page_title: Ordnance QF 2-pounder
section_title: Service history
hierarchical_section_title: Ordnance QF 2-pounder / Service history
caption_attribution_description: English: AWM: Malaya: Johore, Muar Area, Bakri . A two pounder Anti-Tank Gun of the 4th Anti-Tank Regiment, 8th Australian Division, AIF, directed by VX38874 Sergeant (Sgt) en:Charles James Parsons, of Moonee Ponds, Vic, in action at a road block at en:Bakri on the Muar-Parit Sulong Road. In the background is a destroyed Japanese en:Type 95 Ha-Go Medium Tank. The Anti-Tank Gun was known as the rear gun because of its position in the defence layout of the area. Sgt Parsons was later awarded the en:Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for his and his crew's part in destroying six of the nine Japanese tanks during this engagement. This photograph also appears as negative no 068592. IWM: An Australian 2-pdr anti-tank gun of the 2/4th Australian Anti-Tank Regiment, commanded by Sgt Charles Parsons (left), firing on Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go tanks as they try to pass trees felled across the Muar - Parit Sulong road, near Bakri in Malaya, 18 January 1942. Nine tanks were destroyed by two 2-pdrs in this engagement, part of the battle of Muar, which took place around the Gemensah bridge and the Muar River in Johore. It was the last major engagement of the campaign.
context_page_description: The Ordnance QF 2-pounder, or simply "2 pounder gun", was a 40 mm British anti-tank and vehicle-mounted gun employed in the Second World War.
  It was used in the Battle of France and during the North African Campaign. In its vehicle-mounted variant the 2-pounder was a common main gun on British tanks early in World War II, as well as being a typical main armament of armoured cars, such as the Daimler, throughout the war. As Axis tanks' armoured protection improved, the 2-pounder lost effectiveness and it was gradually replaced by the 6-pounder starting in 1942, though some remained in service until the end of the war.
  This QF 2-pounder was not the same gun as the QF 2 pounder "pom-pom" gun extensively used by the Royal Navy as an anti-aircraft gun although they both fired 2 pounds, 40 millimetres projectiles.
context_section_description: The 2-pdr gun became a part of the Royal Artillery in 1938, when five field brigades were converted to anti-tank regiments. In the early western campaigns, the 2-pdr was employed by two types of Royal Artillery formations: anti-tank regiments of infantry divisions (four batteries with 12 pieces each), and light anti-aircraft/anti-tank regiments of armoured divisions (two 12-gun AT batteries). From October 1940, separate 48-gun anti-tank regiments were introduced in armoured divisions too. Infantry brigade structure initially included an anti-tank company, though it was typically equipped with 25 mm Hotchkiss anti-tank guns; these companies were disbanded later in the war. From 1942, infantry battalions received their own six-gun anti-tank platoons. The organization was different in the Far East theatres. The exact internal structure of AT units was also subject to changes and variations.
  The gun first saw combat with the Belgian Army during the German invasion of the Low Countries, and then with the British Army during the subsequent rear-guard actions at Dunkirk. Most of the British Army's 2-pdrs were left behind in France during the retreat, stripping most of the army's infantry anti-tank capability. Those guns captured at Dunkirk entered German service under the designation 4.0 cm Pak 192 (e) or 4.0 cm Pak 154 (b), the "e" and "b" referring to the origin (English or Belgian Army).
  Although the Woolwich Arsenal had already designed a successor to the 2-pdr, the 6 pounder gun, it was decided in the face of a likely German invasion to re-equip the army with the 2-pdr, avoiding the period of adaptation to production, and also of re-training and acclimatization with the new weapon. This had the effect of delaying production of the 6 pounder until November 1941, and availability to frontline units to spring 1942. Consequently, for most of the North African Campaign, the army had to rely on the 2-pdr, aided by the 25 pounder gun-howitzer functioning as an anti-tank gun—a role for which it was capable, though at the expense of taking it away from its main artillery role. As German tank design evolved, anti-armour performance of the 2-pdr gradually became insufficient; however, the gun owes a large part of the bad reputation it gained during the campaign to the open terrain, which made the high-silhouette piece hard to conceal, and to poor tactics.
  In North Africa, it was found that the 2-pdr was damaged by being towed long distances across rough, stony deserts. Starting in 1941, the British developed the "en portee" method of mounting the 2-pdr, and later the 6-pounder, on a truck. Though only intended for transport, with the gun carried unloaded, crews tended to fire from their vehicles for more mobility, with consequent casualties. Hence the vehicles tended to reverse into action so that the gunshield of the 2-pdr would provide a measure of protection against enemy fire.
  From mid-1942, the 2-pdr was increasingly displaced to infantry anti-tank platoons, to Home Guard units in Great Britain, and to the Far East, where it was still effective against the smaller and more lightly armoured Japanese tanks. It was finally removed from service entirely in December 1945. As a vehicle weapon, it remained in use throughout the war. Although most tanks equipped with it were withdrawn or upgraded to the 6-pdr, it remained in use with armoured cars.
  Its performance as an anti-armour weapon was improved later in the war with the development of more sophisticated ammunition and got an additional boost with the introduction of the Littlejohn adaptor, which converted it to a squeeze-bore design firing specially-designed shells at much higher velocities. (However, the Littlejohn adaptor prevented the use of High Explosive rounds.) These improvements, however, were constantly outpaced by improvements in tank design.
caption: Australian 2 pounder crew firing on Japanese tanks at point-blank range in the Battle of Muar.
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