Ordnance QF 2-pounder

Ordnance QF 2 pounder
Ordnance QF 2 pounder
	The QF 2 pounder
Type	Tank gun; Anti-tank gun
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Service history
In service	1936–1945
Used by	United Kingdom; Australia; Belgium; Ireland; Germany; Egypt
Wars	Spanish Civil War; World War II; 1948 Arab–Israeli War
Production history
Designed	1936
Manufacturer	Vickers
Produced	1936–1944
No. built	12,000
Specifications
Mass	814 kg (1,795 lb)
Barrel length	overall: 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) L/52; bore: 2 m (6 ft 7 in) L/50
Crew	3–5
Shell	40×304 mm. R
Calibre	40 mm (1.575 in)
Breech	Semi-automatic vertical sliding-block
Recoil	Hydro-spring
Carriage	three-leg platform
Elevation	-13° to +15°
Traverse	360°
Rate of fire	22 rounds per minute
Muzzle velocity	792 m/s (2,600 ft/s) with AP shot
Effective firing range	914 m (1,000 yd)
Maximum firing range	1000 m (1093.6 yd)
Feed system	Breech-loaded
Sights	No.24b

The Ordnance QF 2-pounder (QF denoting "quick firing"), or simply "2 pounder gun", was a 40 mm (1.575 in) British anti-tank and vehicle-mounted gun employed in the Second World War.

It was used in the Battle of France and during the North African Campaign. In its vehicle-mounted variant the 2-pounder was a common main gun on British tanks early in World War II, as well as being a typical main armament of armoured cars, such as the Daimler, throughout the war. As Axis tanks' armoured protection improved, the 2-pounder lost effectiveness and it was gradually replaced by the 6-pounder starting in 1942, though some remained in service until the end of the war.

This QF 2-pounder was not the same gun as the QF 2 pounder "pom-pom" gun extensively used by the Royal Navy as an anti-aircraft gun although they both fired 2 pounds (0.9 kg), 40 millimetres (1.6 in) projectiles.

History

The gun was developed as both a tank weapon and an anti-tank gun. For reasons of economy and standardization, it was accepted - as the 2-pdr Mark IX - for both purposes in October 1935. Carriages for the gun were designed by Vickers and the Design Department at the Woolwich Arsenal.^[4]

Vickers was the first to submit a design, which was accepted as the Ordnance QF 2-pounder Mark IX on Carriage Mark I. A limited number of pieces was built in 1936. The carriage had an innovative three-legged construction. In the travelling position, one of the legs was used as a towing trail, and the other two were folded. When the gun was positioned for combat, the legs were emplaced on the ground and the wheels were lifted up. Woolwich Arsenal had continued to develop their carriage and when re-examined was seen to be superior to Vickers design, and with this carriage the gun was adopted as Ordnance QF 2-pounder Mark IX on Carriage Mark II. It was conceptually similar, although when the gun was emplaced for combat the wheels had to be removed. This carriage was also manufactured by Vickers.^[4]

The unusual construction gave the gun good stability and a traverse of 360 degrees, allowing it to quickly engage moving vehicles from any approach. With the Vickers carriage, the gun could also be fired from its wheels, at the expense of limited traverse. The 40 mm 2-pounder could outperform^{[citation needed]} a typical 37 mm piece, such as the German 3.7 cm PaK 36 or the Bofors 37 mm, and significantly outclassed 25mm and 20mm weapons of that era. A drawback of the 2-pounder was that it was nearly twice as heavy as the PaK 36 and had a higher profile.^{[citation needed]}

The gun was first put into use on a tank as the main armament of the Vickers-designed Cruiser Tank Mk I.

A late-war project was the Canadian David High Velocity to allow 2-pdr ammunition to be fired from the larger-calibre 6-pdr. This was intended to improve the muzzle velocity of the shot. The system was still being developed when the war ended, the program ending along with it.^{[citation needed]}

Another development was the 2-pdr HV 'Pipsqueak', a postwar gun using a 40x438R cartridge originally intended as the main armament for the Saladin armoured car that was to replace the AEC Armoured Car. This was designed to fire Armour-piercing discarding sabot (APDS) rounds, which would match the penetration of the 'Littlejohn' shot while still allowing high-explosive (HE) shells to be fired. In fact, the claimed performance was better, the 1,295 m/s shot penetrating 85mm of armour at 60 degrees at 900m. Development of this gun was also abandoned when the role of the Saladin shifted towards infantry fire support, and a low-velocity 76mm cannon was selected for it instead.^{[citation needed]}

Initially one of the most serious shortcomings of the 2-pdr was the lack of a high-explosive shell, especially when the 2-pdr was the main gun of a tank; this was very important when a tank was being used for infantry support, leaving it with only its machine gun for anti-personnel use. A high-explosive shell was not produced until late 1942. ^[5]

Combat service

The 2-pdr gun became a part of the Royal Artillery in 1938, when five field brigades were converted to anti-tank regiments.^[6] In the early western campaigns, the 2-pdr was employed by two types of Royal Artillery formations: anti-tank regiments of infantry divisions (four batteries with 12 pieces each), and light anti-aircraft/anti-tank regiments of armoured divisions (two 12-gun AT batteries). From October 1940, separate 48-gun anti-tank regiments were introduced in armoured divisions too. Infantry brigade structure initially included an anti-tank company, though it was typically equipped with 25 mm Hotchkiss anti-tank guns; these companies were disbanded later in the war. From 1942, infantry battalions received their own six-gun anti-tank platoons. The organization was different in the Far East theatres. The exact internal structure of AT units was also subject to changes and variations.

The gun first saw combat with the Belgian Army during the German invasion of the Low Countries, and then with the British Army during the subsequent rear-guard actions at Dunkirk. Most of the British Army's 2-pdrs were left behind in France during the retreat, stripping most of the army's infantry anti-tank capability. Those guns captured at Dunkirk entered German service under the designation 4.0 cm Pak 192 (e) or 4.0 cm Pak 154 (b), the "e" and "b" referring to the origin (English or Belgian Army).

Although the Woolwich Arsenal had already designed a successor to the 2-pdr, the 6 pounder gun, it was decided in the face of a likely German invasion to re-equip the army with the 2-pdr, avoiding the period of adaptation to production, and also of re-training and acclimatization with the new weapon. This had the effect of delaying production of the 6 pounder until November 1941, and availability to frontline units to spring 1942. Consequently, for most of the North African Campaign, the army had to rely on the 2-pdr, aided by the 25 pounder gun-howitzer functioning as an anti-tank gun—a role for which it was capable, though at the expense of taking it away from its main artillery role. As German tank design evolved, anti-armour performance of the 2-pdr gradually became insufficient; however, the gun owes a large part of the bad reputation it gained during the campaign to the open terrain, which made the high-silhouette piece hard to conceal, and to poor tactics.

In North Africa, it was found that the 2-pdr was damaged by being towed long distances across rough, stony deserts. Starting in 1941, the British developed the "en portee" method of mounting the 2-pdr, and later the 6-pounder, on a truck. Though only intended for transport, with the gun carried unloaded, crews tended to fire from their vehicles for more mobility, with consequent casualties. Hence the vehicles tended to reverse into action so that the gunshield of the 2-pdr would provide a measure of protection against enemy fire.

From mid-1942, the 2-pdr was increasingly displaced to infantry anti-tank platoons, to Home Guard units in Great Britain, and to the Far East, where it was still effective against the smaller and more lightly armoured Japanese tanks. It was finally removed from service entirely in December 1945. As a vehicle weapon, it remained in use throughout the war. Although most tanks equipped with it were withdrawn or upgraded to the 6-pdr, it remained in use with armoured cars.

Its performance as an anti-armour weapon was improved later in the war with the development of more sophisticated ammunition and got an additional boost with the introduction of the Littlejohn adaptor, which converted it to a squeeze-bore design firing specially-designed shells at much higher velocities. (However, the Littlejohn adaptor prevented the use of High Explosive rounds.) These improvements, however, were constantly outpaced by improvements in tank design.

Ammunition

Available ammunition^[7]^[8]
Type	Model	Shot/shell	Round weight	Projectile weight	Filler	Muzzle velocity
Armour-piercing, tracer	AP/T Mk I	Shot	2.04 kg (4.5 lb)	1.08 kg (2.4 lb)		792 m/s (2,600 ft/s)
Armour-piercing, tracer, increased charge	APHV/T	Shot	2.04 kg (4.5 lb)	1.08 kg (2.4 lb)	-	853 m/s (2,800 ft/s)
Armour-piercing, capped, ballistic cap, tracer	APCBC/T Mk I	Shot	2.22 kg (4.9 lb)	1.22 kg (2.7 lb)	-	792 m/s (2,600 ft/s)
Armour-piercing, composite non-rigid (used with the Littlejohn adaptor)	AP/CNR (APSV) Mk I	Shot	?	0.57 kg (1.3 lb)	-	1,280 m/s (4,200 ft/s)
Armour-piercing, composite non-rigid (used with the Littlejohn adaptor)	AP/CNR (APSV) Mk II	Shot	?	0.45 kg (0.99 lb)	-	1,189 m/s (3,900 ft/s)
High-explosive, tracer	HE/T Mk II	Shell	1.86 kg (4.1 lb)	0.86 kg (1.9 lb)	Lyddite	792 m/s (2,600 ft/s)

