The Ordnance QF 18-pounder was an 84-mm field gun which was widely used by the British Army during World War I and II. Developed and produced by Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd and Vickers, it was a quick-firing gun which had a sustained rate of fire of 4 rounds per minute and a maximum rate of fire of up to 20 rpm. It was based on the Ordnance QF 15-pounder gun, which the United Kingdom had imported from Germany in 1901. Thus, the 18-pounder had the same type of hydro-spring recoil system, which absorbed all the recoil of firing.
In service since 1904, the QF 18-pounder gun was massively manufactured, with more than 10,000 ordnance built in five versions: Mk I, II, III, IV, and V. This horse-drawn field gun was deployed on all fronts of World War I: the Western Front, Gallipolli, and the Middle East. After this armed conflict, it would remain in service during the inter-war period. In World War II, the 18-pounder gun served with the British Expeditionary Force during the German invasion of France in May and June 1940. It was also used by the Australian and Indian forces in Burma and New Guinea. The World War II variant of the gun had tire wheels instead of the wooden-rimmed ones of the all versions.
Technical Characteristics
The QF 18-pounder was a quick-firing horse-drawn field gun. It was conceived to be towed behind a limber and six horses. The gun barrel was wire-wound nickel-steel with a single-motion, interrupted-screw breech, with a cartridge extractor. It was known as "quick firing" because the gun fired a fixed round of shell and cartridge fixed together at a quick rate per minute. The lower carriage comprised a single hollow steel trail fixed to the center of the axle-tree. The limited traverse saddle supported the elevating mass and a shield. Traverse controls were on the left and elevation on the right of the saddle. Recoil was by a hydraulic buffer with telescopic running-up springs to return the barrel to its firing position.
Specifications
Type: horse-drawn field gun
Caliber: 83.8-mm (3.3-inch)
Shell: 8.4 kg (18.5 pounds) High Explosive/armor-piercing/ or smoke
Weight: 1,280 kg (2,822-pounds)
Barrel Length: 2.34 m (7 feet, 8 inches)
Width: 1.91 m (6 feet, 3 inches)
Breech Type: interrupted screw
Recoil System: hydro-spring, constant.
Elevation: -5° to +16°
Traverse: 3° left and right
Carriage: pole-trail
Crew: 6
 |
| Above, the 18-pounder, which was based on the German-made QF 15-pounder. |
 |
| The QF 18-pounder at the Battle of the Somme, in 1916, WW1. |
 |
| Side view of the field gun, Mk IV version in the 1930s. Notice the interrupted screw breech, which is open. |
 |
| The 18-pounder during training a couple of years before WW1. |