The British Ordnance Quick Firing two-pounder anti-tank gun was a potent weapon in the early part of World War Two, but gets very bad press, writes Craig Moore
“The two-pdr gun was a peashooter.” “The two-pdr shell just bounced off the front of the Panzer III armour.” “The two-pdr gun was useless. It could not stop a Tiger tank.”
Comments like these are continually made in books, on military history forums, on social media and in the beer tents at military vehicle shows. This is perhaps somewhat unfair as the weapon enjoyed early success in World War Two, as various test showed. In the mid-1930s, the Royal Ordnance Factories’ design department at Woolwich Arsenal and Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd were working to devise a 40mm anti-tank gun.
The Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd design was successful and officially called Ordnance QF two-pounder Mark IX on Carriage Mark I. The army still used the Royal Navy designation system based on the weight of the shot. This gun’s projectile weight was 2.4lb so the gun was called the two-pounder, abbreviated to two-pdr. Later, an improved gun carriage designed by Woolwich Arsenal was adopted. It was manufactured by Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd and had the designation Ordnance QF two-pounder Mark IX on Ca…
