Ordnance QF 25-pounder Short

The Ordnance QF 25-pounder Short was an Australian variant of the British Ordnance QF 25-pounder field gun/howitzer optimised for jungle warfare. It was developed in 1942 and entered service with the Australian Army during 1943. The gun was used by several Royal Australian Artillery regiments during fighting in the South West Pacific Area, before being declared obsolete in 1946. Modifications to the standard 25-pounder design were focused on reducing weight. Several elements of the gun were reduced in size, including the barrel. Lighter versions of some other components were used. These changes contributed to it having a shorter range than the original 25-pounder. The 25-pounder Short could be quickly broken down into 13 or 14 pieces to be transported in aircraft or jeeps. The development of the Ordnance QF 25-pounder Short was an important achievement for Australia's defence industry, and provided the Army with a weapon suited to conditions in the South West Pacific. As the gun's performance was inferior to that of the standard 25-pounder, it received a mixed reception from artillerymen. Historians regard the weapon as a success but note its limitations.

== Background == Following the outbreak of the Second World War, the Second Australian Imperial Force (AIF) was formed for overseas service. The artillery component of each of the AIF's infantry divisions comprised three field regiments. Additional field regiments were assigned to higher headquarters, such as I Corps. This was consistent with the organisation of equivalent British Army units. The Citizen Military Forces (CMF) units that remained in Australia and its territories also included artillery units.

The Ordnance QF 25-pounder was developed for the British Army during the late 1930s. It was adopted as the standard British field artillery gun and large numbers were produced. The 25-pounder proved highly successful, as it was robust, had a long range and could be used in a range of combat conditions. The AIF's field regiments began to be equipped with British-built 25-pounder guns in 1940, either as a replacement for obsolete weapons or as their initial equipment after being formed. By 1943, the gun was the standard equipment of the Australian Army's field artillery units. In January 1940, the Australian Government approved a proposal to build 25-pounders in Australia. A government-owned factory was constructed at Maribyrnong in Melbourne. Almost all the guns' components were manufactured in Australia, with almost 200 firms providing parts. Two companies were appointed to coordinate these suppliers and also assemble some of the guns; Charles Ruwolt Pty Ltd in the state of Victoria and General Motors-Holden in New South Wales. The first Australian-built 25-pounder was completed in May 1941 and 1,527 were delivered by the time production ceased at the end of 1943. Approximately 500 British-built 25-pounders were also acquired. In 1942, Charles Ruwolt engineers redesigned the 25-pounder's recoil system so that these guns could be fitted to the Australian-designed Sentinel tank. The 25-pounder was well suited to the open conditions the Army experienced in the Mediterranean and Middle East theatres but difficult to deploy in dense jungle terrain. While the developed road network in Malaya allowed it to be moved by vehicles during the Malayan Campaign, the extremely rugged terrain and limited transport infrastructure in New Guinea meant that the guns could only be moved away from coastal plains and airfields by manhandling. This was a slow and labour-intensive process, with the guns not being able to keep pace with the movement of infantry. As a result, Australian troops often had no artillery support heavier than 3 inch mortars during the New Guinea Campaign in 1942.

Concept and development

The difficulty of deploying artillery in New Guinea led to a need for a gun which could be broken down into relatively light parts and transported by aircraft or jeeps. The Army's only such weapons were four British 3.7-inch mountain howitzers, which had been obtained from New Zealand in 1942 and issued to the 1st Mountain Battery. Australia requested M116 75mm pack howitzers from the United States but none were immediately available. As an expedient, the Army decided to re-equip three artillery regiments with large calibre mortars. Official historian David Dexter credited the concept of developing a lightened version of the 25-pounder to two officers from the 2/2nd Field Regiment. Other sources attribute this to the Army's Director of Artillery, Brigadier John O'Brien. In September 1942, O'Brien suggested that a variant of the 25-pounder be developed to meet the requirement for highly portable artillery. His proposal was approved, and all development work was conducted in Australia by the Army, the Ordnance Production Directorate and Charles Ruwolt. O'Brien was an experienced engineer in civilian life and personally drafted the early design diagrams. The Army, Ordnance Production Department and Charles Ruwolt cooperated closely as they were strongly motivated to provide the Army with a useful light artillery piece as quickly as possible. Design work began in September 1942 and an acceptable design was ready by January the next year.

