These poor quality photos taken from movie film on the Northwest Frontier in the 1930s show extent of recoil on a small mountain gun - see Corrigin gun previous posts
-- Edited by sandy1000 on Monday 4th of January 2010 06:43:00 AM
Looking at the front of the barrel in the pics above it looks very like the front section of the 2.95" mountain howitzer, which is VERY interesting as I was not aware that it ever served with Indian Army mountain batteries. All the info I had restricted its used to West & East Africa with locally raised British Imperial forces.
Also the photos would be the 1st I had seen of a 2.95" with that distinctive (or indeed any) gun shield.
The muzzle shape & front barrel section are dead wrong for the 3.7" & the barrel length & form can't be the 2.75", though the shield is of the same form.
Though I note the square shaped under barrel slide tray is odd as the 2.95 did not have a tray anything like that long & had twin side mounted cylindrical recuperators???
Though I note the square shaped under barrel slide tray is odd as the 2.95 did not have a tray anything like that long & had twin side mounted cylindrical recuperators???
The second pair of photographs of a mountain gun are from a movie made in the 50's, I think, called Northwest Frontier and starring Kenneth More. The scene is near the start and depicts Afghan tribesmen attacking a British fort. There is only the briefest scene where a British officer calls out "Fire!" and we see the muzzle only of the gun as it fires.
The first photographs in this topic are of Indian troops firing a mountain gun and are from a 1930's film "The Drum". The producer is Alexander Korda and the director is Zoltan Korda. It is set on the North-West frontier and is in color. There are substantial scenes of the army of the British Raj, including memorable segments of at least a battalion of infantry on the march through mountain passes and who obviously participate in some of the battle scenes. The mountain guns are carried by mules and there is quite some footage of the guns being assembled and subsequently fired.
-- Edited by sandy1000 on Thursday 7th of January 2010 12:10:36 PM
That footage regards assembly would be very interesting indeed. Still digging through stuff to try & definatively ID the gun without much progress so far
It might (rather tentative) be an Indiab Made 3.7" Mountain Howitzer? That had a slide & recuperator of the right shape. There is an implication that some of subcontinent made guns had an additional outer section (or a thicker tube) forward of the barrel join upto the forward band. That could produce a similar look. If the Gun tube is actually slightly narrower than that forward band that would make it more likely (but the distortion & angle make too difficulty for me to be sure)? Equally the recoil motion & angle may be over emphasising the muzzle ring making it look bell lipped when it is not?
It might (rather tentative) be an Indian Made 3.7" Mountain Howitzer? That had a slide & recuperator of the right shape. There is an implication that some of subcontinent made guns had an additional outer section (or a thicker tube) forward of the barrel join upto the forward band. That could produce a similar look. If the Gun tube is actually slightly narrower than that forward band that would make it more likely (but the distortion & angle make too difficulty for me to be sure)? Equally the recoil motion & angle may be over emphasising the muzzle ring making it look bell lipped when it is not?
It might (rather tentative) be an Indian Made 3.7" Mountain Howitzer? That had a slide & recuperator of the right shape. There is an implication that some of subcontinent made guns had an additional outer section (or a thicker tube) forward of the barrel join upto the forward band. That could produce a similar look. If the Gun tube is actually slightly narrower than that forward band that would make it more likely (but the distortion & angle make too difficulty for me to be sure)? Equally the recoil motion & angle may be over emphasising the muzzle ring making it look bell lipped when it is not?
