World War II British 114mm Howitzer

Answer 1

The British QF4.5-inch howitzer had a caliber of 114mm. The barrel was 1.78 meters long (15.55 times the diameter), weighed 2121 kilograms, and had a maximum range of 6040 meters. The muzzle velocity was 310 meters per second, and the firing rate was 4 rounds per minute. These cannons were originally sold by the United Kingdom to the then Tsar Russia during World War I and later inherited by the Soviet Red Army. Although this howitzer had performed very well in World War I and could be considered excellent, almost 30 years had passed since World War II. The performance of this batch of howitzers could not keep up with the era at that time. Compared with the 105mm howitzers imported from Germany at that time, it was very backward. During the Anti-Japanese War, the China army purchased a total of 80 howitzers. Except for participating in the counterattack in western Yunnan, they were basically idle during other times.

The United Kingdom also had a 4.5-inch (114 mm) field cannon that could fire a 25-kilogram HE shell with the No. 3 charge, with a maximum range of 11.6 miles. The Mk1 cannon was designed to be mounted on a 60-pound carriage with a horizontal firing range of only 7 degrees, while the Mk2 used a new open-leg carriage that shared the carriage with the 5.5-inch (140mm) howitzer. The Mk1 was commissioned in 1938 and equipped part of the British Expeditionary Force. It participated in the baptism of artillery and equipped at least one artillery regiment in the North African Battle. Some of them were lost in the Greek Battle. In 1941, the United Kingdom placed the 114mm cannon on the standard carriage of the 5.5-inch howitzer, giving birth to the Mk2 field cannon. It was used in North Africa, Italy, and Northwest Europe. It was withdrawn from battlefield missions in 1945 for training purposes and finally eliminated in 1959. The American 4.5-inch M1 field cannon used the same ammunition design as the British. The British were using the Mk1D shell with 6/10 crh. The high-explosive shell weighed 55 pounds (25 kilograms) and had a charge of 3.9 pounds (1.8 kilograms). It produced large fragments suitable for anti-artillery functions. Other than the high-explosive shell, it only had the type of air-raid target. It fired a separate type of shell with three different charges. The rate of fire was 2 - 3 rounds per minute. During World War II, the British artillery shell steel mostly used low-performance artillery shell steel with a yield strength of only 19 tons. The shell made of the shell shell was thick and the filling factor did not exceed 10%. Other powers generally used artillery shell steel with a yield strength of 23 tons, and its filling factor could exceed 15%. Although the cost of a single artillery shell was reduced, the power of the artillery shell was weakened. More artillery shells were needed, and the cost increased. Later, the United Kingdom developed a new type of shell for the 5.5-inch (140mm) howitzer in the later stages of World War II. The 114mm field cannon had a stepped, intermittent threaded breech and was equipped with an ASBUury breech opening and closing mechanism. The total weight of the cannon was 12880 pounds, the barrel was 15.4 feet long, and the speed of firing 55-pound high-explosive shells was 2250 feet per second. The maximum range was 20500 yards (about 18288 meters). The total production of the MK2 114mm cannon was about 600.

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