The Mortier de 58 mm type 2 or Mortier de 58 mm T N°2, also known as the Crapouillot or "little toad" from its appearance,
[}] was the standard French medium trench mortar of
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 ...
.
Background
The majority of military planners before the First World War were wedded to the concept of fighting an offensive war of rapid maneuver which before mechanization meant a focus on
cavalry
Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...
and light
horse artillery
Horse artillery was a type of light, fast-moving, and fast-firing artillery which provided highly mobile fire support, especially to cavalry units. Horse artillery units existed in armies in Europe, the Americas, and Asia, from the early 17th to t ...
firing
shrapnel
Shrapnel may refer to:
Military
* Shrapnel shell, explosive artillery munitions, generally for anti-personnel use
* Shrapnel (fragment), a hard loose material
Popular culture
* ''Shrapnel'' (Radical Comics)
* ''Shrapnel'', a game by Adam C ...
shells at formations of troops in the open. The problem facing the combatants was that their light field guns were designed for
direct fire
Direct fire or line-of-sight fire refers to firing of a ranged weapon whose projectile is launched directly at a target within the line-of-sight of the user. The firing weapon must have a sighting device and an unobstructed view to the target, w ...
and only had limited angles of elevation and weren't capable of providing the high-angle
indirect fire
Indirect fire is aiming and firing a projectile without relying on a direct line of sight between the gun and its target, as in the case of direct fire. Aiming is performed by calculating azimuth and inclination, and may include correcting aim by ...
needed to deal with enemy troops in dug-in positions.
The simple expedient was to elevate the guns by having them fire from pits but the size and weight of the guns were excessive and pack animals couldn't move the guns in the trenches or across the shell-pocked quagmire of
no man's land
No man's land is waste or unowned land or an uninhabited or desolate area that may be under dispute between parties who leave it unoccupied out of fear or uncertainty. The term was originally used to define a contested territory or a dump ...
. What the theorists hadn't foreseen was that
land mine
A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...
s, trenches,
barbed wire
A close-up view of a barbed wire
Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire
Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. Its primary use is t ...
, and
machine guns
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...
would rob them of mobility and as the
Western Front stagnated into
trench warfare
Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied lines largely comprising military trenches, in which troops are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery. Trench warfare became a ...
the light field guns that the combatants went to war with began to show their limitations.
Often defenders would wait out a preparatory artillery bombardment in reinforced dugouts and once the bombardment had lifted they would man their trenches and machine-gun nests in anticipation of an enemy attack across no man's land. Barbed wire was often used to channel attackers away from vulnerable areas of the defender's trenches and funnel attackers into predefined kill zones where overlapping fields of machine-gun fire could be brought to bear or to hold attackers at a safe distance to call in defensive artillery fire. The machine-gun nests could be constructed of sandbags, timber,
corrugated metal
Corrugated galvanised iron or steel, colloquially corrugated iron (near universal), wriggly tin (taken from UK military slang), pailing (in Caribbean English), corrugated sheet metal (in North America) and occasionally abbreviated CGI is a bu ...
, and concrete with overhead protection. For infantry advancing across no man's land, all they may see is a small horizontal opening at waist level, with just the top of the
gun shield
A U.S. Marine manning an M240 machine gun equipped with a gun shield
A gun shield is a flat (or sometimes curved) piece of armor designed to be mounted on a crew-served weapon such as a machine gun, automatic grenade launcher, or artillery piece ...
showing. Attacking infantry would have to close on these positions while under fire and destroy them with rifle fire,
grenades
A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade gene ...
, and
flamethrowers
A flamethrower is a ranged incendiary device designed to project a controllable jet of fire. First deployed by the Byzantine Empire in the 7th century AD, flamethrowers saw use in modern times during World War I, and more widely in World ...
.
