Is this a West Spring Gun?

[T8HANTS]

Yes I was the big fat one, were you there when we blew ourselves up?

[RobL]

I wasn't in uniform as i'd just come down from the day from London with a friend (who's also getting into living history) - I was there, luckily watching from quite far away on the embankment!

[T8HANTS]

You should have tried it from where we were standing, the catapult was only slightly damaged by the blast. It is now the longest serving Leach catapult in history, as the real ones were only used for a few months mine is now in its tenth year.

Its next outing will be at the Royal Gunpowder Mills, Waltham Abbey, I will try and dig out the date.

[pgarwood]

Wow looks in excellent condition for its age!!

Peter

[centurion]

Is that a Garland mortar bottom left ? If so, would that be its projectile in front ?

Rod

The men in the photo belong to the RMLI Cyclist Company. Since there was limited opportunity for taking a spin on Galipoli they became the makers of a number of extemporised weapons (with a certain friendly rivalry with the Australians themselves no mean extemporisors). The catapult is not a Leach (Gammages) catapult as these were not available in time, it is simpler but follows similar principles. The mortar is not a Garland but a copy of the British 4 inch Sooth Bore Mortar made from steel tubing 'won' from other uses.

For any one interested in catapults in WW1 I enclose a section from a book I have been working on on unconventional weapons.

Attempts to simply reproduce the old Roman catapult designs (often simply replacing the torsion of twisted ropes with steel springs) were unsuccessful. This is unsurprising, as the Roman onagers were not designed to be operated from the bottom of a trench. The ancients had no explosives and so the effect of a missile fired from a catapult depended on it arriving on a low relatively flat arc and at some speed (the shallower and faster the better), consequently their trajectory was too low for trench warfare. When a catapult with a throwing arm releases its missile this normally leaves the cup or sling starting in a position parallel to the ground, the missile will then rise in a low trajectory, its angle of attack relative to level ground will always remain low. Trying to use them to throw explosives on the high trajectory needed (possibly by tilting the whole catapult or reducing the travel of the throwing arm) at best reduced their range to the point at which their missiles simply could not reach the hostile trench line and at worst caused the bomb to go straight up and drop back into the trench from which it had been fired. When launching explosives from a trench trajectory and range were more important than velocity on arrival. The ideal angle of release is about 45 degrees from the horizontal. Despite this disadvantage the West spring gun was employed in 1915. This was in effect a catapult much like that proposed by Folard but using steel springs rather than twisted ropes to provide the power to the throwing arm. Photos of the West catapult being loaded shows that it took two men to pull down the throwing arm. The weapon was unpopular as it was very erratic and sometimes the grenade went straight up and fell back down into the trench. On other occassions it might leave the throwing arm at too low an angle and could even strike the parapet of the trench in which it was located. The West catapult was very soon abandoned.

A Claude Pemberton Leach of London ignored the old designs of the ancients and instead developed a catapult that owed more to the traditional elastic powered schoolboy’s ‘weapon’. Strong india rubber cords fitted to a wooden ‘Y’ shape were pulled back using a small winch and cable. They were used to launch a ball shaped grenade (sometime called a ‘Cricket Ball Grenade’) with a ‘wick’ type fuse. This was ignited (a cigarette was a favourite device for lighting such grenades) just before launching. The range was about 180 yards. The weapon was usually propped against the trench wall at an angle of about 42 degrees although steel stands were fitted to some versions. The catapult could be temperamental and in some places on the front line its range was insufficient for bombarding the opposing trenches. This weapon was taken into production by the sports department of Gammage’s Department Store (and it is sometimes referred to as a Gammage’s catapult) and several hundred were delivered to the Western Front in 1915.

Despite some of its limitations, for a time it played an important role, and not just as a defensive weapon. During the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in September 1915 two companies of the 1st Royal Irish Rifles were equipped with eight Leach catapults (and 1,000 smoke grenades), in the same battle the men of the Lincolnshire and Royal Berkshire regiments had succeeded in taking their objectives but were under great pressure from German counter attacks and in danger of being split apart from each other. Second-lieutenant Wallace of the Lincolns brought forward a catapult and used this to drive back the enemy and establish control over a substantial length of the German front line.

Catapults were used in some numbers during the Gallipoli campaign. The engineers of the Royal Navy Division’s 2nd company built a number catapults along the lines of the Leach - Gammage’s The Royal Marine Cyclist Company provided specialist support for the use of catapults and they were used in support of British troops such as the Bedfordshire Regiment. (One has to wonder just what a Cyclist Company was supposed to be doing in the confined area of Gallipoli.) In October 1915 the Australian forces were also issued with catapults, these are described as consisting of a triangular frame with a sling which was made of india rubber bands. The sling fired a cricket ball bomb and had a range up to 120 yards. It is not clear if these were the same as those built by the Royal Navy Division’s engineers or another example of parallel military evolution (this latter is quite possible for there were other examples of this at Gallipoli, the Royal Navy Division had produced a periscope rifle at about the same time as the Australians). Both British and Australian troops became very efficient in their use. The Turks soon began to use catapults themselves particularly against the Australian position known as Quinn’s Post, however they appear to have been very inaccurate. When the time came to evacuate the peninsula catapults were used to give the impression that the positions were still manned, time fuses were used to release bombs at intervals from a number of catapults left in the trenches.

Catapults were phased out of British army service during 1916. However it is recorded by Lieutenant Colonel P Crozier the commander of the 9th Royal Irish Rifles that his battalion were still using them with some effect near Thiepal in July of that year. Lieutenant Colonel Crozier described the catapult as having done “good work and demonstrated the usefulness of this weapon; without which no Company should be without as a portion of its equipment”.

