Tag Archives: wall gun

103 years Ago: I will Hold

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Via the National Museum of the Marine Corps:

On 19 July 1918, 1st Lt Clifton Cates, who would later become the 19th Commandant of the Marine Corps, sent this legendary message back to his command during the fighting at Soissons. At the time, his company, No. 79 of the Sixth Marines, was holding the line by its fingernails along with remnants of the regiment’s 2nd battalion, in the face of stiff German opposition. 

Cates, who was Commandant during Korea, would see his Marines involved in the mud once again, albeit 30 years apart. 

Lieutenant Colonel Ray Murray, commanding the 5th Marines, shows a captured percussion fired, black powder wall gun to Commandant of the Marine Corps General Clifton B. Cates, in Korea. From the Photograph Collection (COLL/3948), Marine Corps Archives & Special Collections

The Giant Wall Guns

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Today we think of a rifle in terms of overkill once it gets to the size of the .577 T-Rex or the .700
Nitro Express. We think that these giant elephant guns are the height of firearms genius in
extremely large, yet still portable long guns. However, you just need to pick up a history book to find out that the concept is not new. The Wall Guns of the 15th-19th centuries are the best example of this.

Wall guns are outsized rifles that look as if they once belonged to Paul Bunyan, the Barrett .50-cal of their day,only bigger. Though smaller than true artillery, these guns were essentially sized up versions of their standard foot soldier’s musket or rifle. Typically, they have barrel lengths measured in feet rather than inches, with the five-foot long barrel being particularly popular.

Weighing 30-50 pounds, they could be carried into battle by a crew of two to three gunners or mounted on a rampart (wall) for defense of a fort from outside threats. In the field, they usually used a support pole or bipod, and when mounted on a fort, they could be fitted with a cradle and swivel.

What they brought to the party was the same thing the Barrett brings these days: range and power.

Read the rest in my column at GUNS.com

Ian of Forgotten Weapons with a 1896 65 caliber Chinese wall gun

Ian of Forgotten Weapons with a 1896 65 caliber Chinese wall gun. And YES, that is a real gun.