Did the British army, WWll, ever use artillery ammo in wood cases, or exclusively use their metal ammo containers? ie; in the case of British Paratroopers in Normandy (a 6lb’er gun & crew just deployed from their glider, and in action), is there any logical reason for having wood ammo crates among their metal ones?
I have seen the metal containers and while I have not seen wooden ones I suspect it would be just a case of where the ammunition was manufactured and shipped from. 25pdr ammo is or was still being produced in India and shipped all over.
Did the British army, WWll, ever use artillery ammo in wood cases, or exclusively use their metal ammo containers?
Yes. The British used American tank artillery and field artillery and their ammunition was predominately packaged in wooden boxes or fiber tubes in wooden crates.
In the case of British Paratroopers in Normandy (a 6lb’er gun & crew just deployed from their glider, and in action), is there any logical reason for having wood ammo crates among their metal ones?
No. Normally ammunition is issued from a single production lot whenever possible. A single lot almost guarantees a single type of packaging. I am not familiar with the general practices of British ammunition packaging, but they seem to have relied heavily on metal boxes. The US produced 57mm/6 lb ammunition that was suitable for American and British weapons and packed it in both wooden boxes and C264 metal boxes. It is conceivable that a crew was issued AP ammunition of US origin and APC ammunition of British origin, with one packed in wooden boxes and one packed in metal boxes. If the crew only received one type of ammunition it was almost certainly packed uniformly.
For an airborne operation it is also conceivable that the outer containers were discarded and the ammunition loaded in its fiber tubes alone.
KL
Thanks. Good to know. I have read that a British 6 lb crew “borrowed” some boxes of ammo from a nearby US 57 mm crew. (The two units were only separated by less than a kilometer near the junction of First Army {US}, and Second Army {British}). But that was a whole different situation. I’ll just buy another 6 lb/57 mm ammo set.