The following is a list of guns and equipment used by the RA during the war. Not included are captured guns & equipment or trials and experimental equipment.
Field & Light
Medium
Heavy
The Royal Artillery started the Second World War with heavy weapons that had previously served with the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) during the First World War. Development of British heavy weaponry stagnated during the inter-war period, especially given the focus by the British military staff on the use of bomber aircraft to act as ‘artillery’, which would supposedly support troops and armour with greater accuracy than field artillery ever could. In hindsight, this was an error in judgement, as heavy artillery proved its worth in WW2 just like it had in the previous war, and precision bombing, so heavily promised as a war winner by the bomber advocates, was anything but precise.
This lack of heavy weapon development would come to haunt the Royal Artillery heavy regiments who served in the BEF in early 1940, as the older weapon platforms, which were both cumbersome and immobile, proved inadequate against the German blitzkrieg, with most heavy weapons serving in the field armies of the BEF being lost during the Battle for France.
Over the course of the war, the Royal Artillery Heavy weapon catalogue would mainly be filled with the remnants of the previous war until American designed platforms became readily available. Despite this, some Heavy Regiments still used WW1 era weapons well on into late 1944.
Super Heavy
The term Super Heavy was adopted by the Royal Artillery during WW2 to describe weapons that had a barrel size of 200mm or greater, although some guns used during the war didn’t match this criteria; the definition of Heavy and Super Heavy guns varies between researchers. The American Army also didn’t classify weapons of this calibre as Super Heavy and instead placed them into ‘Field Artillery’ units.
Most British Super Heavy regiments at the beginning of the war used railway guns – although these are not deemed as Super Heavy in most sources – and over the course of the war (like their Heavy regiment counterparts) the Royal Artillery would eventually become outfitted with American manufactured Super Heavy weapons; this was once again due to the lack of British development in this field.
Railway
Anti-Tank
Coast
Coast Radar
Coast Radar was split into two types, CD (Coast Defence) and CA (Coast Artillery). CD was intended for the detection and warning equipment not directly associated with the artillery defences of ports, harbours etc. CA was intended for those areas defended by artillery and used for both detection and fire control.
There was some overlap in some areas and the equipment used for the two tasks were often similar. The prime tasks of the CD radars was detecting the movement of shipping and also low flying (possibly mine laying) aircraft.
| CD/CHL (Coast Defence/ Chain Home Low) |
CA No. 1 Marks 2 & 3 |
| CD No. 1 Mark 4 (Type 271) |
CA No. 2 Mark 1 |
| CD No. 1 Marks 5 & 6 |
CA No. 1 Mark 4 |
| CD No. 1 Mark 6 |
Anti-Aircraft Guns/Rockets
Anti-Aircraft Radar
Anti-Aircraft Searchlights
| Projector Searchlight 90 cm |
Radar No.2 Mks 1 & 2 |
| Projector Searchlight 120 cm |
Radar No.2 Mks 3-7 |
| Projector Searchlight 150 cm |
Radar No.2 Mks 8 |
Page last updated 11/6/26.
