One such is the quick-firing 4.5 inch howitzer, an innovation of the South Africa War. The howitzer was designed to deal with earthworks and fortifications that were beyond the capability of the lighter shell of the 18 ponder gun. Also the use of elevation and charge allowed the 4.5 inch howitzer to deliver a plunging fire on targets hidden for field guns. The Government of Canada placed an order for 27 - 4.5 inch howitzers in 1911. By 1914, seven had been delivered. The First World War increased production significantly and several howitzer batteries were formed to serve in the Somme, Flanders, and Passchendaele. Another such piece was the 75mm M1A1 Pack Howitzer, designed to be quickly dismantled into six packs for mule transport. This capability made it ideal for airplane, glider and parachute delivery. Broken down into loads the howitzer was packed into wooden crates rigged with parachutes. It was then attached to the underbelly of an aircraft and released over the drop zone. The gunners would jump after their guns and once on the ground quickly reassemble them for firing. The 75 M1A1 Pack Howitzer came into Canadian service during the 1940s when the Canadian Forces were purchasing a great deal of American made equipment. It was replaced when NATO chose the 105mm howitzers as a standard in the 1950s. Not everything related to guns. On a back wall was a picnic basket, fitted to the running board of an automobile and used during the First World War by Maj. Gen. Henri A Panet. In addition to artillery pieces and other artifacts, each major conflict in which Canadian artillery played a part was treated separately. On the morning of June 25, 1950, the North Korean Army invaded South Korea. Long dominated by China, the Korean peninsula had fallen to Japan in 1910 during the Russo-Japanese War. Following the Japanese surrender in 1945, the Soviet Union occupied North Korea while the United States took control in South Korea. The 38th Parallel was the dividing line. It was hoped that the occupation would be temporary. Gradually two independent states formed. North Korea's armed attack was quickly determined to be a breach of peace. The newly formed United Nations called for immediate end to hostilities and for the withdrawal of northern forces. The North Koreans did not comply. It was the first serious test of the United Nation's resolve to maintain world peace. Canada's active force, 20,369 strong could not meet the requirements of an expeditionary force. Canadian opinion supported the UN action, but Canada's contribution would only be piecemeal. On August 7th, 1950 the Canadian Army Special Forces was authorized to commit the 2nd Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery to provided an artillery component. The units comprising this forced moved to Fort Lewis Washington for winter training. A train carrying gunners of the 2nd, met with tragedy on November 21, 1950 when it collided head on with a Vancouver Montreal passenger train. There were no casualties on the passenger train. The two forward cars of the military train however tumbled down an embankment . Seventeen soldiers were killed. The UN forces in Korea began to recover from the initial blow of the North Korean advance. The war settled into a series of small incursions by both sides. The Gunners of 2nd RCHA and the pilots who flew their small Air Observations aircraft participated in a series of raids along the Imjin salient. During the summer of 1951, a cease-fire negotiations began and would drag on until the war's end in 1953. The CASF, now known as the 25th Canadian Infantry Brigade, joined the newly formed 1st Commonwealth Division and the Korean conflict developed into a period of static warfare. The gunners kept up a relentless program of bombardment of enemy positions. On July 27th, 1993 the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed. The truce continues to be uneasy and Korea remains divided. Nonetheless the United Nations intervention was significant. For the first time in history, a multinational force had stemmed aggression and maintained the fragile world peace. From here, through the years in Viet Nam to the present conflicts in the Balkans, the main stay of Canadian assistance has been infantry backed up by artillery. While wandering the halls, I ran across one of its guardians of history: Sgt. Rick Reid, a 24 year veteran and one of the present caretakers of the museum enlightened and intrigued us with a mixture of history and personal accounts of his younger days in the military. We spent some time in the small arms room where we compared notes on various weapons we had both fired in our past. All in all, a great time for old war buffs and young enthusiasts who want a feel for the old days before war was fought by computers.

For more information about this subject, check out www.artillery.net

*** THE END ***

 

Back      <<<<< Back           Next >>>>>     Next