Cellerier Mortar

Mortier de tranchee de circonstance Cellerier
Mortier de tranchee de circonstance Cellerier
	A Cellerier mortar at the Auckland Museum
Type	Infantry mortar
Place of origin	France
Service history
In service	1914-1918
Used by	France
Wars	World War I
Production history
Designer	Captain Cellerier
Specifications
Mass	12 kg (26 lb)
Shell	1.8 kg (3 lb 15 oz)
Caliber	65 mm (2.6 in)
Elevation	+45°
Effective firing range	250–300 m (270–330 yd)

The Mortier de tranchee de circonstance Cellerier or Cellerier Mortar was an early French light infantry mortar of World War I. The name roughly translates to (Cellerier Improvised Trench Mortar) in English.

Background

The majority of military planners before the First World War were wedded to the concept of fighting an offensive war of rapid maneuver which before mechanization meant a focus on cavalry and light horse artillery firing shrapnel shells at formations of troops in the open. The problem facing the combatants was that their light field guns were designed for direct fire and only had limited angles of elevation and weren't capable of providing the high-angle indirect fire needed to deal with enemy troops in dug-in positions.^[2]

The problem for the French Army was they lacked light, portable, simple, and inexpensive firepower that could be brought with them to provide high-angle indirect fire against an entrenched enemy. Unlike the Germans the French lacked portable mortars like the Granatenwerfer 16, 7.58 cm Minenwerfer or 17 cm mittlerer Minenwerfer for the first half of the war. Early in the war, the French scoured their arms depots and museums and the closest equivalent they had to Germany's light mortars were bronze Mortier de 15 cm mle 1838s. They experimented with crossbows, catapults, and slingshots to propel hand grenades with limited success.^[3]

History

Faced with heavy and effective German mortar fire in the Argonne sector French Artillery Captain Cellerier developed an improvised light trench mortar in November 1914 that utilized cheap and available materials. The base of the mortar was made from a wooden beam with a +45° notch cut out of it and the smoothbore barrel was made from discarded shell casings from the German 7.7 cm FK 96 n.A. field gun. The shell casing was modified by drilling a hole in the base for a pyrotechnic time fuze and the barrel was fastened to the base with a metal bracket which extended through the base and was bolted to the front. Photos of surviving mortars look like an iron pipe could also be used for the barrel instead of shell casings. An iron plate with a handle was attached to the front of the base to carry the mortar and two small spikes at the bottom of the plate anchored the base.^[1]

To load the mortar a fuze was placed in the base of the barrel and then a propellant charge was inserted in the muzzle. Then a 65 mm projectile from the Canon de 65 M mle 1906 mountain gun modified with a tail-cone with four sheet metal fins that was placed in the muzzle and the fuze was lit which ignited the propellant charge. The range could be set by varying the size of the propellant charge and by placing shims beneath the base to change the angle of fire. Often groups of mortars were fired together to provide a preparatory barrage before crossing no man's land. These barrages helped mitigate the small size and inaccuracy of the projectiles.^[3]

The ignition source would often be a lit cigarette.^[4] They were sometime called Taupia mortars, after taupe, the French term for the animal, the mole.^[5]

Gallery

Replica Cellerier mortars being fired during a re-enactment in Belfort, France
A battery of Cellerier mortars
Loading a pair of Cellerier mortars
A Cellerier mortar variant with a trunnioned barrel and adjustable elevation
A mortar being fired by a lit cigarette
A 1916 depiction of a battery in action

References

^ ^a ^b "Lance-bombes de 77 mm Cellerier". www.passioncompassion1418.com. Archived from the original on 2015-11-19. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
^ Batchelor, John (1979). Land power. John H. Batchelor. New York: Exeter Books. pp. 6–8. ISBN 0-89673-010-7. OCLC 5718938.
^ ^a ^b "Les Français à Verdun - 1916". www.lesfrancaisaverdun-1916.fr. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
^ Bull, Stephen (27 May 2021). World War I Trench Warfare (1): 1914–16. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-4728-5254-0.
^ "French "Mole" Used to Blast Germans From Positions (Page 2)". Asheville Citizen-Times. Newspapers.com. 8 July 1916.

[:3-1] "Lance-bombes de 77 mm Cellerier". www.passioncompassion1418.com. Archived from the original on 2015-11-19. Retrieved 2021-04-04.

[:0-2] Batchelor, John (1979). Land power. John H. Batchelor. New York: Exeter Books. pp. 6–8. ISBN 0-89673-010-7. OCLC 5718938.

