Light mortar 7.58 cm

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Light mortar 7.58 cm


Light mine thrower n.A.

General Information
Military designation: Light mortar 7.58 cm
Manufacturer country: German EmpireThe German Imperium German Empire
Developer / Manufacturer: Rheinmetall
Development year: 1909
Production time: 1909 to 1918
Model variants: older and newer kind
Team: 5-6
Technical specifications
Pipe length: 23.5 cm
Caliber :

7.58 cm

Caliber length : 3.1
Cadence : 6 rounds / min

The 7.58 cm light mine thrower was a German high-speed gun, known as a mine thrower , of the First World War .

development

German soldiers pull a light mortar 7.58 cm into the next position, 1918

Based on the experiences from the Russo-Japanese War , in which the Japanese artillery failed to successfully combat Russian defensive positions during the siege of Port Arthur , the German Reich developed the first high- angle guns for the close combat of shelters. The launcher was originally intended for the pioneers and was only issued to the infantry in a modified form (more recent) in the winter of 1916 ; each infantry brigade received two launchers. In the further course of the war, mine throwing companies were set up and in turn subordinated to the pioneers of a division .

technology

The light mortar in a horizontal position to combat enemy tanks, October 1918
Lightweight 7.58 cm new type of mine thrower - but without wheels

The height of the launch tube was adjustable and, from the new version in 1916 ( n. A. = new type), was installed on a bed of the base plate, which could be rotated through 360 °. - previously it only had a simple one to max. 70 ° swiveling bedding. The recoil was absorbed by three hydraulic cylinders. Two wheels could be installed on the base plate, which made it possible for the teams to move the thrower over short distances. In the later "newer type" version, a spar with a ground spur was supplied, which enabled almost horizontal, direct shots ( flat track shot ). The new type of light mortar could thus be used to combat tanks.

The maximum range of the old type of light mortar was 1,050 meters. The successor model, the new type of light mine thrower, on the other hand, had a maximum firing range of 1,300 meters.

literature

  • The big Guns 1914-1918 . In: Bernard Fitzsimons (Ed.): Purnell's History of the World Wars Special . Purnell, London 1973 (English).
  • Hans Linnenkohl: From a single shot to a fire roller . The race between technology and tactics in the First World War . Bernard and Graefe, Bonn 1996, ISBN 3-7637-5966-2 .
  • Arms of the armies of millions . In: Georg Ortenburg (Ed.): Heerwesen der Neuzeit . Bernard and Graefe, Bonn 1992, ISBN 3-8289-0521-8 .

Web links

Commons : 7.58 cm Mine Thrower  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Reibert, dissertation, page A25
  2. Reibert, dissertation, page A21 (construction drawings)
  3. Tillmann Reibert: The development of the grenade launcher in the First World War. The emergence of a new type of weapon in response to the conditions of trench warfare . Ed .: University of Hamburg. Hamburg 2013, p. A27 ff . ( uni-hamburg.de [PDF; 19.0 MB ; accessed on April 18, 2018] dissertation).