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Minenwerfer is the German name for a class of short range mine shell launching mortars used extensively during the First World War by the Imperial German Army. The weapons were intended to be used by engineers to clear obstacles, including bunkers and barbed wire, that longer range artillery would not be able to target accurately.
The 22.5 cm Minenwerfer M 15 was a heavy mortar used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. It was developed by Böhler as an alternative to the German Ehrhardt 25 cm schwere Minenwerfer which Böhler was having problems building under license. It was a muzzle-loading, smooth-bore mortar that had no recoil system whatsoever. The entire mortar had to be levered around to aim at new targets. It was not particularly accurate and bombs often fell over in flight and landed on their sides so they used time instead of contact fuzes. It fired high-explosive and gas shells. For transport two wheels from the Gebirgsgechütz M 99 were used.
The 26 cm Minenwerfer M 17 was a heavy trench mortar used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. It was developed by Skoda as an alternative to copying captured Italian 240 mm Trench Mortars. Skoda presented two versions, one with a rigid barrel, and the other with a recoil system. The former was chosen as it was simpler to produce. It was a muzzle-loading, rifled mortar that had to be levered around to aim at new targets. It disassembled into four pieces for transport.
The 14 cm Minenwerfer M 15 was a medium mortar used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. It was developed by Škoda Works as an alternative to a German design from Rheinische Metallwarenfabrik/Ehrhardt for which ammunition could not be procured. It was a rigid-recoil, rifled, muzzle-loading weapon that had to be levered around to aim at new targets. It was lifted onto a two-wheel cart for transport.
The 10.5 cm Luftminenwerfer M 15 was a medium mortar used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. It was developed by the German firm of Ehrhardt & Sehmer. It was a rigid-recoil, muzzle-loading mortar on a fixed base that used compressed air to propel the mortar bomb to the target. Each cylinder of compressed air lasted for fifteen shots. A notable advantage was that the mortar had no firing signature, unlike conventional mortars with smoke and muzzle flash.
The 15 cm Luftminenwerfer M 15 M. E. was a medium mortar used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. It was developed by the German firm Maschinenfabrik Esslingen in response to a German requirement. Its initial testing was observed by an Austro-Hungarian representative and his positive report convinced them to order a batch of five for comparative testing. It was evaluated on 21 September 1915 and it produced the right impression. Nonetheless four weapons were sent off for combat trials at the end of October 1915, which were presumably favorable.
The 12 cm Luftminenwerfer M 16 was a medium mortar used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. It was developed by Austria Metal Works in Brno from their earlier, rejected, 8 cm project. It was a rigid-recoil, smooth-bore, breech-loading design that had to be levered around to aim at new targets. It was very simple in that the shell closed the top of the chamber and was retained by a "gripper" until the air pressure was deemed sufficient and the gripper was manually released, which fired the weapon. An additional barrel could be fitted to extend the range. A cylinder of compressed air was good for eleven shots.
The 20 cm Luftminenwerfer M 16 was a heavy mortar used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. It was developed by Austria Metal Works in Brno from their earlier 12 cm Luftminenwerfer M 16. It was a rigid-recoil, smoothbore, breech-loading design that had to be levered around to aim at new targets. It was very simple in that the shell closed the top of the chamber and was retained by a "gripper" until the air pressure was deemed sufficient and the gripper was manually released, which fired the weapon. The barrel was fixed at 45° elevation and range was adjusted by varying the air pressure, but an additional barrel could be fitted to extend the range. A single cylinder of compressed air was only good for four to six shots. It was loaded onto a two-wheel cart for transport.
The 9 cm Minenwerfer M 14 was a light mortar used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. Originally named the '1-kg Minenwerfer', it was designed by the Army's own Technisches und Administratives Militär-Komitee (TMK) in an effort to quickly satisfy the demand from the front for a light mortar.
The 9 cm Minenwerfer M 17 was a medium mortar used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. It was developed by the Hungarian Gun Factory to meet a competition held on 3 October 1917 to replace both of the earlier light mortars, the M 14/16 and the Lanz. Production was slow to ramp up and only ten weapons could be delivered in January 1918. The first large deliveries were made in March 1918, but the raw materials crisis and strained production facilities hindered the TMK's plan to produce 2730 mortars by October 1918.
The 38 cm Belagerungshaubitze M 16 was a super-heavy siege howitzer used by Austria-Hungary during World War I.
The 42 cm L/15 Küstenhaubitze M. 14 was a superheavy siege howitzer used by Austria-Hungary during World War I and by Nazi Germany during World War II.
The 12 cm Minenwerfer M 15 was a medium mortar used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. It was designed by the Army's own Technisches und Administratives Militär-Komitee (TMK) as an enlarged 9 cm Minenwerfer M 14 in 1915. The War Ministry decided to order 50 from the TMK, but the latter preferred only to produce 10 and switch the remaining 40 to the 14 cm Minenwerfer M 15, but no response was made by the Ministry. The TMZ placed an order for the 10 mortars from Teudloff & Dittrich in Vienna at the end of 1915. A follow on order for another hundred was canceled in February 1916.
The 9.15 cm leichtes Minenwerfer System Lanz was a light mortar used by Germany and Austria-Hungary in World War I, developed from the 9cm glatter leichter MinenWerfer Mauser by Firma Heinrich Lanz & Co. The tube was made thicker and stronger which allowed for more powerful powder to be used, the breech was beefed up, and the safety pin closing system replaced with a screw locking system. The platform was made stronger and had more room for accessories than the Mauser.
The 8 cm Feldkanone M. 99 was a field gun used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. It was designed in a rush because Austria's neighbors had already begun the process of modernizing their artillery. The designers whatever improvements they could be made without delaying development. For example, various hydraulic recoil systems were evaluated, but ultimately rejected as they required more development time than was available. So the M. 99 retained the so-called steel bronze barrel of its predecessor, but used an eccentric interrupted-screw breech to speed up its rate of fire, and adopted the carriage of the 9 cm Feldkanone M 75/96 with some minor changes, including improvements to the spade brake to reduce recoil forces.
The 3.7 cm Infanteriegeschütz M.15 was an Austro-Hungarian cannon developed for use in the trenches during the First World War. The name indicates the caliber in centimeters, the gun's role Infanteriegeschütz which in German means infantry support gun and the model according to the year of introduction. Captured Austrian guns and Italian produced copies were first designated Cannon 37F and later as 37/10 F. Mod. 1915 in the 1930s.
The 7 cm Gebirgsgeschütz M 75 was a bronze-steel mountain gun used by Austria-Hungary during World War I. Despite its 7 cm designation it actually fired a 66 mm (2.6 in) projectile. The Austro-Hungarian Army rounded up to the nearest centimeter for their designations. The gun had an early form of Krupp horizontal sliding-block breech and it fired separate-loading, bagged charges and projectiles. Due to its low profile, its breech could recoil into the ground so its angle of elevation was restricted which was a significant handicap for a mountain gun which needed high angles of elevation. For transport, the Gebirgsgeschütz M 75 could be broken down into two loads.
The Mortier de 75 modèle 1915 Schneider was a French trench mortar designed and built by Schneider that saw action with the French and Belgian Army during the First World War.
The 24 cm schwere Flügelminenwerfer IKO or 24 cm sFIMW IKO was a heavy mortar used by the Imperial German Army during the First World War.
The 24 cm schwere FlügelMinenWerfer Albrecht, or 24 cm sFIMW 17 Albrecht, was a heavy mortar used by the Imperial German Army during the First World War.
