BIG U.S. "HOWITZER"

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 126, 30 May 1944, Page 4

BIG U.S. "HOWITZER"

SHOOTING IN ITALY

REMARKABLE ACCURACY ITALY. The 240-mm. howitzer, the biggest American field gun used in this war, has proved its worth after shooting at bridges, guns and other targets far behind the German lines, artillery officers say.

ITALY.

This is the only front on which this weapon has yet been in combat. It fires a high-explosive shell that measures about ten inches in diameter and three feet in length, weighs about 360 pounds. The projectile is shot out of the gun by a separate charge, weighing 881b, which is rammed in behind the shell. There are other guns,—both Allied and German—on this front that outrange the 240-mm. but they do not have its accuracy, artillerymen say.

One of the biggest achievements of the 240-mm. so far was the destruction of a narrow but vital bridge at Pontecorvo. The Allies' bombers tried for weeks to demolish the bridge, but failed to knock it out, and several planes were lost in the attempts. The 240's went to work on the bridge from a distance of ten miles and succeeded.

Major Milton M. Meyer, of Nor, man, Okla., said: "The shell is in the air a minute and one-half or so and in that time the earth rotates sixty to seventy yards, which would be enough to cause a miss."

The howitzers are brought to their positions in parts and mounted by a crane in pits walled with 11,000 sandbags. Each gun has a crew of nineteen men and an officer.