The BL 60-pounder gun was a British 5-inch (127 mm) heavy field gun designed in 1903–1905 to provide a new capability that had been partially met by the interim QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) gun. It was designed for both horse draft and mechanical traction, and served throughout the First World War in the main theatres. It remained in service with British and Commonwealth forces in the inter-war period and in frontline service with British and South African batteries until 1942, being superseded by the BL 4.5-inch (110 mm) medium gun. Shortly after the Armistice of 1918, some 60-pounders were donated to the United States to resolve outstanding contractual obligations, although most were never used, eventually going to scrap drives in the Second World War or put on display as memorials. This 1915 photograph, taken by Ernest Brooks, shows a British Army artillery unit with a 60-pounder Mk I gun in action on a cliff top at Cape Helles, during the Gallipoli campaign of the First World War. The gun has the inscription "Annie" painted on the barrel.

Photograph credit: Ernest Brooks