The
British Indian Army first requested a modern
mountain gun in 1906 to replace the
BL 10 pounder Mountain Gun, which had been hastily developed after the
Second Boer War, but had several shortcomings. In particular, the shell weight was seen as too light, and the gun lacked any recoil absorber or
recuperator, meaning the gun had to be relaid after every shell was fired. However, financial constraints delayed production of the 3.7-inch weapon until 1915. As a stop-gap, the barrel of the 10-pounder gun was mounted on an updated carriage to produce the
2.75 inch Mountain Gun.
First World War The 3.7-inch howitzer was first introduced in 1917, and was used in action in that year in the
Mesopotamian Campaign (modern Iraq area). The
22nd (Derajat) Indian Frontier Force mountain battery arrived in the
East Africa campaign on 18 December 1916, when they relieved the 28th Battery which returned to India. They appear to have re-equipped from the 10-pounder mountain gun to the 3.7-inch howitzer while in East Africa, and first used the new weapon in action in an attack on German positions at Medo, 11 April 1918.
Interwar years The 3.7-inch howitzer superseded the 2.75-inch mountain gun following the
First World War. It was used by mountain artillery regiments of the
Royal Artillery and the
Indian Artillery, and saw much service on the
North West Frontier of India between the wars.
Second World War During the
Second World War, the weapon equipped artillery units engaged in the
North African Campaign (
Tunisia), the
Italian Campaign, the
Kokoda Campaign, and
Burma Campaign, and was also used in the Netherlands and
Ruhr fighting in 1944–45 by units originally destined for mountain warfare in Greece. In the latter theatre, on occasion the gun was dismantled and manually hauled up to the upper floors of buildings to provide close support in urban fighting. A lightened version was used briefly by
airborne formations. Several were supplied to the French Army after 1945; one is on display at the Vietnam Army Museum in Hanoi while another is displayed at the
Zone 5 Military Museum, Danang. It was also used on Close Support versions of the
A9 and
A10 Cruiser Tanks in place of the standard
2 pounder, though mostly to fire smoke shells. During the war the gun, and its ammunition, were also manufactured in other Commonwealth countries, including South Africa, by the ISCOR (Iron and Steel Corporation of South Africa), and India. South Africa also produced modified versions of the gun. The gun was finally declared obsolete by the British Army in 1960, although it had not seen service since 1945.
Post War After the war, the gun was used by
French forces during the
First Indochina War and by
India during the
Indo-Pakistani wars of 1965 and
1971. The "Mujib Battery" of
Bangladesh used this gun in 1971's
Bangladesh Liberation War. They were provided by
India to the
Mukti Bahini. ==Details==