The Ordnance BL 2.75-inch mountain gun was a screw gun designed for and used by the

Indian Mountain Artillery Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

into

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Description

The gun was an improved version of the 1901

BL 10-pounder mountain gun The Ordnance BL 10 pounder mountain gun was developed as a BL successor to the RML 2.5 inch screw gun which was outclassed in the Second Boer War. History This breech-loading gun was an improvement on the muzzle-loading screw gun but still ...

. The new 1911 version improved on the 1901 gun with a new pole trail, recoil buffer, recuperator and gun shield, and increased shell weight from 10 to . It was a screw gun design, where the barrel could be separated into two parts via a screw joint. This allowed for the gun to have a heavier barrel, but still be broken into smaller portions for transport by mule teams. This was important for a weapon designed to be used in mountainous and rough terrain, or where adequate vehicle and horse transport was not readily available. The weapon could be carried by six mules or towed.

Service history

The gun was adopted in 1911 and began entering service in 1914. The weapon served primarily with the Indian Mountain Artillery in the northwest portion of British Indian territory (on what is now the border between Pakistan and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

) and participated in British-led military action in that theatre. It also served in

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

and the

Salonika front The Macedonian front, also known as the Salonica front (after Thessaloniki), was a military theatre of World War I formed as a result of an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia, in the autumn of 1915, against the combined attack of German ...

during

. Due to its specialised nature the gun was produced in only limited numbers, with just 183 manufactured during the war. It was superseded at the end of World War I by the

QF 3.7-inch mountain howitzer Ordnance, QF 3.7-inch howitzer is a mountain gun, used by British and Commonwealth armies in the First and Second World Wars, and between the wars. History The British Indian Army first requested a modern mountain gun in 1906 to replace the BL ...

Ammunition

Surviving examples

A 2.75-inch mountain gun is on display at the Heugh Battery Museum, Hartlepool

Notes and references

Bibliography

*Dale Clarke
British Artillery 1914-1919. Field Army Artillery. Osprey Publishing, Oxford UK, 2004
* Hogg, Ian; 2000; ''Twentieth Century Artillery''; Amber Books, Ltd., * I.V. Hogg & L.F. Thurston
British Artillery Weapons & Ammunition. London: Ian Allan, 1972

External links

Handbook of the 2.75-inch B.L. gun : Mule equipment. London : H.M.S.O. 1920
at State Library of Victoria
Gun drill for 2.75 inch B.L. gun converted MK I and MK I carriage mark I 1921,1923
at State Library of Victoria

{{DEFAULTSORT:BL 02.75 Inch Mountain Gun World War I artillery of the United Kingdom Mountain artillery 70 mm artillery World War I mountain artillery