A GERMAN GUN

Southland Times, Issue 18618, 16 August 1919, Page 5

A GERMAN GUN

TO BE PLACED IN POST OFFICE SQUARE.

At its meeting on Thursday night the Town Council decided on the recommendation, of the Finance Committee to place one of Southland’s war trophies in the shape of a captured German field gun in the Post Office Square on the grass plot behind the telephone slot machine. This gun, which was landed at Bluff some little time ago, has been sheltered at the Artillery Barracks until the Council could settle a suitable situation for it. It is of the type known amongst the British troops as a “whizzbang,” so called because of the peculiarities of noise associated with the arrival and bursting of its shell. The instrument is a 1915 model and is fitted .with the latest thing in German shields by which complete protection is given to the gunners from smaller arms’ fire and splinters. The muzzle is three inches in diameter, end the breech is fitted with the wedge block system, like the 4.5 British howitzer. It possesses a shorter recoil than the British 18-pounder, giving a quicker fire, but its shells are lighter and are said to be not so effective. It also differs in other directions, such as in the riding positions of the gunners, who, on the British weapon, ride on the limber and not on the axletree as is the case with the German gun. Those who should know say that it is almost an exact copy of the destructive French 75 mm machine. The captured gun bears signs of heavy fighting, and is knocked about considerably. It was captured by the Second Otago Battalion near Le Quesnoy between October 11 and 13, during the victorious advance in the last year of the war.