German anti-tank guns captured in North Africa, 1942 (c)

Photograph by Major Wilfred Herbert James Sale, MC, 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), World War Two, North Africa, 1941.

The Germans and Italians used towed and self-propelled guns to good effect in support of their armour in North Africa. The inexperienced 3rd and 4th County of London Yeomanry Regiments suffered heavy losses to their anti-tank guns during Operation CRUSADER in late 1941.

This picture of an artillery park of captured Axis weapons in North Africa includes a 37 mm gun in the foreground with a 50 mm gun behind it. In the background are various self-propelled guns and to the right is the infamous 88 mm gun, the bane of Allied tank crews; designed primarily as an anti-aircraft gun it was used to deadly effect by the Germans as an anti-tank weapon.

From an album containing 182 photographs compiled by Major W H J Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters).