Vollketten
Member
Today I found this quote from a veterans account of his time in the US Army in North Africa early 1942.
"During one expedition to the front, Coleman came across a German ammunition dump that had been abandoned but not destroyed for some reason. There were thousands of rounds of German 75mm ammunition. To Coleman it looked like British Five-Pounder cannon ammunition, but it was definitely German. Coleman found that by machining .040 of an inch off of the rotator band on the German ammunition, it would fire in the British Five-Pounders. He reported this to Colonel Gruver (later of Gruver amphibious tank fame) who reported it to the British who immediately collected and modified the ammunition. The British were especially short on Five-Pounder ammunition at this time. No doubt the Germans never appreciated the irony of being shot up with their own ammunition!"
I have not heard of a 5 pounder gun in 1942 before and the dimension machined off is quite specific.
So what I'm asking is that if anyone can tell me if this is even possible and if so which gun we are talking about here.
Could it be the twenty-five pounder he means and is it even possible?
Has anyone heard of this before?
"During one expedition to the front, Coleman came across a German ammunition dump that had been abandoned but not destroyed for some reason. There were thousands of rounds of German 75mm ammunition. To Coleman it looked like British Five-Pounder cannon ammunition, but it was definitely German. Coleman found that by machining .040 of an inch off of the rotator band on the German ammunition, it would fire in the British Five-Pounders. He reported this to Colonel Gruver (later of Gruver amphibious tank fame) who reported it to the British who immediately collected and modified the ammunition. The British were especially short on Five-Pounder ammunition at this time. No doubt the Germans never appreciated the irony of being shot up with their own ammunition!"
I have not heard of a 5 pounder gun in 1942 before and the dimension machined off is quite specific.
So what I'm asking is that if anyone can tell me if this is even possible and if so which gun we are talking about here.
Could it be the twenty-five pounder he means and is it even possible?
Has anyone heard of this before?