60 Pounder gun crew from the 5th (Montreal) Battery, Royal Canadian Artillery at Valcartier Camp, September 1914. There are tents and other artillery pieces in the background. The 5th Battery was organized in August 1914 under the command of Major E.G. Hanson in Valcartier. It recruited in Montreal and Sydney, N.S. from the 21st Field Battery (Westmount) and the 17th Field Battery (Sydney) of the Non-Permanent Active Militia. The battery left Quebec on 30 September 1914 with a strength of 5 officers and 199 other ranks. The battery arrived in France 14 February 1915 and became part of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Canadian Divisional Artillery. The 60-pounder Howitzer was a medium class 5 inch howitzer designed by the British in 1904. This weapon was a mainstay of British and Empire medium artillery during the First World War, being operated by batteries of the Royal Garrison Artillery (in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, units equipped with the 60-pounder were termed "Heavy" Artillery Batteries). The howitzer could fire a 60 lb shell 10,300 yards (6.0 miles). The 60-pounder required a team of 12 horses to move it. A simplified design adopted as an interim measure on the outbreak of war reworked the design to make it easier to manufacture. The running-back feature was deleted and other simplifications actually increased the weight of the gun by a ton. The increased weight was not spread over the wheels, and the use of horses was abandoned in favour of a Holt tracked tractor. This photo is from the album of Marshall Beck.