The problem for the French Army was they lacked light, portable, simple, and inexpensive firepower that could be brought with them to overcome enemy machine gun nests and wire entanglements. Early on they experimented with
crossbows
A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an elastic launching device consisting of a bow-like assembly called a ''prod'', mounted horizontally on a main frame called a ''tiller'', which is hand-held in a similar fashion to the stock of a long fire ...
,
catapults
A catapult is a ballistic device used to launch a projectile a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden release of store ...
, and
slingshots
A slingshot is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame, with two natural rubber strips or tubes attached to the upper two ends. The other ends of the strips lead back to a pocket that holds the proj ...
to propel hand grenades with limited success. Unlike the Germans the French lacked portable mortars like the
7.58 cm Minenwerfer,
17 cm mittlerer Minenwerfer or
25 cm schwere Minenwerfer. The mortars that the French did have the
Obusier de 155 mm C modèle 1881 and
Mortier de 220 mm modèle 1880
History
The Mortier de 220 mm L mle 1880 was one of a series of heavy artillery pieces designed by Charles Ragon de Bange, Colonel Charles Ragon de Bange. On 11 May 1874 three de Bange heavy cannons (120 mm, De Bange 155 mm cannon, 155 ...
were siege artillery designed to arm France's forts that were much heavier than their opponents and not designed to be mobile.
History
In 1914,
Commandant
Commandant ( or ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ran ...
Duchêne of the Engineers (of the 33rd Corps belonging to
X Army) began experimenting with a simple improvised tube mortar made from discarded
Canon de 75 mle 1897 cases at the end of a pole. He found he was able to build a simple high-explosive fragmentation projectile that could be used as an anti-personnel weapon and to clear barbed wire entanglements. On November 7, 1914, Commandant Duchêne was sent to the Bourges pyrotechnics school by order of
General Joseph Joffre to develop a mortar under the direction of General Dumézil, inspector of artillery studies and testing.
Mortier de 58 T N°1
The basic specification was for a light, mobile, and inexpensive mortar which could fire a projectile to a range of using a
smokeless powder
Finnish smokeless powderSmokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to gunpowder ("black powder"). The combustion products are mainly gaseous, compared to a ...
propellant charge. The requirement also specified a weapon that could be produced from non-strategic materials, using simple production methods and produced by companies not currently engaged in war work.
The launcher was a simple pole 58 mm (2.3 in) in diameter with a round weighted base at one end and a hollow cup that held the propellant charge at the other. An adjustable sleeve was attached to the pole that connected to a crescent-shaped elevation mechanism with holes for elevation. The elevation mechanism then fit into the center of an A-shaped bi-pod and elevation was set by pushing a bolt through the elevation hole. The 60 g (2.1 oz) propellant charge was then inserted in the muzzle and the projectile slid onto the end of the launch tube. The mortar was fired by pulling on a lanyard which was attached to a
friction igniter embedded in the propellant.
The first 70 mortars were delivered in mid-January 1915 to troops in the
Argonne region for testing. The tests were considered successful and General Joffre ordered another 110 mortars and the production of 4,000 projectiles a day. However, the tests revealed that the launcher was unstable and had a tendency to tip over when pulling on the firing lanyard. The launcher often fell over after being fired and had to be re-aimed between shots which limited its rate of fire. The troops also requested heavier projectiles with larger explosive charges to deal with enemy troops in dug-in positions and these factors led to the Mortier de 58 T N°1 being replaced in 1916.
Mortier de 58 T N°1 bis and Mortier de 58 T N°2
To address deficiencies in the design of the Mortier de 58 T N°1 Commandant Duchêne continued to work on the design of two new mortars concurrently with completely different bases. Where the N°1 was tall, thin, and top-heavy the N°1 bis and N°2 launchers were short, had a broad footprint, and low center of gravity. The long launch tube wasn't needed to elevate the projectiles past the lip of the trench so a shorter and sturdier launch tube was used instead. Both designs were much more stable which led to a higher rate of fire because they didn't need as much setup time between shots. Their short and fat appearance earned them the nickname "little toads".
