Granatwerfer
Mörser ("mortars"), also called Granatwerfer ("grenade projectors/launchers"), are small artillery weapons as integral infantry close support. With considerable minimum ranges and a high base inaccuracy they are not really an ideal AT weapon. Still, they can be effective against lightly armored vehicles, open-topped vehicles.
The mortar as a weapon was suggested to the german army by a hungarian priest in WW I. The new weapon however did not play any role in WW I. Mortars are strictly indirect fie weapons and basically consist of a steel tube mounted on a mortar plate. The ammunition is inserted into the muzzle, the round slides down to the bottom of the mortar tube. There, a firing pin on the bottom of the tube detonated a small powder charge in the tail of the mortar round which projected the ammunition out of the tube in a higly ballistical curve onto the target.
The mortars have been classified after their caliber into 5cm, 8cm and 12cm.

5cm - Granatwerfer

The small 5 cm Granatwerfer 36 was developed by the company Rheinmetall. It was a relatively complicated design, and although it used a special optical aiming device it proved to be disappointingly inaccurate with a deviation of 35m. The Gr.W. 36 had a length of 46.5cm and weighed only 14kg. It fired the Wurfgranate 38, a 22cm long round that weighed 900g and carried 120g of explosives. At a Vo of 75m/s the maximum range was 520m. Without the seperate optical aiming device one Gr.W.36 cost 400,- RM. A total of 25,842 Gr.W.36 were built from 1939 to 1943, when production ceased. Total production of the Wurfgranate 38 ammunition was 22,112,000 from 1939 to 1943.
The projected successor model leichter Granatwerfer 40 was scratched because the required maximum range of 800m could not be reached.

855 of the captured polish small 4.6cm Granatwerfer 36(p) ("p" for "polnisch" = "polish") were used solely for training purposes. The same use was made of captured french 6cm mortars under the designation Gr.W.225(f) ("f" for "französisch" = "french"). The small belgian 5cm - mortars at a tube length of 18.8cm and weight of 7.8kg looked more like a little rifle grenade launcher device on a 3-legged mount. Yet it was incorporated into the german army under the designation 5cm Granatwerfer 201(b) ("B" for "belgisch" = "belgian"). It fired a small 600g ammunition to a maximum range of 585m at a Vo of 75m/s.

The germans extensively used any captured russian 5cm mortars under the designation 5cm Granatwerfer 205/3(r). This cleverly designed small russian mortar weighed only 11.8kg and had a tube length of 63cm. It's ammunition weighed 900g and at a Vo of 80m/s reached a maximum range of 800m.

8cm - Granatwerfer

The german standard mortar was the 8cm Granatwerfer 34 or Gr.W.34. Developed by Rheinmetall in 1932, it proved to be a very reliable weapon and was immediately accepted. The tube had a length of 114.3cm, the complete mortar weighed 57kg including the 19kg tube. To produce it, 117kg of raw material were neccessary, the weapon cost 810,- RM (Reichsmark). At the beginning of WW II the german army possessed 4624 Gr.W.34. The weapon was kept in production all through the war with another 71,630 Gr.W.34 being produced from 1939 to 1945.The vehicle-mounted version of the weapon carried the designation Granatwerfer 67, abbreviated Gr.W.67.

The kurzer 8cm - Granatwerfer 42, also called kz. 8cm-Gr.W.42 or simply 8cm Granatwerfer kurz ("short") also known simply as the "Stummel-Werfer" ("stump-projector"), was used mostly by paratrooper units. It's barrel had been shortened to 74.7cm. Although weight was reduced to 26kg, the shortened barrel also made for a much slower Vo of only 110m/s. Because of this limited range it was produced only for a short time in 1943, total production was 1,591.

It fired the standard Wurfgranate 34 ("projector grenade") mortar round that weighed 3.5kg incl. 550g of explosives, had a length of 32.9cm and a caliber of 81.4mm. When fired from the Gr.W.34 this round had a Vo of 172m/s, a range of 2.4 km with a deviation of 65m. Total production of the Wurfgranate 34 (which was produced all through the war) was 73,972,000.
The Wurfgranate 38 and W.Gr.39 had a small extra charge in the nose of the warhead that let the round jump back into the air upon impact so that the round itself exploded as an airburst several meters above the ground. The Wurfgranate 40, also called "lange Wurfgranate" ("long projected grenade") was a much larger round with a length of 56.4cm and increased explosive charge of almost 5kg. Because the total weight of the round was 7.5kg, it had a much shorter maximum range of 950m.
The projected Wurfgranate 4462 anti-tank mortar round featured a shaped charge warhead that was to penetrate the relatively weak top armor of enemy tanks. The project had to be abandoned as it became obvious that the mortar was much to inaccurate for this idea.

