Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery Museum, ordnance from between the wars to the Second World War
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3224682)
75-mm Field Gun mounted front and rear on a Canadian National Railway Armoured train, often traveling through Winnipeg during the Second World War, 15 July 1942.
(RCAM Photo)
U.S. Model 1917A1 (M1971A1) 75-mm field gun (British), Bethlehem Steel Co., 1912, 995 Pounds, (Serial No. TBC) on the muzzle. This gun is mounted on a 75-mm Gun Carriage Model of 1917 (British), Bethlehem Steel Co., 1918, (Serial No. TBC), MMC, according to the builder’s plate on the carriage. This gun has been “high-speeded” with Martin Parry gear. It is an American version of the British QF 18-pounder modified to fire French 75-mm ammunition. A similar M1971 field gun is preserved in the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery School, 5 Canadian Division Support Group Base Gagetown, New Brunswick. Weight of Projectile: 12.3 pounds (5.8 kilograms). Range: 8,100 yards (7,400 metres). Detachment: 7 Gunners, gun, limber, and towing vehicle.
Although most field artillery enthusiasts note the d muzzle (flush with the front of the recoil guides) of the American piece vis-à-vis its British counterpart, many miss the difference in the configuration of the splinter shield. The main shield (ignoring the top and bottom extensions) of the British gun (both 18-pounder and 13-pounder) is bent back at the level of the gun, whereas the main shield of the American gun is not, but is straight up and down (though tilted back a little from bottom to top). An American business firm or the American military unit whose size lies between the platoon and the battalion is ALWAYS abbreviated “Co.” NEVER “Coy.” The latter is for British and Commonwealth usage. (Nelson Lowry)
(Library & Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3223277).
40-mm Bofors Light Anti-Aircraft Gun, manned by Canadian Gunners, Brighton, England, March 1943.
(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photos)
40-mm Bofors Light Anti-Aircraft Gun.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4233812)
40-mm Bofors Light Anti-Aircraft Gunners in Normandy.
(Maxwell J. Toms Photos)
(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photo)
40-mm Bofors Light Anti-Aircraft Gun Mk 1 (naval mount), CFR 34522, Officers’ Mess.
40-mm Bofors Light Anti-Aircraft Gun Mk. III, O.F.E./C 1942, Reg. No. L/12971 (Bantam).
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3607529)
3.7-inch Heavy Anti-Aircraft Gun manned by 2nd Canadian Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3225276)
3.7-inch Heavy Anti-Aircraft Gun being cleaned.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3211345)
3.7-inch Heavy Anti-Aircraft Gun, 2nd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RCA.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4233362)
3.7-inch Heavy Anti-Aircraft Gun being maneuvered out of the mud.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4233960)
3.7-inch Heavy Anti-Aircraft Gun Battery, Artillery ranging equipment, 1st Canadian Division, England, ca 1942.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4234049)
3.7-inch Heavy Anti-Aircraft Gun.
(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photos)
3.7-inch Anti-Aircraft Gun, No. 1 of 2.
(Maxwell J. Toms Photo)
3.7-inch Anti-Aircraft Gun, mounted on wheels, No. 2 of 2.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3196436)
3.7 Anti-Aircraft gun being fired at Valcartier, Quebec, Feb 1943.
(Library and Archives Canada Photos, MIKAN No. 3196437)
3.7 Anti-Aircraft gun being fired at Valcartier, Quebec, Feb 1943.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3196440)
3.7 Anti-Aircraft gun being fired at Valcartier, Quebec, Feb 1943.
American 90-mm M1A1 Anti-Aircraft Gun.
(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photo)
Sherman Skink 20-mm Quad Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun Turret.
(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photo)
2-pounder QF Mk. X Anti-Tank Gun.
(Rob Love Photos)
(Maxwell J. Toms Photos)
QF 2-pounder David experimental Anti-Tank gun developed in Canada during the Second World War and recently rediscovered in Shilo. It is a hybrid that used a 6-pounder necked down to a 2-pounder shot.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3524442)
6-pounder 7-cwt QF Anti-Tank Gun crewed by Private L.P. McDonald and Lance-Corporals W. Stevens and R. Dais, all of the Royal Canadian Artillery at Nieuport, Belgium, 9 September 1944.
(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photos)
6-pounder 7-cwt QF Anti-Tank Gun (Serial No. 206).
(Maxwell J. Toms Photo)
(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photo)
17-pounder QF Towed Anti-Tank Gun, CFB Shilo Gym.
In June 1947, Canada had 149 17-pounder QF Towed Anti-Tank Guns in service. These guns served until 1952, when they were offered to NATO. Those remaining in 1959 were scrapped or became part of war memorials including at least 28 have been found and documented on these web pages.
95-mm Centaur IV tank, 11th Armd Div, Travemunde, Germany, 3 May 1945. (IWM Photo BU 5278)
95-mm Centaur IV tank, Royal Marine Armoured Support Group, 13 June 1944. (IWM Photo B 5457)
(D Sean Barnett Photo)
95-mm Centaur Tank Howitzer provided close support to infantry by laying smoke screens or engaging pillboxes. During the Second World War the First Canadian Army used British Centaurs manned by Canadian gunners. The 1st Centaur Battery, RCA, was formed on 6 August 1944 and was comprised of an HQ and three troops, each equipped with one Sherman OP tank and four 95-mm SP Centaurs. Their main role included carrying out harassing fire on the enemy’s logistic elements and retaliatory fire on mortars and support weapons. The battery fought in a number of engagements in Normandy until it was disbanded on 29 Aug 1944. One Centaur has been preserved at Sword Beach in Normandy and another in the Cobbaton Tank Museum in the UK.
