Wilfred Stokes and his mortar
Friday 7th January 1916: the adjutant of the 7th Battalion,
in the front line near Fricourt on the Somme, tells us that yesterday the
Germans opposite used rifle grenades and trench mortars aimed at part of their
positions. He remarked: “Their grenades outnumbered ours so we retaliated with
trench mortars. These did exceedingly good work. Timber was blown into the air
from the enemy lines opposite. We must have inflicted serious damage the on
enemy. All active hostilities ceased on their part after our mortars had
fired”.
This
highlights just how useful trench mortars have become. Indeed, those in the
front line consider them indispensable. Sir Wilfred Stokes’ mortar was only
introduced in September last year, in time for the Battle of Loos, but, as the
above shows, has quickly proven its effectiveness. It is light (being smaller than the example shown above) at just over
one hundred pounds and portable by a two man team enabling it to be moved to
different positions in a trench system to prevent the enemy zeroing in on it
and destroying it with artillery of their own. It can fire up to 25 bombs per
minute at ranges up to half a mile. The bombs have a diameter of three inches
and weigh 10 pounds, 11 ounces. The bombs go high into the air to drop into
enemy trenches and cause substantial damage.
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