WWII Tech Pubs Briefing

Written by
Duane Godwin

As the Germans force the BEF toward the coast, a rearguard armed with a two-pounder gun exchanges fire with Panzers.

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Overview

The British two-pounder anti-tank gun (more properly known as the Ordnance QF 2 pr on Carriage 2 pr) was a complex weapon and possibly the world’s best light anti-tank gun in 1938.  It was also obsolete by the time it finally went into action.

The requirements for the QF 2 pr gun (QF stands for “quick-firing” - in other words, using one-piece ammunition - and 2 pr is “two-pounder”) were drawn up in 1934, and Vickers-Armstrongs did much of the development.  Some were sold commercially abroad, but most entered British service.  The British Army requested further development which resulted in the Carriage 2 pr Mk III in 1939.

The gunner sits to the left of the gun and rotates a vertical handwheel to control elevation and a horizontal handwheel for fine traverse.  The gun commander can swing the whole assembly - gun and gunner - around by releasing a throw-out clutch and pushing. 

A complicated carriage made the QF 2 pr heavy compared to similar guns.  When deployed, the carriage unfolded into a low tripod that provided 360° traverse.  A high 1.6-in (41-mm) armor shield protected the crew but also made the gun sit tall on the battlefield.  An ammunition chest could be carried on the back of the shield.  At first, the gun-carriage wheels folded up on either side of the armor shield after deployment but later versions came with removable wheels so that the guns could be more easily concealed.

Most contemporary anti-tank guns were fairly mobile, but the QF 2 pr was intended for use by specialist artillery crews in static defensive positions.  As the fluid, modern combat doctrine evolved in the years immediately preceding World War II, the two-pounder became an immobile, ineffective weapon stuck on a mobile battlefield.  As did other light anti-tank gun crews early in the war, the two-pounder crews found themselves exposed to high-explosive or machine-gun fire at ranges far beyond those at which their weapons could penetrate enemy armor.  Many crews succumbed to German tank fire.

The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) had to abandon most of its guns at Dunkirk, and these guns were taken into German service as the 4 cm PaK192(e). Back in Britain, although the Army recognized that the QF 2 pr was inadequate for modern anti-tank work, and work on the replacement 6 pr had begun, they decided to keep the 2 pr in production. Factories continued to churn out two-pounders, and against the later German tanks these proved equally inadequate. In order to counter German armor, the British Army had to deploy 25-pounder artillery pieces. After 1942, the British Army withdrew the QF 2 pr, except in the Far East where it had greater success against the lightly armored Japanese tanks

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Specifications