page_title: 9 cm Minenwerfer M 14
hierarchical_section_title: 9 cm Minenwerfer M 14
caption_attribution_description: Kriegsalbum 95, Bild 28437
context_page_description: The 9 cm Minenwerfer M 14 was a light mortar used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. It was designed by the Army's own Technisches und Administratives Militär-Komitee in an effort to quickly satisfy the demand from the front for a light mortar. It had a number of issues with its ammunition, namely the black powder used as a propellant gave off copious smoke clouds on firing that revealed the tube's location and the mortar bomb fuzes had a high rate of failure. The breech-loading mortar tube was mounted on a framework that didn't allow for any traverse, which meant that it was impossible to engage different targets without relaying the mortar. In turn the frame was mounted a rectangular firing platform.
  The M 14/16 had a circular platform to provide traverse and weighed only 65 kilograms. A later model allowed the mounting to be collapsed for ease of transport. A new M 16 mortar bomb that used the German Poppenberg fuze system generally cured the dud problem, but it still used black powder as its propellant. This was a severe tactical disadvantage and it was decided to purchase replacement mortars from the German firm of Heinrich Lanz from 1917.
context_section_description: The 9 cm Minenwerfer M 14 (Trench mortar) was a light mortar used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. It was designed by the Army's own Technisches und Administratives Militär-Komitee (TMK) in an effort to quickly satisfy the demand from the front for a light mortar. It had a number of issues with its ammunition, namely the black powder used as a propellant gave off copious smoke clouds on firing that revealed the tube's location and the mortar bomb fuzes had a high rate of failure. The breech-loading mortar tube was mounted on a framework that didn't allow for any traverse, which meant that it was impossible to engage different targets without relaying the mortar. In turn the frame was mounted a rectangular firing platform.
  The M 14/16 had a circular platform to provide traverse and weighed only 65 kilograms (143 lb). A later model allowed the mounting to be collapsed for ease of transport. A new M 16 mortar bomb that used the German Poppenberg fuze system generally cured the dud problem, but it still used black powder as its propellant. This was a severe tactical disadvantage and it was decided to purchase replacement mortars from the German firm of Heinrich Lanz from 1917.
caption: 9 cm Minenwerfer M 14 in 1916
exif: {}