== Design == The new gun used as many standard 25-pounder parts as possible, but included a number of major differences to reduce the weapon's weight. The historian Ian V. Hogg described these changes as "radical surgery". Modifications included shortening the gun's barrel and recuperator, making the trail lighter, fitting smaller wheels, substituting a large spade for the platform which allowed the gun to be rotated and incorporating the recoil system which had been developed for the Sentinel tank. The gun carriage was very different from that of the standard 25-pounder, and included a new cradle, trail and axles. The guns were initially fitted with stabilisers to reduce stress on their wheels when firing, but these were later removed as they caused problems when reversing or moving the guns in action. The prototype was fitted with a gun shield, but this was later removed and not incorporated into the production weapons.

The 25-pounder Short incorporated a number of features to increase its mobility. The gun could be broken down into 13 or 14 parts in under two minutes, allowing it to be air-dropped from aircraft or packed into jeeps. Of these parts, only the recuperator and front trail weighted over 135 kilograms (300 lb). Assembled guns could also be towed by a jeep, which was advantageous as it was possible to transport these vehicles inside aircraft. In 1943, the Army told the media that 25-pounder Shorts could be disassembled in 90 seconds and reassembled in 145 seconds. Test firing of the prototype 25-pounder Short began on 10 December 1942. The 2/1st Field Regiment also trialled the gun in New Guinea during early 1943. It was found that the shortened barrel meant that muzzle flash burned the recoil system. A flash shroud was added to the muzzle of the gun to solve this problem. The 25-pounder Short had a maximum range approximately 87 percent that of the standard gun. It could use three standard charges to obtain a range of up to 10,400 yards (9,500 m). This range could be extended to 11,500 yards (10,500 m) if a super charge was used, though standing instructions warned against doing so except in emergencies due to the strain they placed on the gun carriage. The gun could fire the same variety of ammunition as the standard 25-pounder; namely high explosive, armour piercing, smoke, gas, propaganda and illumination shells. The rate of fire was three or four rounds per minute, compared to five rounds per minute for the standard 25-pounder. The Short guns were also less accurate.

Production

The production variant of the 25-pounder Short weighed 1 long ton 6 cwt (2,900 lb or 1.3 t), compared to 1 long ton 15 cwt 3 qr (4,000 lb or 1.82 t) for the standard gun. Like the standard 25-pounder, each Short gun had a crew of six. As completed, the gun's full designation was Ordnance QF 25-pounder Short (Aust) Mark I, but it was nicknamed the 'snort' by Australian soldiers. The weapon has also been referred to as the 'baby' 25-pounder. The Army placed an initial order for 112 guns and large-scale production began in early 1943. During initial operational service, it was found that these guns suffered from excessive wheel bounce when fired. Several solutions to this problem were considered, including fitting the guns with tyres manufactured in Australia for Bristol Beaufort bomber aircraft. In the end, the Mark II carriage was developed with larger wheels and tyres and larger stabilising elements. It also included a castor wheel on the trail of the gun to make it easier to handle. A further order of 100 guns was placed, with all incorporating the Mark II carriage. The guns with Mark I carriages were modified. Altogether, 212 guns were manufactured by the end of production in 1944. With the addition of the prototype, the total output was 213 guns. The cost to produce each weapon in 1944 was £3,300. Some Australian soldiers raised concerns over the quality of the 25-pounder Shorts they operated. In September 1943, the commander of the 2/4th Field Regiment rejected a batch of 25-pounder Shorts sent to his unit in the belief that they had been either poorly manufactured or sabotaged. These guns were returned to Australia and inspected, where it was concluded that most of the criticisms were unfounded. One of the guns had incorrect markings on a device that was used to determine the correct range though. A 25-pounder Short with the same defect was detected in 1944. In contrast, the Australian-built standard 25-pounders were considered well made by gunners. The British Army evaluated the 25-pounder Short and ordered a similar design. It had a different recoil system to the Australian guns to allow super charge to be used and was designated the Ordnance QF 25-pounder Mark IV. Design work was completed in May 1945, by which time there was no longer a need for the gun. One or two were produced and the British Army declared the type obsolete in 1946.

