The 21 cm Versuchmörser 06 was an experimental German

howitzer A howitzer () is a long- ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like ot ...

which served in limited numbers during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

History

The 21 cm Versuchmörser 06 was designed in 1899 and built by

Krupp The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krup ...

in 1903-1906. The Versuchmörser 06 was a successor to earlier 21 cm weapons that had been in service since the Franco-Prussian War. The Versuchmörser 06 was fairly conventional for its time and most nations had similar weapons such as the French

220 mm TR mle 1915/1916 The Mortier de 220 mm Tir Rapide modèle 1915/1916 Schneider or 220 mm TR mle 1915/1916 was a French howitzer designed and produced during the First World War. A number were still on hand during the Second World War and served in Belg ...

or British

BL 8 inch Howitzer Mk 6 - 8 BL (or similar) may refer to: Arts and entertainment * BL Publishing, a division of the wargames manufacturing company, Games Workshop * '' Boston Legal'', a US legal comedy drama * Boys' love, Japanese term for female-oriented fiction featuring ...

Design

The Versuchmörser 06 was a short barreled breech-loading howitzer on a two-wheeled box trail carriage with a hydro-pneumatic recoil mechanism. The gun had an early form of horizontal sliding-block breech and it fired separate-loading, bagged charges and projectiles. The advantage the Versuchmörser 06 had over its predecessor the 21 cm Mörser 99 was its recoil mechanism raised its rate of fire from one round every three minutes to one round per minute. The 21 cm Mörser 99 required a piece of ground to be leveled and a wooden firing platform assembled before use. Two wooden ramps were then placed behind the wheels and when the mortar fired the wheels rolled up the ramp and was returned to position by gravity. A drawback of this system was the gun had to be re-aimed each time which lowered the rate of fire. However, the Versuchmörser 06 did not require as much site preparation and did not require re-aiming between shots. Despite its advantages, the Versuchmörser 06 did not pass its acceptance tests and was not placed into mass production because the German Army required range and lighter weight which was later accomplished by the

21 cm Mörser 10 __NOTOC__ The 21 cm Mörser 10 (21 cm Mrs 10) was a heavy howitzer used by Germany in World War I (although classified as a mortar (Mörser) by the German military). It replaced the obsolete 21 cm Mörser 99, which lacked a recoil syst ...

. However, enough test models were produced to arm two four-gun batteries. To facilitate towing on soft ground the wheels were often fitted with ''Bonagente'' ''grousers'' patented by the Italian major Crispino Bonagente. These consisted of rectangular plates connected with elastic links and are visible in many photographs of World War I artillery from all of the combatants. For transport, the Versuchmörser 06 could be broken down into two separate wagon loads for the barrel and carriage. The barrel was towed on its own four-wheeled wagon with an integral hoist to mount/demount the barrel.

References

External links

* http://www.passioncompassion1418.com/Canons/Eng_AfficheCanonGET.php?IdCanonAffiche=98 {{DEFAULTSORT:21 cm Versuchmörser 06 World War I guns World War I artillery of Germany 210 mm artillery