(Library & Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN 3607521)
25-pounder C Mk. 2 QF Field Gun with No. 9 circular firing platform, being towed by a Canadian Military Pattern (CMP) Field Artillery Tractor (FAT), ca. 1944.
(Library & Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3192317).
25-pounder C Mk. 2 QF Field Gun in action, served by Gunners of B Troop, 5th Bty, 5th Fd Regt, RCA.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3205726)
L/Bdr D. Robertson, Sgt W. Malcolm, Gunner R. Flemming and Gunner J. Gaudet (left to right), Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (RCHA), ready to fire 25-pounder, 26 Sep 1951.
(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photos)
(Maxwell J. Toms Photos)
(Terry W. Honour Photos)
(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photo)
25-pounder C Mk. I Field Gun with Limber.
(Maxwell J. Toms Photos)
25-pounder C Mk. 2 QF Field Gun with No. 9 circular firing platform, Funeral platform, and limber.
25-pounder C Mk. 2 QF Field Gun with No. 9 circular firing platform.
(Maxwell J. Toms Photo)
(Terry Honour Photo)
(Terry W. Honour Photos)
(Terry W. Honour Photo)
(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photo)
25-pounder C Mk. 2 QF Field Gun with No. 9 circular firing platform, standing in front of 1 RCHA HQ.
(Maxwell J. Toms Photo)
(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photos)
25-pounder C Mk. 2 QF Field Gun with No. 9 circular firing platform, No. 1 of 2, Canoe River Memorial.
(Maxwell J. Toms Photo)
25-pounder C Mk. 2 QF Field Gun with No. 9 circular firing platform, No. 2 of 2, Canoe River Memorial.
(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photos)
Canadian Military Pattern (CMP) Ford Gun Tractor (FGT).
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3581657)
Canadian Military Pattern Field Artillery Tractor “Quad” 4×4 (CMP FAT), RCAF Station Ottawa, Ontario, c1940.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3581658)
Canadian Military Pattern Field Artillery Tractor “Quad” 4×4 (CMP FAT), RCAF Station Ottawa, Ontario, c1940.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3260954)
Forward Observation Post of “B” Battery, 1st Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, 24 Sep 1943, near Potenza, Italy.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3225419)
Captains S.A. Mooney and I.C. Stewart, Forward Observation Officers attached to the 6th Airborne Division, British Army, Greven, Germany, 5 April 1945.
(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photo)
Sexton 25-pounder C Mk. 1 Self-propelled Gun (Reg. No. CS172740), part of the Dr. William Gregg Collection donated to the RCA Museum.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3396109)
American 105-mm M7 Priest Self-propelled Howitzer, 19th Fd Regt, RCA, France, July 1944.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3607614)
Troop of 105-mm Priest self-propelled howitzers of the Royal Canadian Artillery (RCA) in Italy, c1943.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3396095)
American 105-mm M7 Priest Self-propelled Howitzer, LBdr W.J. Pelrine, 14th Field Regt, RCA, France, 20 June 1944.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3396099)
American 105-mm M7 Priest Self-propelled Howitzer, 34th Bty, 14th Fd Regt, RCA, France, 20 June 1944.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3396110)
American 105-mm M7 Priest Self-propelled Howitzer, 19th Fd Regt, RCA, France, July 1944.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3231470)
American 105-mm M7 Priest Self-propelled Howitzer, BSM W.H. Galloway and Captain Stirling, 19th Field Regt, RCA, Normandy, France, 22 June 1944.
(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photos)
American 105-mm M7 Priest Self-propelled Howitzer, “Zulu Warrior”.
(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photo)
(Maxwell J. Toms and Terry Honour Photos)
95-mm Infantry Howitzer.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 2266434)
5.5-inch BL Mk. III Gun on a Mk. I Carriage, Canada 43-cent stamp.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3209132)
QF 4.5-inch Mk. II Howitzer on a Mk. I Carriage, Canadian Gunners, 2nd Medium Regiment, RCA, Netherlands, 2 Apr 1945. Apart from the barrel, this gun was identical to the 5.5-inch BL Mk. III Howitzer.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3625452)
5.5-inch BL Mk. III Gun on a Mk. I Carriage, National Railways Munitions plant, 1943.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3208405)=
5.5-inch BL Mk. III Medium Gun on a Mk. I Carriage, RCA, Otterloo, Netherlands, 5 May 1945.
(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photos)
5.5-inch BL Mk. III Meium Gun on a Mk. I Carriage (Serial No. 853), WO & Sgts Mess.
(Maxwell J. Toms Photo)
(Clive Prothero Brooks Photo)
5.5-inch BL Mk. III Meium Gun on a Mk. I Carriage (Serial No. 859). Canada made carriages for these guns during the Second World War, and after the war acquired 85 of them for the RCA. The gun fired a 45.5-kg (100-pound) shell to a range of 14,800 metres (16,200 yards).