L.H.V shells

[BIFFO]

im sure I have seen this on GWF,but cannot find it

is it Lyddite high velocity ?,did only the germans have it

[DavidOwen]

Try these old threads

 

 

 

[Gunner Bailey]

Is the Lyddite aspect a red herring? The explosive content of the shell has no bearing on the velocity. 

 

Where HV shells the 'Whizz bangs' of legend?

[BIFFO]

Thank you all for your posts

now mr gunner I know you know your stuff as the originater of the old post says the war diary I am reading deffinatly says L.H.V,I have googled and still no wiser

so what does it mean ok whizz bang would come out of the blue and bang would that be LYDDITE HIGH VELOCITY 

whats your best quess ?

[MikB]

4 hours ago, BIFFO said:

im sure I have seen this on GWF,but cannot find it

is it Lyddite high velocity ?,did only the germans have it

 

I don't *think* in WW1 the Germans used cast picric acid, or any explosive the British would've classed as Lyddite.

[BIFFO]

Thank you Mike,it clearly says in a couple of entries L.H.V,to be honest i`ve lost the will to live 

have written to a battlefield guide I know who knows a german ww1 chappy,so waiting,thank you for your help

Biffo

[Chasemuseum]

Only a suggestion "Light High Velocity" as a reference to shells from the German 77mm field guns aka whizz-bangs. Regardless of whether they are HE or shrapnel.

[BIFFO]

As to whizz bangs,these mystery shells fired from 5.9s,find extract from 2nd rhondda wd march 17-18 1917,I have stumped all the people I know,two very learned old codgers

[BIFFO]

Have just been sent this

[MikB]

Thanks Biffo, I didn't know the Germans had ever used that.

[BIFFO]

Glad to have expanded your knowledge,its what the forums for,I ought to know

[Gunner Bailey]

On 31/07/2020 at 18:23, BIFFO said:

Thank you all for your posts

now mr gunner I know you know your stuff as the originater of the old post says the war diary I am reading deffinatly says L.H.V,I have googled and still no wiser

so what does it mean ok whizz bang would come out of the blue and bang would that be LYDDITE HIGH VELOCITY 

whats your best quess ?

 

I think I agree with post #7.

[Rod Burgess]

IV Corps War Diary, for example, refers both to "LHV" guns and shells, and "77 mm"  guns and shells, sometimes even in the same sentence, which suggests that they are not synonymous. War diaries which mention "whizz-bangs" never seem to use "LHV", and vice versa. I wonder if some officers considered the term "whizz-bang" too informal for use in official records and used "LHV" instead. It does seem overwhelmingly likely that "HV" stands for "high velocity", but I cannot believe that the "L" stands for "Lyddite" which, as someone pointed out above, has no connection whatsoever to the velocity.

On balance, I think "Light, High Velocity" is the most likely meaning of ""LHV", but I'm still puzzled why a diarist would sometimes write "77 mm" and at other times to either "whizz-bang" or "LHV" if they refer to the same weapon.

 

 

IV Corps HQ GS War Diary, Report No 90: "Report on the operations of the IV Corps for the period 27th July to 6 am, 3rd August, 1916":

 

"Between 4.15 and 4.30 pm [27 July] our trenches in S.2.a were slightly shelled by 77 mm from the direction of Cite de Caumont, and between 4.10 and 6.0 pm our front line and communication trenches in Angres Section were shelled intermittently by L.H.V. and 4.2's and the neighbouhood of Bully Crater by 77 mm and trench mortars"

 

TNA WO/95-714-4-2

Edited 30 October , 2020 by Rod Burgess
Quote from IV Corps GS War Diary added