Hello Razz1, I might be able to answer part of your question, because you basically want to know three things, if I read your post correctly: first of all, was it possible to use the gun this way, secondly, was it ever used like that, and thirdly how common was this use as an artillery piece. Information in links is very fragmented, so no direct links, I'm sorry. You can google for '17-pdr indirect' or similar, if you want to research for yourself. OK, lecture time, I'll list some ingredients first:Razz1 wrote:Does anyone have any links to the use of the 17 pounder AT as an artillery piece?
It had an HE shell, not the most effective for its caliber, and the gun was equipped with a sight calibrated for this round, and it was equipped to fire indirectly, but the main limitation was lack of good elevation, the 17-pdr gun (towed) had a maximum elevation of 16.5 degrees. Which is something like this:
Not good for long range or indirect fire. But, given some time, the crew could dig out a pit under the rear end of the gun to lower it, and voilá, more elevation. Just use the (in)clinometer which I believe was standard with the indirect sight, load up the HE and you have an artillery piece, but not a good one. The next pictures showing it firing indirectly are from the Korean war, but this technique was common knowledge.
Note that the technique may have been common knowledge, how often it was practiced was a different matter. In theory any gun can fire indirectly, I even saw pictures of Sherman Fireflies firing indirectly (the usual trick to get tanks to achieve more elevation is to use a ramp, still in use today). Main problems are lack of adequate sights and lack of training. I have no idea how often this technique was used, but it is the same discussion as with the anti-aircraft guns firing against ground targets or if the StuG's were used in the indirect fire role: I can easily find examples to show it was possible, but how common is a different question. I suspect it was rare in this case, a lot more common was artillery (25-pdr) in direct fire roles against tanks and bunkers.