Armour penetration table (in millimeters)^[9]^{[note 1]}
Distance	100 yd (91 m)	500 yd (457 m)	1,000 yd (914 m)	1,499 yd (1,371 m)
AP (meet angle 60°)	49	37	27	17
APHV (meet angle 60°)	62	57	38	28
APCBC (meet angle 60°)	73	65	57	49

Variants

Gun variants:

Mk IX - main pre-war production version, with barrel of autofrettage construction.
Mk IX-A - Mk IX simplified for mass production.
Mk X - later production version, with forged barrel.
Mk X-A - Mk X with dimension tolerances reduced.
Mk X-B - main late-war vehicle version, fitted with the Littlejohn adaptor.

Carriage variants:

Mk I - Carriage designed by Vickers.
Mk II - Carriage designed by the Royal Arsenal.

Self-propelled mounts

Tanks

Light Tank Mk VII, Tetrarch, Light Tank Mk VIII, Harry Hopkins
Cruiser Tank Mk I to Cruiser Tank Mk VI, Crusader
Infantry Tank Mk II, Matilda, Infantry Tank Mk III, Valentine, Infantry Tank Mk IV, Churchill (early marks)
Ram I (Canada)
AC1 Sentinel (Australia)

Armoured cars

AEC Armoured Car
Coventry Armoured Car
Daimler Armoured Car
Marmon-Herrington Armoured Car (South Africa)
Rhino Heavy Armoured Car (Australia, prototype only)

Other vehicles

2 Pounder Anti-tank Gun Carrier (Australia, used for training)
Loyd Carrier^[10] (experimental)

Surviving examples

There is an Irish Army QF 2 pdr in the museum in Collins Barracks in Dublin City.
Another QF 2 pdr is on display at the Canadian Military Heritage Museum in Brantford Ontario Canada.
Two guns, one of them on an improvised carriage, are on display in the IDF History Museum (Batey HaOsef) in Tel Aviv, Israel.
An Australian-made QF 2 pdr is on display at the Australian War Memorial. ^[11]

Notes

^ Different methods of armour penetration measurement were used in different countries / periods. Therefore, direct comparison is often impossible

References

Notes

^ Bishop, Chris (1998). The encyclopedia of weapons of World War II. New York: Barnes & Noble Books. p. 180. ISBN 0760710228. OCLC 40924461.
^ Russell, Lee; Katz, Sam (April 1986). Israeli Defense Forces, 1948 to the Present. Uniforms Illustrated 12. Olympic Marketing Corp. p. 6. ISBN 978-0853687559.
^ ^a ^b ^c Military Factory: Ordnance QF 2-pounder Anti-Tank Gun
^ ^a ^b Henry 2004, p. 6–7.
^ Boyd, David (1 January 2009). "WWII Equipment - 2 Pounder Anti-Tank Gun".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ Henry, Chris (2004). British Anti-tank Artillery 1939-45, Osprey New Vanguard No.098, p.39
^ Hunnicutt, R. P. - Sherman: A History of the American Medium Tank., p 496.
^ Guns vs Armour 1939 to 1945.
^ Bird, Lorrin; Lingston, Robert (2001). World War II Ballistics: Armor and Gunnery. Albany, NY USA: Overmatch Press. p. 60. OCLC 71143143.
^ Chamberlain, Peter and Gander, Terry - Anti-Tank Weapons, p 38.
^ "2 Pounder Anti-Tank Gun". www.awm.gov.au. Retrieved 24 September 2019.

Bibliography

Hogg, I. V. (1998). Allied Artillery of World War Two. Ramsbury: Crowood Press. ISBN 1-86126-165-9.
Chamberlain, Peter; Gander, Terry (1974). Anti-Tank Weapons. WWII Fact Files. New York: Arco Publishing. ISBN 0-668-03505-6.
Henry, Chris (2004), British Anti-tank Artillery 1939–45, New Vanguard, Osprey, ISBN 9781841766386
Hunnicutt, R. P. (1994). Sherman: A History of the American Medium Tank. Presidio Press. ISBN 0-89141-080-5.
"British Guns 37mm and 40mm calibre: penetration table". Guns vs Armour 1939 to 1945. Archived from the original on 7 December 2010. Retrieved 18 November 2014.

External links

[10] Different methods of armour penetration measurement were used in different countries / periods. Therefore, direct comparison is often impossible

[:1-1] Bishop, Chris (1998). The encyclopedia of weapons of World War II. New York: Barnes & Noble Books. p. 180. ISBN 0760710228. OCLC 40924461.

