Rare WW1 Weapons In Action 15-inch Howitzer Gas Masks Anti-Aircraft Gun Cigarette Cards

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I don’t think you could accuse this card set’s artist of glorifying and over glamorizing war. Some WW1 sets tend to look a bit staged and artificial, but this one has succeeded in capturing the dirt, grime and truly uncomfortable nature of war. This freedom of expression might be due to the fact that this set was issued towards the end of the war, hence the past tense being used in the descriptions on the backs of the cards. Throughout history knowledge and information have slowly eroded the power of the ruling elite, highlighting the corruption of the sixteenth century Roman Pope and inspiring people uprisings such as the American War of Independence, British Civil War, French Revolution etc. In WW1 the ailing ruling classes turned this normally democratic force against the people by successfully using propaganda. This propaganda, inspired by Freudian psychoanalytic theories, eventually backfired in the aftermath of the WW1 when the public realised how they had been so ruthlessly manipulated. The recent Arab uprisings have shown how difficult it is for dictators to hold back the truth when the channels of communications become faster and more difficult to control, as with mobile phones and social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Anyway, let’s get back to this card set. Although none of the cards mention anything about chemical warfare, most of the men pictured seem to be wearing gas masks, which I haven’t seen so much on other WW1 cards. More than 9 million combatants were killed in WW1, largely because of great technological advances in firepower without corresponding advances in mobility. These days their is a public outcry when one soldier dies let alone millions. The weapons in this set would certainly have contributed to the mass carnage of WW1.

Card #1 states that the 15-inch Howitzer “is able to hurl a shell weighing two-thirds of a ton a distance of 6 miles”. The description on the back of the card featuring the 8-inch Howitzer gun states that “over 380,000 tons of 8-inch shells were showered on to the Germans”. Card #5 states that “25 million 4.5 –inch Howitzer shells were fired in France alone”. The 6o-Pounder Gun, according to another card, fired 10 million rounds in the war and nearly 100 million rounds of 18-lb amunition were discharged.

Although mobility lagged way behind firepower, there are signs on these cards that it was improving. Heavier-than-air aircraft were used for military purposes for the first time in WW1, and as a result weapons were designed to counter them, such as the anti-aircraft gun pictured on card #8. The 9.2-inch gun’s “accuracy of aim” was helped by reconnaissance aircraft according to the description on the back of the card.

It states in the description on the back of the 8-Inch Howitzer card that “special tractors of the ‘caterpillar’ pattern were used for moving these Howitzers”. Those same caterpillar tractors inspired the designs of the first ever military tanks that made their debut towards the end of the war.

John Player & Son, Artillery In Action (WW1 Weapons), circa 1918 (12 cards)

Includes:12-inch Howitzer on Railway Mounting, 15-inch Howitzer in Position, 8-inch Howitzer, 9.2-inch Gun on Road Mounting, 18-Pounder Field Gun, 4.5-inch Howitzer, Early Anti-Aircraft Gun, 60-Pounder Gun, Light Vickers Machines Gun, Large Trench Mortar (operatives wearing gas masks), Lewis Automatic Gun, Stokes Trench Mortar

If you would like to find out more about the classic WW1 weapon cigarette cards featured in this blog please click here.
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