In the British Army at the beginning of World II, virtually all artillery was part of the Royal Artillery and only relatively small units belonged to the Royal Horse Artillery, but their equipment and structure were very similar to those in the Royal Artillery. At the outbreak of World War II, British artillery was equipped with a very successful howitzer Ordnance QF 25-pounder, but in September 1939 it was relatively small and still based on the 18-pounder cannon that remembers the years of the First World War. It should be added, however, that the state of affairs was changing rapidly. In 1941, the 114 mm BL 4.5 inch Medium Gun was introduced into service, and in 1942 the very successful BL 5.5 inch Gun cal. 140 mm. The backbone of the heavy artillery, on the other hand, was a modified 183 mm BL 7.2-inch howitzer howitzer. It is worth adding that the British artillery was fully motorized from the beginning of World War II, which positively distinguished it from the German artillery, which was still largely based on horse traction. It is worth adding that from 1940, the basic unit of British field artillery was a battery consisting of 6 guns, and late 8 guns. Another advantage was the introduction of forward artillery observers (English abbreviation FOO), who could request artillery support not only from their own battery, but also from regimental or divisional artillery. This element, as well as many others (e.g. high mobility, good training, good communication, good equipment) meant that the British field artillery during World War II (especially in the period 1943-1945) was characterized by high flexibility of operation and was able to effectively support your own infantry or mechanized units.
Cannon Ordnance Quick-Firing (QF) 17-pounder 76.2 mm caliber entered service with the British Army in 1943. It was a classic towed anti-tank gun, designed from the very beginning to fight even the heaviest armored German vehicles of that time (1943). In the course of service, it turned out to be probably the best Allied anti-tank gun. on the equipment of the allied forces. The 17-pounder gun was also mounted on several Allied vehicles - e.g. the Sherman Firefly tank. This cannon used several types of missiles. One of such missiles was the APC (ang. Armor Piercing Capped), which, however, was only used by Sherman Firefly tank crews. Another type of missile was the APCBC - structurally similar to the American M62A1 for the M1 Tank Gun - which could penetrate 150 mm of armor at a distance of 1,000 meters. A significant change in quality was the use of an APDS missile, i.e. an anti-tank sabotage missile, which theoretically could penetrate as much as 233 mm of armor from a distance of 1000 meters, but in practice this value was slightly lower. This missile began to enter the equipment at the beginning of July 1944. It is worth mentioning the HE type shell, which, however, was used less frequently than the above-mentioned types of shells, given the tasks of the 17-pound gun.