Catapults built to Leach’s design had some shortcomings, the india rubber used for the cords perished after some exposure to the elements. It also lost elasticity after some use. It has sometimes been suggested that this could have been avoided by using vulcanised rubber components. Whilst it is true that vulcanisation would have removed the problem of perishing and stabilised elasticity it would have been entirely unsuitable. Vulcanised (or part vulcanised) rubber may maintain a stable level of elasticity throughout its life but this is far lower than that initially provided by fresh natural rubber (which is why rubber bands are not made of vulcanised rubber and many tyres are composite containing natural, processed and artificial rubber).

The French also used catapults with rubber slings, these appear in general to have been of much lower power (and range) than the Leach - Gammage’s weapon. Some of these appear to have been improvised in the field from materials at hand (such as the inner tubes from tyres. They also used catapults very much like the West spring gun and thus more akin to the ancient onagers of the Roman Army, a photograph taken in 1916 by a member of an American Ambulance Field Service, a volunteer ambulance unit operating on the Western Front, shows French troops preparing to fire such a weapon. Considerable manual force from three or more soldiers appears to be needed to cock the catapult and it does not look like a weapon that could be used for rapid fire.

The Germans also used catapults, indeed they may have been both the first and the last of the combatants in World War One to do so, an account by a Canadian soldier serving with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry regiment in France gives an account of being assailed by catapult launched grenades from the German lines in February 1915. Alan Seegar an American volunteer serving with the French describes, in letters to his parents, catapulted grenades being thrown from the German trenches in the Aisne sector during March 1915. He ascribes the source of these to a spring loaded device. The Kugelhandgranate round grenade, first produced in 1913, was used in early German catapults, subsequently more sophisticated catapult grenades (some times referred to as aerial torpedoes) were produced. There is some evidence that such weapons were still in use as late as 1917, certainly ammunition that could be launched from catapults was still being made in that year.

[T8HANTS]

You might be interested to know that our years of throwing everything from sand filled socks to replica ball grenades have proved that the jam tin bomb is by far the best type of missile to avoid miss throws by the Leach.

This is because the ball bomb is gripped by the pouch on only a small portion of the circumference of the bomb. At the moment of release the pouch starts to widen, allowing the ball bomb to drop. If the ball hits the deck of the catapult as it is moving out, it will get a back-spin and come back at you, which is fun.

Jam tins being cylindrical are gripped by the pouch over a wider area and do not suffer the drop we have experienced with ball bombs, provided the weight is fairly consistent accuracy is quite good.

Gareth...possibly the worlds most experienced Leach catapultier

[centurion]

Gareth Where did you get the design of the pouch from? From what I have been able to find the Leach did not have a pouch but a semi rigid cup shaped for a round missile.

[Helen Bachaus]

Hi Folks,

Interesting topic and one that always has loads of discussions. I read the Australians were loaned some French catapults at gallipoli! Is this true and what were they?

What do we know about trench mortars (TMs) at Gallipoli?

I know in my research Australians used the Garland and Japanese TMs. The British also used the Japanese TMs and as mention the 4 inch smooth bore TMs. I'm also on the understanding that the British were loaned from the French some heavy TMs too.

Did the French have a variety of TMs and Catapults at Gallipoli?

The reason I'm asking is that both for my understanding of the weapons used at Gallipoli from my limited books and research material and also that I wargame this campaign and a designer is weaving his way through various weapon systems.

Link:

http://soapyvision.blogspot.com/

Appreciate any advice.

God Bless

Helen

[T8HANTS]

Hi Centurion,

Gareth Where did you get the design of the pouch from? From what I have been able to find the Leach did not have a pouch but a semi rigid cup shaped for a round missile.

The "official" drawings do show what appears to be a semi rigid cup, or it might have been produced in thick canvas, and is drawn in its fully stretched state. However my pouch is taken from the surviving original in IWM Duxford. I have attached a picture of the original. You might also like to look at my simple website about the Leach Visit My Website

At Duxford they also have a West spring gun, and a similar German contraption if I remember correctly.

Sadly there is so much WW1 stuff in deep storage, it is heartbreaking to think it will never see the light of day.. Huge battle dioramas made in th2 20's and large ship models still in their crates, a wasted resource.

Gareth

[centurion]

Thanks for that, I wonder if the pouch was a modification to allow the more effective casting of cylinder shaped charges; as you have indicated it would grip them well. Is it possible that the weapon was developed with a semi rigid cup (which would be better suited to 'cricket ball' grenades which appear to have been one of its principal projectiles) but the pouch was adopted to allow 'jam jar' style grenades to be used as the cup would have been unsuitable for these?

[centurion]

Did the French have a variety of TMs and Catapults at Gallipoli?

Here is a French 'West' style catapult but don't know the location or date, but given the lack of Adrian helmets probably 1915. The cricket ball grenades would also suggest early 1915

[centurion]

Ici les Leach Francais avec le grenade boule de cricket!

[T8HANTS]

It is nice to see that even in their catapults our French allies could not resist including parts of their national obsession the bicycle!

We must not mock however as Claude Pemberton Leach announced his new weapon with the claim it would throw a golf ball 200 yards, the sporting obsession of the British middle classes. Nor was he deterred when it was pointed out to him by the military authorities that the Imperial German Army was unlikely to be brought to its knees under a bombardment of golf balls!

Gareth

[stripeyman]

T8Hants..........Where was the dug up one found ?

Bob Grundy

[Helen Bachaus]

Thanks Centurion! Its a start for the French.

God Bless

Helen

[centurion]

Nor was he deterred when it was pointed out to him by the military authorities that the Imperial German Army was unlikely to be brought to its knees under a bombardment of golf balls!

Mind you I've always thought that the A7V bore a ressemblance to some of those armoured tractors seen on golf driving ranges.