The Mortier de 58 T N°1 bis weighed and could fire the same projectiles as the Mortier de 58 T N°1 to at +45°. However, the projectiles were considered too light and the Mortier de 58 T N°1 bis were in turn replaced by the Mortier de 58 T N°2. The advantage of the Mortier de 58 T N°2 was that it could fire new heavier projectiles of similar design to a greater range but it weighed so it wasn't as mobile but still light enough that it could be lifted by the crew and placed on a cart and towed by pack animals. The N°2 became one of the most widely used French mortars of the First World War with 276 operational in June 1915, 779 in March 1916, 1,268 in May 1917, 1,766 in January 1918, and 1,158 in November 1918.
Both the Mortier de 58 T N°2 and Mortier de 58 T N°1 bis were used by the Italian Army who gave the Mortier de 58 T N°2 the designation ''Bombarda da 58 A'' and the Mortier de 58 T N°1 bis was designated ''Bombarda da 58 B.'' Approximately 1,000 of both types were used by the Italian Army.
Projectiles
3 types of bomb were available:
*Light L.S. bomb - , containing of explosive. 6 wings, hollow plugged tail.
*Heavy D.L.S. bomb - , containing of explosive. 6 wings, hollow plugged tail.
*Medium A.L.S bomb - , containing of explosive. 3 wings, unlike the other 2 it has a hollow tail which contained the propellant charge, placing thrust closer to center of gravity and increasing range and accuracy. Not yet in common use as at March 1918.
Examples of capabilities:
[General notes on the use of artillery. France. Ministère de la guerre. 1917. Page 42]
*To destroy a x blockhouse, 60-80 D.L.S. bombs or 100-150 L.S. bombs were required.
*To cut a passage through barbed wire defenses wide x deep, 120 D.L.S. bombs or 200 L.S. bombs were required.
Gallery
File:Lance torpille français.png, The earlier Mortier de 58 T n°1 near Vauquois, France, 1915
File:French 58 mm mortars WWI LOC 21833.jpg, The ''Mortier de 58 T n°1 bis'' is to the left and the later ''Mortier de 58 T N°2'' is to the right.
File:Exercices avec un mortier de tranchée - Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine - AP62T103651.jpg, A mortar being unloaded from its wagon.
File:Crapouillot.jpg, Carrying bombs in a trench.
File:111-SC-29865 - NARA - 55219034-cropped.jpg, A group of Allied officers. A three-finned ''Mortier de 58 T n°1'' is to the left and a six-finned ''Mortier de 58 T n°2'' is to the right.
Weapons of comparable role, performance and era
*
2 inch Medium Mortar - Early British equivalent
*
Newton 6 inch Mortar - Later British equivalent
Surviving examples
*Many places around France, especially as war memorials.
*At the
Polish Army Museum
Museum of the Polish Army ( pl, Muzeum Wojska Polskiego) is a museum in Warsaw documenting the military history of Poland. Established in 1920 under the Second Polish Republic, it occupies a wing of the building of the Polish National Museum as w ...
in Warsaw.
Passion & Compassion 1914-1918. French Artillery - photographs of surviving examples
See also
Mortier de 58 mm T N°2 in EnglishList of heavy mortars*
:fr:Mortier de 58 mm T N°2 French wikipedia article
Notes
References
Manual for Trench Artillery. Part V. The 58 No.2 Trench Mortar. US Army, March 1918. Translated from French manual.Made available online by Combined Arms Research Library
General notes on the use of artillery. France. Ministère de la guerre. 1917. Translated and republished by US Army War College, November 1917
External links
"SPECIFICATIONS FOR No. 58-2 EMPLACEMENTS type I and II". US Army War College, March 1918.
{{WWIItalianGuns
World War I mortars of Italy
World War I mortars of France
58 mm artillery