Numbers

[Bob McNeill]

This question is most probably only of use to us aussies, but here goes, when repainting my short 25 Aust. the numbers found under several coats of various green was 61032. painted on front half of trail left hand side. I,ve not found a similar numbering system on the Std 25. thanks

[Mike Cecil]

Did you also find the yellow over blue over yellow horizontal stripes below the number?

Number was in white, possibly with numeral sizes around 1 to 2 inches in height: am I right?

Do you have an image of the marking, please?

Mike C

[Bob McNeill]

Mike, you are correct again, the numbers were white but we did not find any other colours and only visable on left hand side in 2" high. Have got second frame so will go carefully. Thanks.

[Bob McNeill]

Mike I didn,t have any pics BUT the owner of the jeep had this one. the second pic is dads first short 25 they dealt with in Nth Qld,

[Mike Cecil]

So I see the pic has a shield in place: was your dad with 2/1 Aust Field Regt? They were supplied with the early version of the 25pdr (Short) for trials in early 1943, which included the shield.

As for the numbers, they have a meaning and are not the gun's registration number, but the Unit Serial Number (USN). The USN 61032 was the USN for 2/1st Aust Field Regiment (Jungle Scale), so I think without any doubt, your 25pdr (Short) is a combat veteran.

Mike C

[Bob McNeill]

Mike, thanks, Dad was was 2/9th and they eventually had 2 short 25s at different times, one before 18 battery went to Dutch NG and one after. I,ve been lucky enough to obtain a shield for a short 25 which has 2/4th written on it. Checked my other frame and couldn,t come up with anything of value. Dad is third on left in Nth Qld, in Canberra in last and he still doesn,t like the Short.

[Mike Cecil]

I see you aimed the display at Parliament House, rather than the High Court!! It would have to be a toss-up, wouldn't it?

He's not alone: when I interviewed several gunners back in the '80s (before the first Profile was written) it became quickly evident that the 'Guns, QF, 25-pdr (Short)' were almost universally despised by gunners who had the misfortune to have to use them.
(The Jungle Scale regiments, usually one Battery per Regiment, the other batteries being equipped with the un-modified 25-pdr.)

Were you aware your gun was a combat veteran? Will you mark it as 2/1 Aust Fd Regt?

Mike C

[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.