French Mortars of WW1 - by WL Ruffell (original) (raw)

Meanwhile the French, having studied mortars produced by sundry armament firms, including Stokes, came up with a small 58-mm (2.28-in) piece in 1915, followed by a 240-mm (9.45-in) in 1916 (see Fig. 15A and 15B), and a 150-mm (5.9-in) in 1917. Range limits of the last two were 600-2150 and 600-2000 metres respectively. These were all SBML. The French also introduced a 340-mm (13.4-in) mortar at the end of 1915, but it seems not to have been popular for by the end of the war it was no longer in use.

French SBML 240-mm (9.45-in) Mortar and bombWeight of projectile: 81 kg (178 lbs)Muzzle velocity: 145 m/s (476 f/s)	Figure 15a

Rather than the fixed firing pin in the base favoured by the British the French preferred a mechanical percussion device in their heavy mortars after the style of the German minenwerfer to be described below.

French SBML 240-mm (9.45-in) Mortar percussion mechanism	Figure 15b

Their SBML 150-mm (5.9-in) mobile mortar is of interest because it has a recoil mechanism, and seems to some extent to have been copied from the German minenwerfer. An example is shown in Fig. 16A and 16B.

They also produced another piece which they called a 'mortar' but which in reality was a short QF 75-mm (2.95-in) field gun. See Fig. 17.

French 'Mortier 75-mm' According to French records the equipment here is a 'Mortier 75-mm', i.e. a 75-mm mortar. However, it is in fact a short rifled QF 75-mm gun on a static mounting. It is included here as a point of interest.	Figure 17

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