Obusier de 15 cm A. Mod. 1887 - 1890 FRC sur affût métallique de siège (Belgium) : Recovered from Pozieres 1917 Accession Number: RELAWM05081

Description

A fortress cannon, designed to fire over the parapet of a defensive work. The gun has a steel barrel. It is breech loading, with its screw-operated breech block operated from the left side of the breech. The gun has a steel carriage, of rivetted construction with an elevation worm screw on right hand side. The sides of the carriage are rivetted to transom pieces on the front and internally. The axle is mounted vertically under the trunnion. The weapon has no axial barrel recoil system. The gun carriage has sustained a major hit on the right hand side. This has carried away the former recoil mechanism - a hydraulic system which formerly ran forward from the end of the trail to a position underneath the front axle. The battle damage has also twisted the entire carriage, and sheared off the steel bar supports which would have run from the side of the carriage to the front axle. Also destroyed were the flat metal plate supports for the loaders and gun layers. The mechanism by which the gun was elevated, a toothed quadrant which meshed with the worm gear on the carriage, is also missing. Shrapnel splash marks are evident over the entire weapon.

A maker's mark or place of manufacture is just visible (but illegible) on the rear of the breech. The bolts which hold the loaders and layers platforms are stamped on the inside of the carriage with the number '60', as is the anchor point for the hydraulic recoil arm, and a similar number is visible on the front transom of the carriage.

The gun is mounted on two wooden spoked wheels, which are not original to the gun (origin presently unknown). The entire barrel and carriage has been painted since its arrival in Australia with semi gloss feld grau, over what appears to be elements of existing paintwork.

Contextual Description

A Belgian howitzer of 15 cm calibre recaptured with three others of the same type in a copse at Pozieres on the 23rd of July, 1916, by the 1st Australian Division. Manufactured in Liege in 1895 and emplaced in Belgian fortresses, these weapons were captured by the Germans in 1914 when they drove through Belgium in 1914. It is one of the four guns that were the first pieces of artillery to be captured and held by the Australians on the Western Front.

Their wheels and carriages had been smashed to match wood and the howitzers hacked and slashed by the ferocity of the shell fire to which they had been subjected. Shipped to Australia early in 1918 they were almost lost as the vessel carrying them was torpedoed by a German submarine in the English Channel. Struggling back it put into Southhampton in a sinking condition where the howitzers were subsequently salved and forwarded to Australia. One was given to Ashfield, one to Enoggera, one to Perth, and the last to the Commonwealth, for display in the proposed 'War Museum' (to become the Australian War Memorial).

At some stage, possibly during transportation, the barrels of these weapons were removed from the carriages. The barrel of the AWM's gun is visible in a photograph taken of the Pozieres battlefield: AWM photograph E00010. The carriage in that photograph, which was smashed in half, is preserved at Enoggera, Queensland. A further photograph taken at Pozieres, AWM photograph E0004, shows another barrel and carriage. The barrel from that weapon has been united with the carriage at Enoggera. The AWM's barrel sits on carriage No 60, whose barrel location must have been either Ashfield or Perth. These weapons are not known to have been preserved.

The weight of those pieces is approximately 9 cwt. and that of their carriages 12 cwt. It is estimated that the projectile fired weighed about 85lbs while the maximum range was about 6,000 yards.

Details

Conflicts

• First World War, 1914-1918

Places

• Pozieres

Events

• Western Front

Tags

• Howitzers