Service

=== Allocation === All three remaining AIF infantry divisions and three CMF divisions were converted to the jungle division structure in 1943. This was a light infantry structure optimised for combat in rugged terrain. It was expected that the divisions would engage Japanese forces at short ranges and be dependent on air and sea transport. As a result, efforts were made to reduce the size of the divisions and focus their artillery component on supporting close-quarter combat. Long-range bombardment of Japanese forces was to be handled by the Allied air forces and navies. Each jungle division was permanently assigned a single field regiment, with others being held in reserve and attached to infantry units as needed. The rationale for reducing the divisional artillery was the difficulty of moving guns in jungle terrain. 25-pounder Short guns were first issued to front line artillery regiments in August 1943 as part of this reorganisation. One of each field regiment's three batteries was re-equipped with the new guns. Field batteries equipped with the guns normally consisted of a headquarters and two troops. Each troop was equipped with four guns, seven jeeps and a D6 tractor. The guns were usually transported in a jeep, which also carried 24 rounds of ammunition. The D6 tractor carried 88 rounds of ammunition. The usual practice was to allocate a field battery from the regiment to each of the division's infantry brigades. During the period the 25-pounder Short was under development, the Army received thirty-eight M116 75mm pack howitzers and deployed some to New Guinea. These guns were mainly used in supplementary roles, as the 25-pounder Short met the Army's requirement for portable artillery. The commander of New Guinea Force's artillery, Brigadier L.E.S. Barker, preferred the 75mm pack howitzer to the 25-pounder Short, and tried to prevent the new gun being issued. He was overruled by O'Brien. Barker accepted this decision.

=== Combat service === The guns were first used in action by the 7th Division during the landing at Nadzab. On 5 September 1943, a 32-man detachment and two guns from the 2/4th Field Regiment was dropped by parachute from C-47 transports to provide artillery support for American paratroopers who also landed in this area. One gun was assembled and ready to fire within an hour, but the buffer and recuperator of the other took two days to locate in the long grass. The guns were not fired during this operation as there were no Japanese forces in the Nadzab area.

The 9th Division employed the 25-pounder Short in combat for the first time during the September 1943 landing at Lae and subsequent operation to capture Lae township. The guns were disliked by some of the division's gunners due to their inaccuracy and strong muzzle blast. The 9th Division's staff officers regarded them as a success though, as the guns could be readily transported on small vehicles, boats and sledges. Jeeps proved to be unsuitable as gun tractors. The 7th Division's 25-pounder Shorts were used during the fighting in the Ramu Valley in October 1943. On one occasion, a single gun was transported through difficult terrain to support the 2/27th Battalion and suppressed several Japanese artillery guns that fired on the Australian infantry. From June 1944, the artillery complement of each of the jungle divisions other than the 5th Division was expanded from one to two or three field regiments. This change reflected the Army's greater use of artillery to minimise its casualties when attacking Japanese defensive positions. Each field regiment continued to comprise two batteries equipped with standard 25-pounders and one with 25-pounder Shorts. The 25-pounder Short was used by some Australian artillery units in New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Borneo until the end of the war. During the Battle of Pearl Ridge in Bougainville during December 1944, a battery of eight 25-pounder Shorts from the 4th Field Regiment supported the advancing Australian infantry until they moved beyond the range of these guns. They were then replaced by standard 25-pounders which the personnel of the regiment's three batteries crewed in rotation. A battery of 25-pounder Shorts was the first artillery ashore during the 7th Division's landing at Balikpapan in Borneo on 1 July 1945. Following the end of the Second World War the Australian Army and its artillery force were greatly reduced in size. Senior members of the Royal Australian Artillery decided in April 1946 that the post-war Army did not require specialised mountain artillery units. The 25-pounder Short was declared obsolete in 1946 and removed from service. Another unique Australian variant of the standard 25-pounder, the Yeramba self-propelled gun, was developed during 1949 and 1950 and used by the Army until 1957. The Army's regular units were equipped with standard 25-pounders until the early 1960s and reserve units retained the guns until 1975.

