SCW99 - Spanish Civil War Artillery

[Glorfindel]

I'm painting up some SCW figures and am trying to work out what one of the artillery crewmen is doing
(right hand figure on the SCW99 pic).   The other two figures are pretty standard (officer & someone
holding a spare shell).   The 'third man' has me completely flummoxed unless he is meant to be dragging
the gun back to its firing position.

Any thoughts ?


Phil

[Steve J]

It looks like he's holding a 'rope' of some sort, so maybe the sort of thing used to fire the gun?

[Glorfindel]

That will do for me !    Thank you Steve.



Phil

[John Cook]

It is a firing lanyard used to fire heavy guns remotely, typically those with bagged charges and separate shells, while allowing the gunner to stand well clear of the recoil.  After the gun had been loaded and the breech closed a friction primer was inserted through a hole in the breech.  The basic principle hadn't changed for over 100 years really.  The lanyard was attached to the igniter and pulled, firing the primer which ignited the charge.  There were variations on the theme and lighter guns which used fixed ammunition tended to be fire by means of a trigger.

[Glorfindel]

Thank you John, much appreciated.

I have seen this represented in films etc but a useful reminder.


I've recently ordered some limbers and plan to leave the guns themselves mobile, adding them to either the
firing crew or limber as necessary.

This will finish off the 'Nationalists' and then it will be on to the various shades of Republicans.


Phil