West Spring Gun
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The West Spring Gun was a bomb-throwing catapult used by
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,
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and
Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...
forces during
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 ...
. It was designed to throw a hand grenade in a high trajectory into enemy
trenches A trench is a type of excavation or in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a wider gully, or ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or pit). In geology, trenches result from erosi ...
.


Description

It consisted of a metal frame supporting a throwing arm powered by 24 metal springs. It was invented by Captain Allen West in 1915 and manufactured by the Reason Manufacturing Company of Brighton, which was granted a patent for the device on 19 October of that year. Although called a catapult, it was a hybrid of a
ballista The ballista (Latin, from Greek βαλλίστρα ''ballistra'' and that from βάλλω ''ballō'', "throw"), plural ballistae, sometimes called bolt thrower, was an ancient missile weapon that launched either bolts or stones at a distant ...
and a
trebuchet A trebuchet (french: trébuchet) is a type of catapult that uses a long arm to throw a projectile. It was a common powerful siege engine until the advent of gunpowder. The design of a trebuchet allows it to launch projectiles of greater weight ...
. It required a crew of five - three to compress the springs, one to load the bomb, and one to fire as soon as the fuse was lit or the grenade pin was pulled. In tests, it could throw
Mills bomb "Mills bomb" is the popular name for a series of British hand grenades which were designed by William Mills. They were the first modern fragmentation grenades used by the British Army and saw widespread use in the First and Second World Wa ...
about or a projectile about with a flight time of 6 or 7 seconds. In the field it generally threw a
Jam Tin Grenade The double cylinder, Nos. 8 and No. 9 hand grenades, also known as the "jam tins", are a type of improvised explosive device used by the British and Commonwealth forces, notably the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) in World War I. The ...
, No. 15 Ball grenade, No. 21 "Spherical" grenade or No. 28 chemical grenade, equipped with a slightly longer fuse (typically 9 seconds) to ensure to reach the enemy trench before exploding. It was used in combat by, amongst others, the
50th (Northumbrian) Division The Northumbrian Division was an infantry division of the British Army, formed in 1908 as part of the Territorial Force with units drawn from the north-east of England, notably Northumberland, Durham and the North and East Ridings of Yorks ...
and the
1st Canadian Division The 1st Canadian Division (French: ''1re Division du Canada'' ) is a joint operational command and control formation based at CFB Kingston, and falls under Canadian Joint Operations Command. It is a high-readiness unit, able to move on very shor ...
in the
Second Battle of Ypres During the First World War, the Second Battle of Ypres was fought from for control of the tactically important high ground to the east and south of the Flemish town of Ypres in western Belgium. The First Battle of Ypres had been fought the pr ...
and by Australian forces in the Gallipoli Campaign. It was generally considered to be large and cumbersome and "generally more unwieldy" than the Leach Trench Catapult. Many operators, including Captain West himself, lost fingers in the mechanism. The throw could also be unpredictable, with the bomb sometimes landing near the thrower. Production of this and other trench catapults was officially halted in 1916, being replaced by the 2 inch Medium Trench Mortar and Stokes mortar. This article is unpublished


Ammunition

File:Grenade for West Spring Gun IWM MUN 1497.jpg, No 21 R grenade


References


External links


No 21 R Type grenade for the West Spring Gun
at the Imperial War Museum.
West Spring Gun
(missing its launch arm) at the Australian War Memorial. {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Projectile weapons World War I British infantry weapons Grenade launchers Chemical weapon delivery systems