The Mortier de 75 modèle 1915 Schneider was a French trench mortar designed and built by

Schneider Schneider may refer to: Hospital * Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel People * Schneider (surname) Companies and organizations * G. Schneider & Sohn, a Bavarian brewery company * Schneider Rundfunkwerke AG, the former owner of th ...

that saw action with the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and Belgian Army during the

First World War 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 majority of military planners before the First World War were wedded to the concept of fighting an offensive war of rapid maneuver which in a time 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 shells at formations of troops in the open. However, the theorists hadn't foreseen that trenches, barbed wire, and machine guns would rob them of the mobility and as the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

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 when facing an enemy who was now dug into prepared positions. 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

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 ...

or the interdiction fire 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 weight and size of the guns were excessive for the task at hand since pack animals couldn't move the guns in the trenches or across the 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 ...

Design

The Mortier de 75 modèle 1915 was a short-barrelled, breech loaded, rifled mortar with a horizontal sliding-block that fired

separate loading Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weapo ...

cased charges and projectiles. The barrel was of autofretted monoblock construction which was trunnioned while the sliding-block breech bore no relation to the

Nordenfelt The Nordenfelt gun was a multiple-barrel organ gun that had a row of up to twelve barrels. It was fired by pulling a lever back and forth and ammunition was gravity fed through chutes for each barrel. It was produced in a number of different ...

eccentric screw breech used by the mle 1897. The projectiles came from the ubiquitous Canon de 75 modèle 1897 while the casing was a shortened mle 1897 casing which could hold three propellant charges and be reused up to 50 times. By varying the number of propellant charges both the range and angle of impact for the projectile could be controlled. The mortar had no recoil mechanism and the barrel sat on a heavy steel base that absorbed recoil. Due to its low velocity and soft recoil the mle 1915 could use large stocks of defective shells with unstable explosives that were produced during the war. The barrel pivoted at the front of the base and could be traversed by a wooden handle at the rear while levers near the trunnion controlled elevation. For transport, the mortar could be placed on a two-wheeled wooden cart with two wooden handles and pulled by a team of 5 men or it would be broken down into 14 pieces and carried by soldiers to the front line trenches. Beginning in September of 1915

regiments A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...

of the French and Belgian army was equipped with the mle 1915 and it can be considered a rough equivalent of the

7.58 cm Minenwerfer The 7.58 cm Minenwerfer a.A. (''alter Art'' or "old model"), also 7.58 cm Leichter Minenwerfer (7.58 cm leMW, sometimes also LMW; "light mine launcher"), was a German First World War mortar. History The Russo-Japanese War of 190 ...

of the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

. However, it was found that despite being able to provide high-angle fire its light shell was little more effective than if it was fired by the Canon de 75 modèle 1897. The shells lacked the explosive power needed to get at troops in reinforced bunkers and they did not have enough explosive power to destroy trenches. By comparison, a French

Mortier de 58 mm type 2 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. Background The majority of military planners before t ...

weighed and could deliver a projectile that weighed between . While the British Stokes mortar could deliver a projectile it had a better rate of fire and only weighed versus the for the mle 1915. For these reasons, the mle 1915 did not last long after the end of World War I.

Gallery

File:Mortier de 75 Mle 1915 type A Schneider-1.jpg, Mortier de 75 Mle 1915 Side View File:Mortier de 75 Mle 1915 type A Schneider-2.jpg, Mortier de 75 Mle 1915 Rear View File:Mortier de 75 Mle 1915 type A Schneider-3.jpg, Mortier de 75 Mle 1915 On Cart

References

External links

* http://www.forumeerstewereldoorlog.nl/wiki/index.php/Mat%C3%A9riel_de_75_mm_de_tranch%C3%A9e_modele_1915_type_A_Schneider * http://www.artillerie.asso.fr/basart/article.php3?id_article=459 * http://www.maquetland.com/phototeque/impression/4782 * http://www.passioncompassion1418.com/Canons/Eng_AfficheCanonGET.php?IdCanonAffiche=422 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mortier de 75 modèle 1915 Schneider World War I mortars of France World War I field artillery of France 75 mm artillery