25-Pounder Gun

The Ordnance QF 25-pounder is a British field gun and gun-howitzer of 3.45-inch, 87.6mm caliber, produced by Royal Ordnance and introduced into British service just before the Second World War, combining a relatively high rate of fire with the ability to fire both in a flat, direct-fire role against tanks and at high angle like a howitzer for indirect fire support. It became the standard field artillery piece of British and Commonwealth forces throughout the war, with each British infantry division fielding 72 of the guns across three field artillery regiments, and by 1945 more than twelve thousand had been built in Britain, Canada and Australia, making it the most widely produced British field gun of the conflict. The 25-pounder remained in British Army service into the 1960s and continued with Commonwealth and other armies for years afterward, with a number still maintained today for ceremonial gun salutes.