page_title: BL 18-inch railway howitzer
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: BL 18-inch railway howitzer / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Crew and British BL 18 inch railway howitzer at Ashbury Station prior to firing into Okehampton Artillery Range.
context_page_description: The BL 18-inch railway howitzer was a British railway gun developed during World War I. Part of the progression of ever-larger howitzers on the Western Front, it did not enter service until 1920.
context_section_description: Five guns and two complete equipments on railway wagons were produced. After World War I there was no use for such large but relatively short-ranged weapons and they were placed in storage. In World War II the two wagons were used to mount 13.5-inch guns, which were capable of engaging targets on the German-occupied Channel coast of France. In late 1940 one 18-inch howitzer was mounted on the railway mounting nicknamed "Boche Buster" which had been used in World War I to carry a 14-inch gun.
caption: "Boche Buster's" crew posing with the gun
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