Whose Name We Share

114 Light 5 Pack Howitzer This gun is by far the strangest on the list in terms of capabilities. Designed by OTO Melara, the gun sought to modernise the Italian Mountain Artillery and so its iconic lightweight design allowed the crew to manhandle the gun as well as disassemble it for carriage inside light vehicles and even man packs. Although the Battery only used them in Malaya and Vietnam, the L5 had been in service in armies across the globe for more than 50 years. The barrel length itself is only 1.5m long, but the L5 still reaches ranges of up to 10km. Firing a semi-fixed 105mm shell, the L5 packs a punch at a reasonable 10 rounds per minute with a cool muzzle velocity of 400m/s. The huge advantage and the feature that gives the L5 its name is it’s ability to break down, but what attracted it to western armies was the capability of airlifting it in one piece – to allow speedy operations. There’s reports of the infamous “notional airlift” making its way into exercises, meaning they were towed by truck, which is always a good option to have. Wherever you decide to take this gun, it will fit, but therein lies its fatal flaw. The gun’s iconic ability to break down into smaller parts meant that it lacked the robustness for prolonged operations as reported by Australian and New Zealander Gunners in South Vietnam. Sustained operations in demanding theatres like South Vietnam were not in the gun’s best interest, but it did more than its fair share of hard yakka. This was the gun that 103 used to fire the adjustment at the Battle of Long Tan and it achieved the highest round count fired by any battery on that day because of it.