6-Pounder Portée

Commonwealth forces involved in the North African Campaign modified unarmored flatbed transport vehicles--such as Bedford QLT 3-ton or Austin K5 3 ton lorries--with temporary mounts for anti-aircraft or rearward-firing anti-tank guns, to provide rapid mobility to otherwise-stationary guns. The French army first introduced this concept in the late 1930s, notably with a 25 mm SA-34 anti-tank gun mounted on a Laffly S20TL six-wheeled truck (portée translated into English means 'reach' or 'range'). Though unarmored, these units proved valuable early in the war in providing mobile anti-aircraft or anti-tank firepower. Commonwealth portee vehicles carried a variety of guns. As a general type, Commonwealth forces produced these in limited numbers for specific circumstances throughout the North Africa campaign. This unit represents a variant mounting the Quick Firing (QF) 6-Pounder (57 mm, L/50) gun on a wheeled transport with base stats equivalent to the Bedford OY unit. The gun fired both armor-piercing and high-explosive, anti-personnel rounds.