdr. Either way, the bloody thing shouldn't be sitting there rotting under the snow.

I was wondering about it being out as well, totally exposed to the elements, very NOT good, especially for the wood parts!!! They're like old wagon wheels left outside for decades to start wearing and splitting. I think it may have been painted with a strange color grey/green paint, the metal and the wheels, perhaps to help preserve it? I dunno.

I called the Legion a while ago and the woman who answered (just started working there) knows no history of the gun, but she's passing on my number to the Supervisor and someone will call me back, but probably not until next week.

I'm glad I finally got to taking those photos. I only spotted the gun not long ago when I walked over that way. Too bad about the snow covering it ... maybe if I go over again I can brush all the snow off (if I can get through the pile of it surrounding the gun) and take more photos. I also really want to know the history of it now too

All for now,

Karmen

[RHClarke]

I believe that is a 105mm (10.5 cm etc..) German howitzer. A lot of its technology was used in the development of the US 105mm howitzer (note horizontal sliding wedge type breechblock, recoil set up etc...).

Also see: http://www.landships.freeservers.com..._fieldarty.htm

[Richard Farrant]

Karmen,

The part of it that does not look quite British (am assuming Canadians used our guns during WW1?), is the two seats against the outer face of shield, one man having the brake control lever. This was the part that made me think of the old German one seen over here.

Richard

Originally posted by RHClarke
I believe that is a 105mm (10.5 cm etc..) German howitzer. A lot of its technology was used in the development of the US 105mm howitzer (note horizontal sliding wedge type breechblock, recoil set up etc...).

Also see: http://www.landships.freeservers.com..._fieldarty.htm

The FIRST photo up, and under the heading (77mm FK96 n/A) looks similar color wnad the wheels look a LOT like the gun I posted The gun in the photo shown there ... is it the 1896 year that they mention in their writeup?

http://www.landships.freeservers.com..._fieldarty.htm

When I saw the wheels on the gun located here I had thought of the old homesteads ages

Originally posted by Richard Farrant
Karmen,

The part of it that does not look quite British (am assuming Canadians used our guns during WW1?), is the two seats against the outer face of shield, one man having the brake control lever. This was the part that made me think of the old German one seen over here.

Richard

I THOUGHT those looked like SEATS! Scarey place to sit!

Karmen.

[John McGillivray]

The gun is German. From the references that I have it appears to be a 7.7cm FK16 field gun. Note that it had a much longer barrel than the 7.7cm FK96 gun. See the site below.

http://www.landships.freeservers.com..._kitreview.htm

[SteveF]

Originally posted by Vets Dottir
I THOUGHT those looked like SEATS! Scarey place to sit!

Karmen.

Yes, but of course you realize that they didn't sit there when the gun was firing...

Going by memory, there were two guns that looked very similar to the one shown in front of the old court house in Wetaskiwin, AB (hometown) that were German and of First World War vintage. Not sure if they are still there. Wish I would have paid closer attention to those sort of things when I was growing up.

Originally posted by Infanteer90
[B]Yes, but of course you realize that they didn't sit there when the gun was firing...

Actually ...............

I googled again ... this time images for Wetaskiwin courthouse.
Is this the right courthouse and gun? I see ONE gun. I didn't spot a date for when the photo was taken though.

http://cac.mcgill.ca/cac/bland/build.../full/1-57.jpg

THANKS to everyone replying in here. Will be interesting to hear what I'm told when the Legion person calls me back next week, like how it came to be here

Karmen

[Mike Kelly]

Similar thing happened here in OZ after WW1 . Captured German and even a few Turkish WW1 artillery pieces were scattered all over the land . Council parks , memorials and even schools I think . There is a pair of WW1 German trench mortars in Deloraine Tasmania , in front of the RSL from memory . Northcote , an inner suburb of Melbourne had a Krupp WW1 gun sitting in an isolated park , it was hiding away in a corner of the park , barely visible , for years . I think many of the councils got rid of them over the years , with public liability problems etc. A kiddy may fall of, and the council is then sued ..... ah what a lovely world it is .

When I was in High school , a classmate showed us a tiny section of Richtofens tailplane , his grandfahter was there when the baron as shot down , the aircraft was stripped to the bone by souvener hunters . Bits of it are scattered all over OZ to this day . It has been proved that it was the aussies who shot him down ......not Brown .

Mike

[SteveF]

Originally posted by Vets Dottir
Actually ...............