[:2-3] "Les Français à Verdun - 1916". www.lesfrancaisaverdun-1916.fr. Retrieved 2021-04-02.

[4] Bull, Stephen (27 May 2021). World War I Trench Warfare (1): 1914–16. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-4728-5254-0.

[mole-5] "French "Mole" Used to Blast Germans From Positions (Page 2)". Asheville Citizen-Times. Newspapers.com. 8 July 1916.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

v t e French artillery of World War I
Anti-aircraft guns	Canon de 75 antiaérien mle 1913-1917
Coastal artillery	Canon de 100 mm Modèle 1891 Canon de 19 C modèle 1870/93 Canon de 19 C modèle 1875 Canon de 24 C modèle 1876 Canon de 240 L Mle 1884 Mortier de 270 mm modèle 1889
Field artillery	Canon de 75 modèle 1897 Canon de 75 modèle 1912 Schneider Canon de 75 modèle 1914 Schneider De Bange 90 mm cannon Obusier de 120 mm C modèle 1890 Obusier de 120 mm mle 15TR
Infantry guns	Canon d'Infanterie de 37 modèle 1916 TRP
Medium and heavy artillery	Canon de 105 mle 1913 Schneider Canon de 155 court modèle 1904 Rimailho Canon de 120 mm modèle 1878 Canon de 145 L modele 1916 Saint-Chamond Obusier de 155 mm C modèle 1881 Obusier de 155 mm C modèle 1890 Canon de 155 C modèle 1917 Schneider Canon de 155 C modèle 1915 St. Chamond Canon de 155 L modèle 1877/14 Schneider Canon de 155 L Modele 1917 Schneider Canon de 155 L modèle 1918 Schneider Canon de 155 mm GPF De Bange 155 mm cannon Canon de 220 L mle 1917 Mortier de 220 modèle 1915/1916 Schneider
Mortars	Cellerier Mortar Mortier de 58 T N°1 Mortier de 58 T N°1 bis Mortier de 58 mm type 2 Mortier de 75 modèle 1915 Schneider Mortier de 150 mm T Mle 1917 Fabry Mortier de 240 mm Mortier de 270 mm modèle 1885 Mortier de 270 mm modèle 1889
Mountain artillery	Canon de 65 M modele 1906 75 mm Schneider-Danglis 06/09 Canon Court de 105 M modele 1909 Schneider
Railway artillery	Canon de 120 L mle 1878 sur affût-truc Peigné-Canet-Schneider mle 1897 Canon de 140 sur affut-truc mle 1884 Obusier de 155 C mle 1881 sur affût-truc Peigné-Canet-Schneider mle 1897 Materiel de 155 sur affut-truc Schneider Canon de 164 modèle 1893/96 TAZ Canon de 19 C modèle 1875 Canon de 19 modèle 1870/93 TAZ Obusier de 200 "Pérou" sur affût-truck TAZ Schneider 24 cm Canon G modèle 1916 Canon de 240 L Mle 1884 Canon de 240 modèle 93/96 TAZ Canon de 274 modèle 93/96 Berceau Canon de 274 modèle 87/93 Glissement Canon de 305 modèle 93/96 TAZ Canon de 305 modèle 1893/96 à berceau Canon de 305 modèle 1893/96 à glissement Canon de 32 modèle 1870/81 à glissement Canon de 32 modèle 1870/84 à glissement Canon de 32 modèle 1870/93 à glissement Canon de 340 modèle 1893 à glissement Canon de 340 modèle 1912 à berceau Canon de 340 modèle 1912 à glissement Obusier de 370 modèle 1915 à berceau Canon de 370 modèle 75/79 Glissement Obusier de 400 Modèle 1915/1916 Obusier de 520 modèle 1916
Siege artillery	Obusier de 120 mm C modèle 1890 Canon de 120 mm modèle 1878 Obusier de 155 mm C modèle 1881 Obusier de 155 mm C modèle 1890 Mortier de 220 mm modèle 1880 Canon de 240 L Mle 1884 Canon de 240 TR Mle 1903 Mortier de 270 mm modèle 1885 Mortier de 270 mm modèle 1889 Mortier de 280 modèle 1914 Schneider Mortier de 293 Danois sur affut-truck modèle 1914 Mortier de 370 modèle 1914 Filloux
Self propelled artillery	Canon de 194 GPF Canon de 220mm L Mle1917 Schneider (FAHM) Mortier 280 mm TR de Schneider sur affût-chenilles St Chamond
Armoured vehicle guns	Puteaux 37 mm SA 18 Canon de 75 modèle 1897