[2] Russell, Lee; Katz, Sam (April 1986). Israeli Defense Forces, 1948 to the Present. Uniforms Illustrated 12. Olympic Marketing Corp. p. 6. ISBN 978-0853687559.

[MF-3] Military Factory: Ordnance QF 2-pounder Anti-Tank Gun

[FOOTNOTEHenry20046–7-4] Henry 2004, p. 6–7.

[5] Boyd, David (1 January 2009). "WWII Equipment - 2 Pounder Anti-Tank Gun".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[osprey-6] Henry, Chris (2004). British Anti-tank Artillery 1939-45, Osprey New Vanguard No.098, p.39

[HUNNICUTT-SHERMAN-560-7] Hunnicutt, R. P. - Sherman: A History of the American Medium Tank., p 496.

[GUNSVSARMOUR-8] Guns vs Armour 1939 to 1945.

[9] Bird, Lorrin; Lingston, Robert (2001). World War II Ballistics: Armor and Gunnery. Albany, NY USA: Overmatch Press. p. 60. OCLC 71143143.

[11] Chamberlain, Peter and Gander, Terry - Anti-Tank Weapons, p 38.

[12] "2 Pounder Anti-Tank Gun". www.awm.gov.au. Retrieved 24 September 2019.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[note 1]

[10]

[11]

v t e British Commonwealth artillery of World War II
Tank guns	QF 2-pounder QF 3-pounder QF 6-pounder QF 75 mm QF 3-inch howitzer QF 17-pounder 77 mm HV QF 95 mm howitzer
Anti-tank guns	QF 2-pounder QF 6-pounder QF 17-pounder
Field guns and howitzers	75 mm Gun M1917 QF 18-pounder 25-pounder Gun-Howitzer 25-pounder Short QF 4.5-inch howitzer
Medium and heavy guns and howitzers	BL 4.5-inch medium field gun BL 60-pounder gun BL 5.5-inch medium gun BL 6-inch howitzer BL 6-inch gun Mk XIX 155 mm Long Tom BL 7.2-inch howitzer BL 8-inch howitzer BL 9.2-inch howitzer 240 mm howitzer M1
Mountain guns	75mm Pack howitzer M1 3.7-inch mountain howitzer
Mortars	SBML 2-inch mortar ML 3-inch mortar ML 4.2-inch mortar
Anti-aircraft weapons	Z Battery 20 mm Oerlikon 20 mm Polsten QF 1½-pounder Mk III QF 2-pounder naval gun Bofors 40 mm QF 3-inch QF 3.7-inch QF 4.5-inch Mk II QF 5.25-inch Mk II
Coast defence	QF 6-pounder 10 cwt QF 12-pounder QF 4.7-inch Mk I–IV BL 6-inch Mk VII & Mk XXIV BL 7.5-inch Mk VI BL 8-inch Mk VIII BL 9.2-inch Mk X BL 14-inch Mk VII BL 15-inch Mk I
Railway artillery	BL 9.2-inch Mk XIII railway gun BL 12-inch Mk V railway howitzer BL 13.5-inch Mk V railway gun BL 18-inch railway howitzer

Weapons of the British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations 1722–1965
Handguns	Beaumont–Adams revolver Enfield revolver Webley Revolver Mk. I–VI Enfield No. 2 revolver Browning Hi-Power
Rifles, carbines	Brown Bess musket Ferguson rifle Nock gun Baker rifle Brunswick rifle Enfield 1853 rifle-musket Snider–Enfield Martini–Henry Martini–Enfield Lee–Metford Lee–Enfield Ross rifle Lee–Enfield No.5 Mk.I "jungle carbine" Howell Automatic Rifle Huot Automatic Rifle Rieder Automatic Rifle De Lisle Commando carbine L1A1 SLR
Submachine guns	Lanchester Sten Owen gun Sterling L2 F1 submachine gun Thompson submachine gun
Rapid-fire	Nordenfelt gun Gatling gun Gardner gun Maxim gun QF 2 pdr "Pom-Pom" Vickers gun Lewis gun Vickers–Berthier Vickers K machine gun Charlton Automatic Rifle Besa Besal Bren gun L7 (machine gun)
Anti-tank	Rifle, Anti-Tank, .55 in, Boys PIAT 2 pdr anti-tank gun 6 pdr anti-tank gun 17 pdr anti-tank gun L6 Wombat
Field guns, others	25 pdr field gun Congreve rocket SBML 2-inch mortar Ordnance ML 3 inch mortar No.2 "Lifebuoy" flamethrower Stokes mortar OTO Melara Mod 56