I googled again ... this time images for Wetaskiwin courthouse.
Is this the right courthouse and gun? I see ONE gun. I didn't spot a date for when the photo was taken though.

http://cac.mcgill.ca/cac/bland/build.../full/1-57.jpg

THANKS to everyone replying in here. Will be interesting to hear what I'm told when the Legion person calls me back next week, like how it came to be here

Karmen

Wow, that's fantastic Karmen. Great research. I never would have thought that there would be a photo on the net. There was another gun very similar (the same?) to the right of the photo on the other side of the sidewalk. I don't go to Wetaskiwin very often anymore but will try to remember to take a photo next time.

Steve

[Jon Skagfeld]

Originally posted by Mike Kelly
Similar thing happened here in OZ after WW1 . Captured German and even a few Turkish WW1 artillery pieces were scattered all over the land . Council parks , memorials and even schools I think . There is a pair of WW1 German trench mortars in Deloraine Tasmania , in front of the RSL from memory . Northcote , an inner suburb of Melbourne had a Krupp WW1 gun sitting in an isolated park , it was hiding away in a corner of the park , barely visible , for years . I think many of the councils got rid of them over the years , with public liability problems etc. A kiddy may fall of, and the council is then sued ..... ah what a lovely world it is .

When I was in High school , a classmate showed us a tiny section of Richtofens tailplane , his grandfahter was there when the baron as shot down , the aircraft was stripped to the bone by souvener hunters . Bits of it are scattered all over OZ to this day . It has been proved that it was the aussies who shot him down ......not Brown .

Mike

Mike...a never ending controversy about who shot down von Richtofen.

At the Royal Canadian Military Institute (RCMI) in Toronto I saw a seat on display purportedly to be from the Red Baron's Fokker.

It had a bullet hole in the seat pan, flanged downward, i.e. a shot from above, thus fuelling even further controversy.

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Originally posted by Vets Dottir
Gun .... what is it??? The wheels are very old weathered wood, how old is this gun?

Carmen..
This gun looks like a French 1897 Modle 75 MM field gun...

Check this out...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_d...d%C3%A8le_1897

Hi folks,

I've been trying to upload the photo of this german WW1 artillery gun but its not happening, so here is the link ... I think this gun looks a LOT like the one I photographed here Too bad there are no words to ID the exact gun it is:

http://www.anticsonline.co.uk/l.aspx?k=1990116

STEVE ... I find amazing things playing with the image search function in google. The above photo/site I found through searching "German WW1 artillery" and voila

I come across interesting and amazing sites sometimes in the image searches that are totally different from what I was looking for, but am totally delighted for this "bonus" hit when I find things.

I just "Google all day" ... (take off from a song line in "Doodlin' ")



Karmen

Originally posted by Infanteer90
Wow, that's fantastic Karmen. Great research. I never would have thought that there would be a photo on the net. There was another gun very similar (the same?) to the right of the photo on the other side of the sidewalk. I don't go to Wetaskiwin very often anymore but will try to remember to take a photo next time.

Steve

Hi Steve,

It's amazing what things can be found when you click on the image search. I play with that often, even when I do just the web search, I'll often click on the image search just for the heck of it to see what comes up. I've "accidentally" found a lot of interesting (to me and Mluers) sites by doing random or specific searches. Often things I wasn't searcing about and they're like little bonuses. (yes, I have a LOT of spare time on my hands, unlike the rest of you busy people with lives )

I just did an image search for "German WW1 artillery" and found this photo ... doesn't this one in this photo look a LOT like the one I photographed???

http://www.anticsonline.co.uk/l.aspx?k=1990116

Karmen

Alex,

The gun you showed us, and the one I took a photo of, have different shaped underside .... below the long "nozzle???" is a shorter one, mine looks ROUNDED and yours looks VEE-d.

Question, the long thing with the hole in it that the bullet thingy's shoot through, is that referred to as a "nozzle"? I also forget what the "bullets" are called Am a lousy student here

Karmen

A close up of the "nozzle" parts:

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Kartmann, it's called a 'barrel', the open end on the front a 'muzzle', the back side a 'breech'. It shoots 'shells' of varying types, usually high explosive...

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

The shorter round thing underneath the barrel is a recoil damper. It minimizes the recoil from firing the shell.

Originally posted by Geoff Winnington-Ball
The shorter round thing underneath the barrel is a recoil damper. It minimizes the recoil from firing the shell.

Thanks Master Geoffrey Sunray ... for the Arty 101! I was wondering what purpose the underneath "barrel" was for too

Kartmann forever trying to learn ... and remember what's been learned

[SteveF]

Karmen,
Another silly question I'm sure... did you try cleaning off the snow on the top of the breach of the gun? The vast majority of artillery pieces (that I've seen) have their designation, serial number and usually a year impressed in this location. Of course it may be difficult to see depending on how many layers of paint there are. If you don't understand what I'm talking about I can send you some photos of arty pieces that I photographed while I was training in Borden.