While I was at the Evangelium Conference at the Oratory School, Reading last Saturday, I took the above photo of a piece of school equipment outside the Headquarters of the Combined Cadet Force who formed a guard of honour for the Blessed Sacrament Procession at the school in June. I don't expect that it can be obtained from the standard education supplies catalogues.
Back home, I consulted the Blackfen Military Attaché (Blackfen readers will probably guess who he is) to obtain identification of this piece of equipment. It is an Ordnance QF 25 pounder with muzzle flash suppressor. The 25 pounder was introduced into service during World War II and was used in training units until the 1908s. Which all goes to show the truth of the observation made by my friend Lt Col Corum many years ago when we were at a pistol shooting range near Oxford, that in the British Army the weapons that are used for training are older than the men firing them. (If you're interested, I did fire a Smith & Wesson 38 and a Colt 45 and managed to hit the target.)
The 25 pounder was widely used in Normandy with such efficiency that the Germans thought that we had an automatic artillery piece. I have reason therefore to be grateful for this gun since it presumably contributed to keeping my father alive while he was operating the radio in the tank. (Along with most people who have seen active service, he would also be the first to regret the loss of life on the other side.)
Here's the thing working:
8 comments:
I'll be teaching my first secondary school class next month... I wonder how often I'll wish for one of those outside the school? ;)
A most interesting Post, Fr. I showed it to a friend who works in the MOD. His eyes lit up and he said: "Because of the Defence Budget cuts, could you possibly send it back to them ?" Address: MOD (Main Building), London.
Speaking of old equipment, the Combined Cadet Force - including at the Oratory School - is still using no. 8 rifles of .22 inch calibre for indoor shooting. These rifles were introduced shortly after World War 2 as anti-tank training weapons, but were remodelled for use by cadets some time in the 1950s. They are rather heavy for beginners to use, though they look nice with their wooden stock. Not only are they older than the cadets using them, but older than their parents and, in many cases the grandparents. At least the 'Elf 'n' Safety Brigade hasn't yet succeeded in stopping public schools from teaching correct weapon handling to their pupils; you never know when you might need it!
Can you get one for the parish?
Two?
I'm sorry, Father : what do you mean 'not standard school equipment' . . . I thought every school had an armoury ? ;-)
Presumably you mean the 1980s.
The anti-tank weapon used before that was a 2 pounder which was inadequate against the German tanks as was much of the equipment used by British troops. It took a long time for improved equipment to be ordered and delivered to the front line. (See Alan Moorehead, The Desert War, chapter 18.)
Now is the material provided by the Catholic Education Service adequate? If not how long must we wait for better? Other official material may also be below par. What is the effect on the clergy and teachers of this, faced as they are with a hostile, secularist culture.
No, the 25 pounder was used in Normandy but obviously not as a direct anti-tank weapon. I was thinking of the general combined forces operation where everyone helped everyone else.
Thank you Father. I see from the link to Wikipedia that the gun was a field gun / howitzer and so not an ant-tank gun. But the article does refer to an “increment for charge super was introduced in 1942 to provide higher velocity for anti-tank shot.” So maybe I was not quite wrong.
My point was about the need for the troops to have good kit and how they were hampered by inadequate kit in the early part of the war. This still seems to be an issue today in Afghanistan.
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