I have always been interested in trench artillery especially this type, the French needed a short range bomb thrower that could be man portable to front line trenches, cheap and easy to make and use helped the war effort. the picture I am posting has a 19914/15 tag, however it shows the barrel without the diameter reduction usually seen, I have thought the reduced section on the barrel was to allow using Van Duren rounds as well as the regular ones. The Van Duren round was a large spigot mortar that had a 70mm spigot.
The 1914 58mm mortar barrel was made from an existing axel for a 155mm French cannon, I think this shows an axel as made befor being turned down, I doubt the weight saving argument is valid, the whole thing was heavy.
I have enclosed the VanDuren mortar and round and the regular round for the 58mm.
The 1914 58mm mortar barrel was made from an existing axel for a 155mm French cannon, I think this shows an axel as made befor being turned down, I doubt the weight saving argument is valid, the whole thing was heavy.
I have enclosed the VanDuren mortar and round and the regular round for the 58mm.
