21 cm Langer Morser barrel on carrier wagon : 13 Light Horse Regiment, AIF

Spare barrel for a 21 cm Morser, mounted on its transportation wagon. The barrel has a matching breech ring and breech block number. Factory proof marks on breech ring, Kp S 2648. Kp 18; Kp M 1340. The breech is operational, and is stamped with a proof mark Kp 829. The wagon has a steel beam chassis, with four wooden spoked wheels. All four wheels are stamped 'ML 1916'.

A photograph in the collection, D00519, shows that the rear wooden seat rail on this carriage was smashed while it was being loaded onto a flat car. The impact twisted the rail supports. At a later stage, date unknown, the splintered seat back was sawn off near to the uprights. The entire barrel and wagon are painted with a thin light grey. However, the contemporary photograph shows that the barrel was in fact painted with an irregular multi-coloured camouflage scheme which appears to be large multi-coloured blotches, over which 2 inch diameter circular brush marks have been applied. The latter resembles the marks made by a stencil brush.

Gun No.707 was captured by the 13th Light Horse and shipped to Aust on SS Bulla, April 1919.

The breech mechanism consisted of a horizontal sliding block and the charge was percussion fired. The 21 cm mortar was designated "Lange" because its barrel length qualified it as a howitzer. Introduced in service 1916 as two-load equipment. Its heavy barrel was mounted high on the front of the box-trailed carriage which rested on a pair of large spoked, steel wheels. Because of its weight it had to be transported in two loads, each hauled by its own team of horses, until tractors sufficiently powerful to pull it in a single load were introduced. This gun was modernised after WWI and also used in limited numbers during WWII.

It is understood that this is the last intact example of a spare First World War 21 cm barrel on a barrel carrier left in the world.