1⁄1
75mm Pack Howitzer

a photo feature by David Althaus


background
This is the 75mm pack howitzer of WWII vintage. When faced with having to wade under heavy fire across a coral reef on Tarawa, the cannoneers of the 10th Marines broke down their pack howitzers in the landing craft and hand carried the guns and ammunition into the fray and reassembled them on the beach in order to provide the infantry the fire support they needed to hold on.

According to David's dad who was with the 11th Marines on Guadalcanal, the Marines could fire these weapons so fast that the Japanese troops thought that they were using "machine gun cannons".

If you want you can go directly to the gallery here.
  • 10thMar_75mm_PakHow_3
  • 10thMar_75mm_PakHow_1
  • 10thMar_75mm_PakHow_2
  • 10thMar_75mm_PakHow_4
  • 10thMar_75mm_PakHow_5
  • 10thMar_75mm_PakHow_6
  • 10thMar_75mm_PakHow_7
  • 10thMar_75mm_PakHow_8
  • 10thMar_75mm_PakHow_9

About the Author

About David Althaus (Whiskey6)
FROM: NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES

CO and XO, Whiskey Battery, 1st Battalion, 11th Marines (107mm Mortars) in Vietnam FireDirection Officer, 1st Battalion, 11th Marines Advisor/FO for 21st ARVN Ranger Battalion, Vietnam CO, L Battery, 4th Battalion, 10th Marines (M109-A1's) Former adrenaline junkie...now a Certified Public Ac...


Copyright ©2021 by David Althaus . Images and/or videos also by copyright holder unless otherwise noted. The views and opinions expressed herein are solely the views and opinions of the authors and/or contributors to this Web site and do not necessarily represent the views and/or opinions of Armorama, KitMaker Network, or Silver Star Enterrpises. All rights reserved. Originally published on: 2008-05-31 00:00:00. Unique Reads: 17930