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Another Whatziss

By The Armorer on July 20, 2009 | | Comments (15)
Mystery gun sm.jpg
Of course, some of you are behind, having taken yesterday off, apparently.  The official Army caption for this photograph reads: "Airborne artillerymen man a 75mm howitzer near the completed airstrip at Nadzab, September, 1943."

It's also probably wrong.  So - anyone recognize this gun? 

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15 Comments

By Neffi on July 20, 2009 8:14 AM
... it would appear to be much larger than 75mm...
 
By Kirk on July 20, 2009 8:21 AM
If it truly is Nadzab, then those are Aussies on New Guinea...manning their short-barreled 25 pounder, minus gun shield.  Aussies supported the US airborne attack at Nadzab.
 
By fdcol63 on July 20, 2009 8:32 AM
I think Kirk has it.  Perhaps these are Aussies from the 2/4 Field Regiment with an Ordnance QF 25-pounder Short, like the one at this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordnance_QF_25-pounder_Short
 
By BillT on July 20, 2009 8:50 AM
Yup -- Kirk called it.

So, the DoD captioneers have a looooong history of getting it wrong, huh...?
 
By AFSister on July 20, 2009 9:21 AM
Hey- if all of the DoD captions were correct.... what would we have left to make fun of?
 
By Boquisucio on July 20, 2009 9:36 AM
Heeeyyyyy - Who are you going to believe; Me or your lying eyes?
 
By 1IDVET on July 20, 2009 11:00 AM
Looks like an M1A1 Pack Howitzer.
 
By 1IDVET on July 20, 2009 12:05 PM
I should have further stated that they mislabled it because it looks like the M1A1 Pack Howitzer.

 

Yeah, that's the ticket...

 
By Spiff on July 20, 2009 12:56 PM
Perchance, a Jap Type 91 10mm Howitzer?
Spiff
 
By SezaGeoff on July 20, 2009 5:55 PM
I recognised the 25 lb'er pretty quickly, as I have seen some around here in museums.  But I think the crew are US, based on their hats.  I guess with that barrel and flash-hider, they will still be walking around saying "What?" or "Pardon?" a lot.
General Motors Holden's at Fishermen's Bend in Australia (now part of the marvellous Government Motors) used to make parts of the twenty-five pounders, and during a clean up of the Engineering drawing vault, I found a rubber stamp for the Field Mounting drawings. Systems were obviously simpler then!
 
By wolfwalker on July 20, 2009 8:20 PM
SezaGeoff, the crew might well be US.  Supply-wise, the Southwest Pacific Area was FUBAR for much of 1942 and 1943.  It's not at all hard for me to believe that a US Army regular artillery unit might have picked up a few of these guns -- especially after they saw what Marine gunners could do with their 75mm pack howitzers. 
 
By Justthisguy on July 20, 2009 9:34 PM
Concur with wolfwalker. From my late Dad's accounts, and others I've heard, the USAAF was mostly improvised through '42 and into '43. I imagine it was much the same or more so in desperately fought-over places among the infantry and artillery.
 
By fdcol63 on July 20, 2009 9:37 PM
I think they're really Aussies from a 31-man detachment of 54 Battery, 2/4 Field Regiment, that dropped with the US Army 503rd PIR:

http://www.awm.gov.au/units/unit_10368second_world_war.asp

"... The 25th Brigade was to lead the 7th Division’s advance but, in order to facilitate this, the American 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment had to first secure the airfield at Nadzab. In what was a first for Australian artillery, the part of a section from the 2/4th made the drop with the American paratroops. This was done in great secrecy and with only one practice jump but the 31 gunners from 54 Battery, led by Lieutenant John Pearson, and two 25-pounder shorts, safely made the drop into Nadzab on 5 September. ..."
 
By SezaGeoff on July 20, 2009 9:55 PM
fdcol63 - I bow to your better knowledge.  The photos held at the AWM confirm that at least some of the Aussies wore the US style tin helmets.  See photos here.
 
By Ryan on July 24, 2009 10:17 AM
 That's one of them Saw'd off 25 Pounders. The Big conical range drum is a dead givaway, so is the big conical 'flash hider'. Those must have been a hoot at supercharge.