Smith Gun

The Smith Gun was developed in Britain in 1940 as an emergency gun for issue to the Home Guard. It was invented as a private venture by the chief engineer of the Trianco Engineering Company, Sheffield.

It was a 3-inch smoothbore barrel mounted in a light carriage that consisted of little more than two wheels and an axle. A limber was provided to carry extra ammunition.

It was designed to be as simple and as light as possible. There was a towing eye on the gun barrel and it could be towed by a private motorcar. The carriage comprised two solid wheels that are slightly conical in shape. When prepared for action, the entire carriage was up-ended to rest on one of the wheels.

The projectile was a 3-inch mortar shell. The shells were stored in cylinders on both gun and limber. The projectile was propelled by a small charge of smokeless powder fired by a 0.38 pistol blank cartridge.

A young member of the Home Guard remembers witnessing a training incident with the Smith Gun:

:"We also received a smooth bore Smith gun. It arrived in boxes and required assembling. After it had been assembled as per instructions a small washer was found in one of the boxes. This item was ignored and the gun was taken onto the firing range for testing. It could fire mills bombs or phosphorus bottle bombs which burst into flames on impact. Our two corporals were to have the privilege of firing the first shots. The breach was opened and a phosphorus bomb inserted followed by the propelling charge. The two gunners crouched behind the shield and the order to fire was given. There was a bang followed by a huge burst of flame which enveloped gun and gunners. From out of this conflagration staggered our corporals, their eyebrows had gone and their tunics were smoldering. They had the appearance of having been on a good summer’s holiday. It was later discovered that the bomb had gone off in the barrel by striking the foresight screw which had protruded into the bore. The washer left in the box would have prevented this." [Bill Miles, WW2 People's War]

None saw any action and they were declared obsolete in 1945.

References

*WW2 People's War is an online archive of wartime memories contributed by members of the public and gathered by the BBC. The archive can be found at http://bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar.

External links

* [http://www.home-guard.org.uk/hg/smith.html Smith Gun]