} The Ordnance QF 15-pounder gun, commonly referred to as the ''Ehrhardt'', was a modern German field gun purchased by Britain in 1900 as a stopgap measure to upgrade its field artillery to modern QF standards, while it developed its own alternative. This was precipitated by the experience of the British Army in South Africa during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the So ...

, where its standard field gun, the BL 15-pounder, was out-performed by modern French and German field guns deployed by the Boers. It bore no relation to the BL 15-pounder or BLC 15-pounder, two other guns in British service at the time, other than a common shell.

History

The gun as originally designed and supplied to Britain had a sprung telescoping trail to assist with recoil control, all-steel wheels, axle-tree seats and no shield. The British found the trail unsatisfactory in service, so they permanently pinned it in the closed position. The British also immediately replaced the original all-steel wheels with standard British wooden spoked wheels. It replaced the obsolete BL 12-pounder 6 cwt gun in

Royal Horse Artillery The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) was formed in 1793 as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (commonly termed Royal Artillery) to provide horse artillery support to the cavalry units of the British Army. (Although the cavalry link r ...

service until the QF 13-pounder became available from 1904. When the

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry ...

was formed in 1908 the guns were assigned to its cavalry units, known as

Yeomanry Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units or sub-units of the British Army Reserve, descended from volunteer cavalry regiments. Today, Yeomanry units serve in a variety of different military roles. History Origins In the 1790s, f ...

. The axle-tree seats were removed as unnecessary because the gunners rode horses, and

gun shield A U.S. Marine manning an M240 machine gun equipped with a gun shield A gun shield is a flat (or sometimes curved) piece of armor designed to be mounted on a crew-served weapon such as a machine gun, automatic grenade launcher, or artillery pi ...

s were added. The modified carriage was designated Mk I+.Hogg & Thurston 1972, p. 72 This gun is the "15-pounder" to which writers are referring in World War I if they are referring to

(RHA) batteries of the Territorial Force, or Yeomanry. The other "15-pounder", the BLC 15-pounder, was an unrelated gun used by

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of ...

(RFA) batteries of the Territorial Force, although it was also issued to some second line RHA batteries raised in 1914.

Combat service

The gun was used by Royal Horse Artillery batteries of Territorial Force cavalry units (Yeomanry) early in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, most notably in the campaign in Egypt against the Senussi by 1/A Battery, Honourable Artillery Company and the

1/1st Nottinghamshire Royal Horse Artillery The Nottinghamshire Royal Horse Artillery was a Territorial Force Royal Horse Artillery battery that was formed in Nottinghamshire in 1908. It saw active service during the First World War in the Middle Eastin the Senussi Campaign and the ...

B Battery, Honourable Artillery Company B Battery (2nd City of London Horse Artillery), Honourable Artillery Company was a horse artillery battery that was formed from the ''Field Artillery, HAC'' in 1899. It transferred to the Territorial Force in 1908 as artillery support for th ...

and Berkshire RHA were in action with these guns in the recapture of Sheikh Othman from the Turks on 20 July 1915, part of the Aden campaign. From 1916 the QF 15-pounder was replaced by the modern 13-pounders and 18-pounders.

Ammunition

54,000 complete rounds (i.e. shell, fuze, cartridge) of German design and manufacture were originally supplied with the guns.Clarke 2004, p. 23 These were replaced by British manufactures when used up. The following diagrams show British-made ammunition available in

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * Mark Connelly
The British Campaign in Aden, 1914–1918
* General Sir Martin Farndale, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. The Forgotten Fronts and the Home Base, 1914–1918. London: Royal Artillery Institution, 1988. * * I.V. Hogg & L.F. Thurston. ''British Artillery Weapons & Ammunition 1914–1918''. London: Ian Allan, 1972

External links

Handbook for the 15-pr. Q.F. Gun Field Batteries 1905
via State Library of Victoria
Handbook for the 15-pr. Q.F. Gun : Movable Armament and Territorial Force. (R.H.A.)
London : HMSO 1910 via State Library of Victoria
15–PR Q.F. Gun: Section Gun Drill 1915
via State Library of Victoria

at Victorian Forts and Artillery website {{DEFAULTSORT:Qf 15-pounder QF 15 pounder QF 15 pounder QF 15 pounder QF 15 pounder Rheinmetall