German Guns on Fortune Green

While looking through some Hampstead Council Minutes I was surprised to find a discussion about German field guns on Fortune Green in West Hampstead.

At the end of WWI in 1918, the British Government had captured thousands of German guns. By April 1920 the War Office had distributed 3,595 field guns as well as other munitions to towns across Britain and the Commonwealth for display as trophies and additional war memorials. But this was controversial, as people were still recovering from the huge wartime losses. Some towns declined the offer, in others people protested and took direct action by pushing the guns into rivers and ponds.

In June 1921 Hampstead Council accepted the offer of four guns, two to be positioned on Fortune Green and two to be kept in store. The cost to install them on concrete bases and produce a plaque was estimated at £161, this was later lowered to £64. The local Labour Party opposed the scheme and passed the following resolution:

'That, owing to the industrial depression and the consequential unemployment, the money spent on the erection of these guns should be used to relieve the distress ensued thereby. Secondly, the people of Hampstead resent the perpetual reminder of the horrors of War, especially those who have lost those dear to them’.

Eventually, despite the objections, four guns were installed on Fortune Green. They remained there until August 1940 when they were removed as valuable scrap metal for the Second World War.

We found this rather poor photo of the guns on Fortune Green.

I used AI Nano Banana 2 (Google Gemini) to find and circle the guns, identify their type and enhance and colorize the photo. Here is the result.

The AI analysis said:

‘Based on the distinctive features visible in this vintage postcard of Fortune Green (London), specifically the short, stout barrel raised at a high elevation angle, the prominent gun shield, and the large hydraulic recoil cylinder system located underneath the barrel, the weapon is a German 10.5 cm leFH 98/09 (leichte Feldhaubitze, or light field howitzer)’.

The 10.5cm Light Field Howitzer was built in 1898, later re-designed by Krupp and introduced in large numbers to the German Army in 1909. They played a major role in the War.

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