qsy-complains-a-lot:Cellerier light mortarThe pressure put on the French army by the formidable Germ
qsy-complains-a-lot:Cellerier light mortarThe pressure put on the French army by the formidable German Minenwerfer mortar early in the war created a rush to create any weapon able to riposte in kind. Inspired by 18th century coehorns, artillery captain Cellerier gathered dud German 77mm shells to use as barrels, stuck them on roughly carved 45° wooden bases, poked a touch hole through the base and voilà. Hurray for System D I guess.The resulting crude weapons used loose powder as propellant, set off by an old-timey fuse. The projectiles were made with refurbished 65mm mountain gun shells, filled with blackpowder, nails and shards of stuff, and also equipped with a fuse to hopefully explode in the enemy trench. The Cellerier mortar was often used in large batteries to increase its effectiveness. Note how it shares its ‘crapouillot’ monicker with the later purpose-built mortiers de 58mm Type N°1 and 2.As unlikely as it may seem, the Cellerier mortar was an effective stopgap weapon for a few months while less ad-hoc weapons were developed away from the front. The 65mm shells were soon replaced by handmade sheet iron projectiles following an order by general Joffre to focus on systems that did not tap into the already threadbare ammunition supply lines. This incidentally prompted military engineer commandant Duchêne to stop doing just that, switching from creating finned rockets out of 120mm shells to creating better-made mortars using railway buffers, creating the mortier de 58mm ‘Crapouillot’. -- source link