Heavy mortars are usually between 120- and 300-mm calibre. These weapons are usually towed or put on to vehicles. They are sometimes loaded from the back (breech-loaded). They are usually used by infantry in battalions or divisions. Even mortars this large are simpler and cheaper than howitzers and field guns.
A mortar can be moved around by one or more people (bigger mortars can usually be broken down into parts) or moved around in a vehicle. An infantry mortar can usually be set up and fired from a mortar-carrier. A mortar-carrier is a modified armoured vehicle or one built especially to be a mortar-carrier. They have a big hatch on the roof. Mortars with two barrels—like the AMOS PT1—are the latest kinds of heavy mortar. They are put on carriers such as armoured personnel carriers, tank chassis and patrol boats.
Light versions of mortar are usually used by at least two men. Heavier mortars are fired by three to five men. Lighter mortars can be fired from anywhere that gives a good firing position. However, medium mortars are usually fired from prepared, well fortified positions.
Most mortars used today are made up of a barrel, a plate for the barrel to stand on, and a bipod.
Mortars are mainly medium calibre weapons. However, mortars both bigger and smaller than this have been made. An example of a smaller mortar is the British 51 mm Light Mortar. The 51 mm is carried by just one soldier. It is made up of only a tube and a base plate. A bigger example is the Soviet 2S4 M1975 "Tyulpan" (tulip flower) 240 mm self-propelled mortar.
Mortars are not very stable if they are used on snow or soft ground. This is because the recoil pushes them into the ground. The Raschen Bag can be used to avoid this problem.
The ammunition fired by mortars are properly called "bombs". One possible reason for this is that the fins that stabilise the round when it is flying, and the shape of the round makes it look like a bomb dropped from aircraft.
Mortars can fire many different bombs. Some of these are:
Mortars are usually smaller and lighter than howitzers and field guns. When the mortar bomb is launched, it descends at a very steep angle (almost straight down).
Mortars can be very helpful if they are used in hidden places. It can be even more helpful if there are people around the battlefield that help tell the mortar where to fire (forward observers).
Mortars have existed for hundreds of years. They were first used in sieges. A European description of the Siege of Belgrade (1456) by Giovanni da Tagliacozzo says that the Ottoman Turks used seven mortars that fired "stone shots one Italian mile high". The speed of these was said to be very slow. It was also said that men could be prevented from being injured by putting observers out who warned the troops of what angle the mortars were firing at.
Early mortars like the Pumhart von Steyr were big and heavy. They were also difficult to move around. An early mortar that could be moved easily was invented by Baron (Siege of Grave, 1673). At the Siege of Vicksburg, General Ulysses S. Grant reported making mortars "by taking logs of the toughest wood that could be found, boring them out for six or twelve-pound shells and binding them with strong iron bands. These answered as coehorns, and shells were successfully thrown from them into the trenches of the enemy."
Mortars were very useful in the muddy trenches of the Western Front. A mortar round could be aimed to fall straight into a trench because of the deep angle that the bombs fell at.
During the Battle of Iwo Jima, the Imperial Japanese Army used twelve 320 mm mortars against the American forces.
The biggest mortars ever made were the French "Monster Mortar" (36 French inches; 975 mm; developed by Henri-Joseph Paixhans in 1832), Mallet's Mortar (36 inches; 910 mm; designed by Robert Mallet and tested by the Woolwich Arsenal, London, in 1857) and the "Little David" (36 inches; 914.4 mm; developed in the United States for use in World War II). All three mortars had a caliber of 36 "inches". However, only the "Monster Mortar" was used (at the Battle of Antwerp in 1832).
"Home-made" mortars have been used by insurgent groups. They are usually used to attack well defended military bases or to scare civilians. An early example was the Davidka. This was used during the Israeli War of Independence in 1948. The Provisional Irish Republican Army used some of the best-known examples during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The biggest types came to be known as "barracks busters". They were usually made of heavy steel piping put onto a steel frame.
Well-known events using "home-made" mortars include the 1985 Newry mortar attack. This was when nine members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary were killed. Another well-known event is the Downing Street mortar attack in 1991. In this, the IRA mortared 10 Downing Street during a meeting. Three bombs were launched but only one exploded. It landed in the back garden of the British Prime Minister's house. It only broke the windows at the back of the house. Prime Minister John Major had to move to Admiralty House while the windows were being fixed.
Type 38 75 mm field gun
The was a field gun used by the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). It became a standard field gun of the IJA after the end of the Russo-Japanese War.
Japan had experience with artillery in its war with Russia in 1904-05.
In 1905 ("Meiji 38"), the Imperial Japanese Army selected Krupp's artillery design. At first, the field guns were imported.
Over 2000 guns were produced under license at the Army’s Osaka Arsenal.
After World War I, the weapon was re-designed in Japan.
Plans to replace the Type 38s with Type 90 75 mm field guns went forward in 1931. However, Type 38s continued to be used.
Type 38s were used in the Second Sino-Japanese War and in World War II.
Himalayan cat
The Himalayan is a cat breed that was created in 1950 by crossing the Siamese and the Persian. It has point markings and blue eyes like a Siamese, and long fur like a Persian. Sometimes it is considered to be a color variation of the Persian, and not a separate breed.
Bombard (weapon)
A bombard is a large-caliber, muzzle-loading, medieval cannon or mortar. It was used in sieges for throwing heavy stone balls. The name bombarde was used in a French historical text around 1380. The modern term "bombardment" comes from this.
Bombards were usually used during sieges to hurl various things into enemy forts. Items such as stone or metal balls, burning materials and weighted cloth soaked in quicklime or Greek fire are have been written about.
The name comes from medieval Latin and French words from an earlier Greek word meaning the making of a humming noise.
A famous example of a bombard is Mons Meg, a large weapon built around 1449 and used by King James II of Scotland. It was very powerful and used for bringing down castle walls. Mons Meg could fire shots and was one of the largest bombards in its time. It is now on public display at Edinburgh Castle. Other known bombards include two wrought iron weapons, the Pumhart von Steyr and Dulle Griet. There were also weapons cast in bronze, the Faule Mette, Faule Grete, and Grose Bochse. The Tsar Cannon is a late 16th century show-piece.
The Dardanelles Gun was built in the Ottoman Empire in 1464 by Munir Ali. It weighed 18.6 t and was 518cm long. It could fire stone balls of up to 63cm diameter.
Bombards were replaced by weapons using smaller calibre iron shells with more powerful gunpowder.
Bombardment
A bombardment is an attack by artillery weapons against fortifications, troops or towns and buildings. It word came from the name of the medieval artillery weapon, the bombard, which was used to fire heavy stones during a siege.