Whose Name We Share

110 Quick Fire 18 Pounder Mark I The 103 rd Battery had been destined to become the 36 th Battery of the 12 th Field Artillery Brigade and they would have been equipped with these QF 18 Pounders. This was the standard run of the mill gun of the time, however it outclassed its French and German counterparts. It featured 84mm calibre whereas the French offered 75mm and the German 77mm. This gun, although inferior to the QF 4.5in Howitzer, formed the backbone of the Royal Artillery and by extension the AIF’s artillery brigades. Designed by Armstrong Whitworth, Vickers and Royal Arsenal in 1901, there would be well over 10,000 made by the end of its service. This design would also go on to be developed into the early versions of the QF 25-Pounder, which even today is a very recognisable piece to the trained eye. The gun could lay down rates of 20 rounds per minute, with a max range of 6km and a muzzle velocity clocking in at a reasonable 492m/s. As a field gun, it offers a suite of ammunition to cover every need across the many fronts it saw from your standard HE to shrapnel and smoke. This field gun may not have been as powerful as a Howitzer but to run this as a stock standard piece was a big statement and the opposition had certainly heeded it with caution. By today’s standards it’s not much to look at but the value in the groundwork it laid to develop into one of the most recognisable pieces cannot be overstated.