A successor model to the Gr.W.34 was the 8cm Granatwerfer 73 which was still in evaluation as late as October 1944. It increased maximum range to 4.5km, decreased the weight of the mortar plate by 8kg and lengthened the tube to 119.5cm which increased tube weight to 21.5kg. It fired the new Werfergranate 42.

The austrian 8cm Granatwerfer 33(ö) ("ö" for "österreichisch" = "austrian") was a development based on the classical Stokes-Brandt mortar. Tube length was 113cm and the complete weapon weighed 62kg. It fired a 3.5kg mortar round at a Vo of 152m to a maximum range of 1.9km. The german army used a total of 230 of these mortars.

Captured czech 8cm mortars were used under the designation Granatwerfer 36(t). The Skoda design weighed 62kg and had a tube length of 114cm. The ammunition weighed 3.3kg, had a Vo of 220m/s and a maximum range of 3.4km. The Wehrmacht possessed 514 of the Gr.W.36(t) and 236,500 rounds of the ammunition at the outbreak of WW II. In 1940 Skoda produced another 49 weapons.

684 captured polish 8,1cm Granatwerfer 31(p) were used only for training purposes.

The french mortar Brandt 27/31, a Stokes-Brandt construction of 8,14cm caliber, was used by the germans under the designation Granatwerfer 278/1(f). It weighed 58.8kg, had a tube length of 111.4cm and fired a mortar round of 3.25kg to a maximum range of 2km at a Vo of 157m/s.

The germans extensively used captured russian 8.2cm mortars under the foreign equipment designation 8,2cm Granatwerfer 274(r). It weighed 57kg and fired from it's 128cm long tube a mortar round of 3.4kg with a Vo of 200m/s to a maximum range of 3.1km.

12cm - Granatwerfer

After germany attacked russia in 1941, they encountered the large russian PM 38 12cm mortars. Not only were any captured weapons immediately used in german service under the designation 12cm Granatwerfer 378(r), the germans were so impressed by this weapon that they immediately prepared to produce their own copies. This design was called 12cm Granatwerfer 42. The tube had a length of 186.5cm and the complete weapon weighed 285kg. It fired the Wurfgranate 42 that had a length of 72.1cm and weighed 15.8kg incl. 3.1kg of explosives. The warhead was usually fitted with the Abstandszünder 41 ("distance detonator") extender fuse. With a Vo of 283 the maximum range was slightly over 6km. The weapon proved a very successful design, total production (1943-1945) was 8,461 12cm Gr.W.42; it was comparably cheap and cost the germans 1,200.- RM apiece to produce. Of it's ammunition, the Wurfgranate 42, a total of 5,373,000 was built from 1943 - 1945.

Others

A projected 15cm mortar by the company Skoda - built in 3 prototypes - under the designation 15cm Granatwerfer 43 was rejected because the weight of 635 kg was considered too high and the range of 5km too short.

A late development by the company Skoda was the huge 21cm Granatwerfer 69, aptly called Elefant. At 2,700kg and a tube length of 300cm it was obvioulsy an artillery piece. Although 129 were built and the weapon and it's ammunition were constantly improved it could not be made really safe enough for troop use.

The germans also used the mortar-like Nebelwerfer ("smoke projector") smoke-laying and Ladungswerfer ("charge projector") minefield-clearing charge projectors. Among these weapons were the 10cm Nebelwerfer 35 (627 built), the 10cm Nebelwerfer 40 (317 built), the 20cm leichter Ladungswerfer (158 built) and the 38cm Ladungswerfer (42 built).

 
Previous Page : Hand Grenades & Related AT-Devices Main Page  Next Page : Mines&Flame Throwers

© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 created by M.Hofbauer August 29th 1998; document ver. 1.4 mod 150102
This page has been constructed with own material as far as possible, the third party images and information used herein are public domain to the best of my knowledge. The author went to considerable lengths to ensure accordance with the rights of copyright owners where applicable; respective consent is documented. If you feel injured in your rights by / take offense at - any part of this page's content contact me immediately for redress / possible removal of the respective part.