On reading through the Regiment's war diary for September 1943, I came across a loading table for 206 Bty for the move from Sicily to Italy. Under B Troop there is an entry for an "SP 75 mm" accompanied by a Sgt, Bdr & 2 Gunners. Has anyone any idea which gun this could be? The M3 GMC is the most likely candidate as it was an anti-tank weapon, served in Sicily and was used by the British. It was issued to armoured car regiments but there is no record that I have found that shows it being used by the RA. Can anyone confirm its use with the RA or was this a one-off "spoils of war" acquisition? Also, the loading tables refer to 17 pdr Pheasant. This was the code name for the 17 pdr on a 25 pdr carriage. However, a report attached to the war diary of trials on towing the 6 & 17 pdrs with a carrier clearly refer to the fold up spades allowing better ground clearance for the 17 pdr over the 6 pdr. This must refer to the standard 17 pdr carriage as the 25 pdr carriage had a fixed spade. It seems therefore that 52 ATk were still refering to the 17 pdr as a Pheasant regardless of the type of carriage it was mounted on. Other regiments may have done the same, so references to the Pheasant should be treated with caution from Sicily onwards. Derek
I don't think the RA would have accepted a 75mm howitzer armed vehicle for anti-tank use. M3 GMC does seem the most likely candidate to me.
Derek, did the towing report actually originate from the regiment? In "Gunners on Tour" the author (Maurice Court, I think) refers to his gun as a Pheasant and now this makes me wonder whether it was or not.
Chris, the report was written by Maj RSH Shepherd RA OC 206 Bty. It was published by the Adj 52 ATk Regt on 8 Oct 43 as appendix K of the Sep 43 war diary. The reference to the 17 pdr trails is; BY CARRIER A (1) (b)
Thanks for clarifying! I don't remember if Gunners on Tour has photos of his towed gun, but if you don't own a copy I could try to photograph and post those pages. Honestly I don't think I can distinguish between the two carriages by sight.
Having now reached the end of the war diary, I have found that by December all reference to Pheasant has disappeared and it is now referred to as just 17 pdr. Also at the end of December 1 officer & 2 Sergeants went to 5 Recce Regt to assist with anti-tank training. Presuming that the Recce Regt had M3 75mm's could this have been the reason for there being one with 52 ATk (if that is what the SP 75 mm was). Chris, I don't have Gunners on Tour and your offer to post the relevant pages is most appreciated. Derek
I have that book & most of the photos are from the IWM . The only one I can find of a 17 Pdr is NA12888 on page 121. Looked it up on IWM site & it looks to be a 56th Div gun going by the black cat on one of the gunner's arm.
