chris.wight Posted 7 September , 2004 Share Posted 7 September , 2004 I was up visiting a friend in Quebec City over the weekend, and spent time walking through the Plains of Abraham. At the western end they have a variety of artillery pieces, mostly from the Citadel but also five German guns captured in 1918. I snapped a bunch of photos of them some of which I'll post. Unfortunately, the time of day and location made taking good photos difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris.wight Posted 7 September , 2004 Author Share Posted 7 September , 2004 Rear view of gun on the left. This gun was captured September 27, 1918 at the western outskirts of Bourlon, France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris.wight Posted 7 September , 2004 Author Share Posted 7 September , 2004 Secong pairing of guns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris.wight Posted 7 September , 2004 Author Share Posted 7 September , 2004 Close-up of the gun with the shortened barrel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris.wight Posted 7 September , 2004 Author Share Posted 7 September , 2004 Close-up of the breech of short barrelled piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris.wight Posted 7 September , 2004 Author Share Posted 7 September , 2004 This howitzer (4.9"?) is sitting in another part of the park under a large tree which made taking decent photos difficult. It was captured August 8, 1918 south-east of Demuin, France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris.wight Posted 7 September , 2004 Author Share Posted 7 September , 2004 Another view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris.wight Posted 7 September , 2004 Author Share Posted 7 September , 2004 Last one - this is a close-up of the stamping found on the barrel. Would this be the serial number? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.S.Regt. Posted 7 September , 2004 Share Posted 7 September , 2004 Chris Interesting pictures never knew that those guns were there. My great great ect. grandfather was there with Wolfe in 1759 and received and land grant in Nova Scotia. It is on my list of must see places. Best regards N.S.Regt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Somme1916 Posted 7 September , 2004 Share Posted 7 September , 2004 Chris, When I took what is so far my only trip to Qubec, back in 99, I wasn't interested in WW 1 so I didn't photograph the guns. Thanks for posting them, hope you don't mind me downloading them into my photo files. Many thanks, Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anzac16 Posted 7 September , 2004 Share Posted 7 September , 2004 Very nice picture's well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph J. Whitehead Posted 7 September , 2004 Share Posted 7 September , 2004 Picture 4 is a 10.5cm light field howitzer. This gun formed the III Abteilung of the German field gun regiments. Ralph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 7 September , 2004 Share Posted 7 September , 2004 Great photos. Thanks very much! In the first photo, the nearside gun is a 10.5cm leichtes Feldhaubitze 16. This the late war light field howitzer. Further over, I think it is an example of the 7.7 cm Feldkanone 16. This was the later model 77mm field gun with the longer barrel and other refinements. I am not sure but the stubby gun with the upright shield may be the more common 7.7cm Feldkanone 96 n.A It was used in an infantry gun direct fire role, sometimes in association with stosstruppen. It is not the variant that was made with the captured Russian 7.62cm guns. As Ralph mentioned, no 4 looks like the 10.5cm leichte Feldhaubitze 98/09. The last beast is possibly a 21cm Mortar L/12. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 7 September , 2004 Share Posted 7 September , 2004 It was used in an infantry gun direct fire role Not only in this role but there are some great pics of this. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bonza Posted 7 September , 2004 Share Posted 7 September , 2004 Eat your heart out Chris. The Aussies went for the Daddy of them all. The Barrel 45 ton is now at the AWM. Typically the rest got scrapped. One Major R S Billett has published "War Trophies from WW1". This gives pics & details of many of the guns Aussie kids got to play on in the old days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris.wight Posted 9 September , 2004 Author Share Posted 9 September , 2004 Thanks for the replies everyone. Jon, I don't mind you copying the photos at all. Bonza, that must be quite the piece to see, shame the carriage wasn't kept as well. Probably just as well we never got anything like it in Quebec or else we might have stuffed a couple of politicians in there over the years. Robert, with the mortar remaining in the firing position, would this have been a result of the gunners disabling the piece before capture? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 9 September , 2004 Share Posted 9 September , 2004 Robert, with the mortar remaining in the firing position, would this have been a result of the gunners disabling the piece before capture? Chris I don't know for sure. The oft-mentioned method is removing the breech block. But I have also read of smashing a hole in the cover over the recuperator. Obviously the recoil mechanism is normally responsible for returning the barrel to the firing position. If the mechanism is hydro-pneumatic, as in the case of the later 18 pounders, then loss of hydraulic pressure would cause the barrel to drop back to the recoil position. A similar thing would happen if the washers disintegrated over time and the hydraulic fluids leaks out. If the mechanism were a recoil spring, then the spring/s would have to be removed to give the appearance of the gun in full recoil. The latter is not something that could be done quickly in the heat of battle I would have thought. On something the size of the 21cm mortar, I doubt you could break the recuperator easily for that matter. So my guess is that the appearance is a post-capture thing. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris.wight Posted 9 September , 2004 Author Share Posted 9 September , 2004 Thanks Robert. If this was done afterwards, it may have been a decision made by the Canadian military in consideration of public safety while the gun was on display. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 10 September , 2004 Share Posted 10 September , 2004 Yes, that was my thought too. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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