Assessments

The 25-pounder Short received a mixed reception from gunners. It was particularly unpopular among members of AIF artillery units which had used the standard 25-pounder during the fighting in the Middle East. Some infantry officers also preferred to receive support from standard 25-pounders. The lack of a gun shield and the shortened barrel exposed gun crews to a severe backblast each time the gun was fired. As a result, gunners often suffered mild concussions and nosebleeds by the end of fire missions. Guns were sometimes put out of action by damage caused by the absorption of violent recoil. The gun also had a tendency to tilt at low elevation; this was remedied by its crew standing on the trails, an expedient that had previously been used with the QF 4.5 inch Howitzer. The 25-pounder Short's reduced range was a significant deficiency when compared to the regular 25-pounder. Other limitations included the low rate of fire and difficulties towing the weapon. As a result of its experience with the gun, the 9th Division recommended that they be pooled and reserved for their specialised role rather than be routinely used alongside the standard 25-pounder. Post-war assessments of the gun's performance are generally positive. In his volume of the Australian official history covering science and industry, which was published in 1958, David Paver Mellor acknowledged that there were "extremely divergent views" of the 25-pounder Short's qualities. He attributed much of the criticism to a misunderstanding of the gun's specialised role, for which some trade-offs in performance had been needed. Mellor concluded that "whatever the gun's shortcomings may have been they appear to have been outweighed by its good points". In 1981, historian and retired Major General Steve Gower observed that the 25-pounder Short was "undoubtedly one of the more significant Australian weapon developments of the Second World War". He judged that it was a successful adaptation of a foreign-designed weapon to meet the Australian Army's requirements. As part of a book covering the experiences of Australian soldiers, historian Mark Johnson commented in 1996 that the main reason gunners disliked the 25-pounder Short was that "they loved the standard 25-pounder". British historian Chris Henry wrote in 2002 that the 25-pounder Short "gave good service, and was robust enough to survive life in the jungle even though many modifications were needed". In 2014 Australian historian Adrian Threlfall noted the shortcomings of the gun, but stated that its rapid development and introduction into service was an example of the Army's success in adapting to jungle warfare. The prominent Australian military historian Jeffrey Grey observed in 2017 that the 25-pounder Short "was not a perfect weapon, but a compromise born of an urgent situation".

Surviving examples

Several 25-pounder Shorts remain existent. Two form part of a war memorial in Mordialloc, a suburb of Melbourne. Other examples include guns preserved at Manly in Sydney, Eugowra, New South Wales, Cargo, New South Wales and the Australian Armour and Artillery Museum at Cairns.

Notes

References

Citations

Works consulted

Cecil, Michael K. (1992). "Australian Military Equipment Profiles: Volume 1 Field Artillery, 1939 to 1945". Australian Military Equipment Profiles. Box Hill, Victoria. ISSN 1038-1740. Dexter, David (1961). The New Guinea Offensives. Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 1 – Army. Vol. 6. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. OCLC 2028994. Floyd, Nicholas; Stevens, Paul (2024). Action! Action! Action! A Short History of the Employment of Australian Artillery 1871–2021. Newport, New South Wales: Blue Sky Publishing. ISBN 978-1-923144-42-2. Gower, S. N. (1981). Guns of the Regiment. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. ISBN 978-0-642-89688-9. Grey, Jeffrey (2017). "The Soldier as Technocrat: Brigadier John William Alexander O'Brien". In Stockings, Craig; Connor, John (eds.). The Shadow Men: The Leaders Who Shaped the Australian Army from the Veldt to Vietnam. Sydney: NewSouth Publishing. pp. 105–117. ISBN 978-1-74223-474-8. Henry, Chris (2002). The 25-pounder Field Gun 1939–72. Botley, United Kingdom: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-350-7. Hogg, Ian V. (1998). Allied Artillery of World War Two. Ramsbury, United Kingdom: Crowood Press. ISBN 978-1-86126-165-6. Horner, David (1995). The Gunners: A History of Australian Artillery. St Leonards, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-86373-917-7. Johnston, Mark (1996). At the Front Line: Experiences of Australian Soldiers in World War II. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-56037-5. Johnston, Mark (2008). The Proud 6th: An Illustrated History of the 6th Australian Division 1939-45. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-51411-8. Mellor, D.P. (1958). The Role of Science and Industry. Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 4 – Civil - Volume V. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. OCLC 4092792. Palazzo, Albert (2001). The Australian Army: A History of its Organisation 1901 to 2001. South Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-551506-0. Pratten, Garth (2008). "Artillery". In Dennis, Peter; Grey, Jeffrey; Morris, Ewan; Prior, Robin; Bou, Jean (eds.). The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History (2nd ed.). South Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press. pp. 47–51. ISBN 978-0-19-551784-2. Ross, A.T. (1995). Armed & Ready: The Industrial Development & Defence of Australia, 1900–1945. Sydney: Turton & Armstrong. ISBN 978-0-908031-63-4. Threlfall, Adrian (2014). Jungle Warriors: From Tobruk to Kokoda and Beyond, How the Australian Army Became the World's Most Deadly Jungle Fighting Force. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-74237-220-4.