During World War II a limited number were used in the Battle of France, with the remainder being kept in the United Kingdom.
In due course Britain decided to develop its own heavy weapon, but retained the Skoda transport technique of moving it in three loads on wheeled trailers (either horse- or tractor-towed).
[2] The gun was transported in three loads – body and cradle, bed, barrel – towed by either heavy horses or a Holt tractor.
The tubular cradle pivoted by the trunnions supported the barrel – a wire bound A tube – and connected it to the hydro-pneumatic recoil system with a floating piston (the first British use of this)[8] and hydraulic buffer.
[citation needed] The Mk I's range was relatively limited and in June 1916 the senior Artillery commander in France, Major General Birch,[nb 1] requested among other artillery improvements an increase in range to 15,000 yards (14,000 m) "even if an increase of the weight of the equipment is entailed".
[12] This resulted in the Mark II gun in December 1916, with a heavier maximum propellant charge, a longer barrel and an increased range of 13,935 yards (12,742 m).
However, combat experience showed the higher-velocity Mk II barrel had a reduced life, estimated at 3,500 rounds.
[9] A disadvantage of the dismantling system was an inability to fire directly from the travelling carriage the way the BL 8-inch howitzer could.
[citation needed] During World War II, some guns went to France with the British Expeditionary Force, but their main deployment was in the United Kingdom as anti-invasion defences.
According to the post-war memoirs of comedian Spike Milligan, who served in the Royal Artillery's 56th Heavy Regiment, 9.2-inch howitzer ammunition was so scarce in the early years of the Second World War that gun-crews in training were reduced to shouting "bang" in unison, as no shells were available to practice with.
[16][nb 2] Bethlehem Steel was already contracted to manufacture 9.2-inch howitzers for Britain before the US entry into World War I in April 1917.
The US government ordered 100 from Bethlehem and 132 from Britain to equip the American Expeditionary Forces building up in France.
One source states that Bethlehem did not reach production on the US order but that 40 were delivered from Britain by the end of the war.
[23] Three of the guns were still in service with the Soviet 317th artillery battalion, part of the 13th Army in the winter of 1939-1940, when they were employed against the Mannerheim Line.
[27] Around this time, the howitzer served as the model for the Royal Artillery Memorial designed by Charles Sargeant Jagger.
[29] A 9.2-inch howitzer barrel, manufactured in 1918 by the Bethlehem Steel Company, is displayed in White Point Garden at The Battery in Charleston, South Carolina (32.76983, -79.93179).