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THE GARRISON was under strength in artillery.
Units present at the start of the siege:
Brigadier Thompson commanded all
artillery and anti-tank units in the garrison with the exception of the Bush
Artillery.
Artillery pieces (excluding captured weapons) at the
start of the siege:
- 48 x 25 pounders
- 12 x 18 pounders
- 12 x 4.5 inch howitzers
The 25 pounder was the mainstay of the
Royal Horse Artillery. The 51st Field Regiment had to make do with 18-pounders and 4.5 inch howitzers, both of WWI vintage.
The Australian 2/12 Field Regiment also joined the fray but had to make do with out-of-date weapons of Italian and British ancestry.
There were many problems using captured Italian weapons. Converting between metric and imperial measurements was a nuisance. British maps were in yards; Italian range drums were in meters; and the angle on the Italian sights was in mils, where the British used degrees and minutes. Eventually range tables were developed to facilitate speedy and accurate conversion.
The Italian weapons were often missing critical parts, which had been discarded by their previous owners. Some were notoriously unreliable, and spent more time in the repair shops than they did in action. On the plus side, there were plentiful stocks of ammunition.
After the departure of the RAF, the Allied artillery was at a disadvantage in not having spotting aircraft. In the counter-battery role, target coordinates were usually identified by flash spotting.
Predicted shooting was assisted by an RAF meteorological section based in the garrison who were able to supply temperature, barometric and wind information to the gunners.
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