Colours for gun carriages

[FierceKitty]

It's embarrassing for a South African who is 25% Boer to have to ask this, but what colour should Boer gun carriages be? I see illustrations showing sandy-to-chrome yellow, chalk white, naval grey, and a rather modern-looking green. Does anyone know anything about the reality?

[Bart of the North]

I can't remember where I found it and just spent an hour digging through my books on the war with no luck but the colour I read was a dark gray.  Most photos I've seen of boer pieces at museums are medium to dark gray but that doesn't mean thats what they were in 1899.  Until I get other input I'm going with dark gray and that will become reality for me and that reality is coming soon as I'm just finishing up my British guns this week.

Found this medium gray 75mm Krupp but no real reference.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/AWM-Boer-gun-3.jpg

Tim

[Bart of the North]

This shows a pom-pom that is darn near black.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/palmerstonforts/sets/72157601478327897/detail/

[Luddite]

Interesting article, but no colour indication http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol022dh.html

Boer Stadtsartillerie were the only uniformed Boer formations.  Their dress uniform was dark blue but they took to the field in sandy or khaki uniforms.  Later in the war they dressed as civilians like other Boers.

The gun colours seem to have been supplied in a light grey, however given the improvised nature of the forces on both sides, particularly around artillery use, i'd suggest anything may be possible.  The dusty (and muddy during the rains) terrain may have made all the artillery all look sort of mud coloured anyway!

[FierceKitty]

Baie dankie, maatjie.

[FierceKitty]

Bear in mind that much of the soil in northern South Africa is a strong red ochre colour.

[Luddite]

Here's a replica of one of the 4 'Long Tom' Cruesot guns used during the war.



As you can see it's painted in the light grey described.  The Boer Republic purchased 4 of these before the war, with 4000 shells, but they were all destroyed by the Boers during the war (destroyed as their ammunition ran out to prevent their capture and use by the British).

And here's a link to a modern restoration group's Staads Artillerie unit with their replica Krupp gun http://www.wanganuilibrary.com/Krupp/Krupp/pics/brespic2.html.

(From here http://www.wanganuilibrary.com/Krupp/krupp%20resources.html).

It shows the blue/khaki uniform and the light grey gun.

Here's what they say about the paint:

April 2007

A break-through is made when some of the gun’s original colour is discovered beneath five other layers of paint.

All of the gun surfaces were finished with two types of paint, red lead primer and drab olive top coat.  These are the most recent paint layers and are thought to be the result of a strip and re-paint job done after the gun was recovered in the 1950s from being buried in Cooks Gardens.

Conservator Detlef Klein made a closer inspection of small patches of thick paint deposits in the hope that they would reveal older, historic paint layers.  Two areas beneath the axle and trail frame were missed in the last strip and re-paint of the gun.  More than 1mm thick, these accumulated ‘drippings’ of paint revealed seven separate paint layers.

The innermost layers of dark blue grey and light grey match the information about the Krupp factory colours at the time the gun was made (the dark blue grey) and the Boer (Orange Free State) artillery colours (the light grey).

Above this was a layer of khaki/brown paint that may date from the time after Gun No. 4's capture.  Another layer of the light grey and dark blue grey may have been the result of over-painting while the gun was on display next to the South African War memorial between 1906 and 1942.  It is likely that the gun would have been painted during that time to preserve it.  The uppermost layers of read lead and drab olive are the post World War Two restoration paint colours.

Paint samples are sent to Resenes in Wellington for analysis, while the areas of the axle and trail frame that they were taken from are protected during the next stage, sandblasting.

http://www.wanganuilibrary.com/Krupp/kruppproject.html

[FierceKitty]

I say, thank you!

[Bart of the North]

Great find. Fascinating info.  Thank you Luddite.