61 Mech | 61 Mech

table (equipment – data).

The G2 is the venerable 5.5” 140mm gun first deployed during the Second World War and which was extensively used by the South African Union Defence Force during the Italian campaign. For many years it was the longest ranging gun in the South African arsenal. However experience during Operation Savannah showed it to be inadequate to deal with the Soviet guns deployed by the Angolans and Cubans. To this end the G5 was developed to replace this gun.

Despite the G5 the gun continued to remain in service for many years being used as a training and reserve force weapon. As with the G5 the G2 had a base bleed shell developed for it increasing the range of the gun to 21 000m which, although a big improvement, was still less than that of the Russian M 46 130mm gun.

The gun was used extensively during the border war, especially during the period of the great cross border operations where it provided support to the Mechanised ground forces. After 1985 the gun slowly started disappearing as it was relegated to second line units. The gun’s swan song however came during Operation Packer in 1988 when the lack of replacement barrels for the G5s deployed in Angola forced the South Africans to deploy a battery of G2s as a stop gap. After this however the gun was withdrawn from service and the only surviving examples are those to be found in museums today.