Mortier de 75 modèle 1915 Schneider

Mortier de 75 modèle 1915 Schneider
Mortier de 75 modèle 1915 Schneider
Type	Light Trench Mortar
Place of origin	France
Service history
In service	1915–1918
Used by	France; Belgium
Wars	World War I
Production history
Designer	Schneider
Designed	1915
Manufacturer	Schneider
Produced	1915
No. built	900
Specifications
Mass	215 kg (474 lb)
Barrel length	.62 m (2 ft) 5 caliber
Crew	5
Shell	Separate loading cased charge and projectile
Shell weight	5.3 kg (12 lb)
Caliber	75 mm (3 in)
Action	Manual
Breech	Horizontal sliding-block
Recoil	None
Carriage	Two wheeled detachable cart.
Elevation	0° to +70°
Traverse	40°
Rate of fire	4 rpm
Muzzle velocity	130 m/s (430 ft/s)
Maximum firing range	1.7 km (1.1 mi)

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.

History

The majority of military planners before the First World War were wedded to the concept of fighting an offensive war of rapid maneuver which in a time before mechanization meant a focus on cavalry and light horse artillery firing shrapnel shells at formations of troops in the open. However, the theorists hadn't foreseen that trenches, barbed wire, and machine guns would rob them of the mobility and as the Western Front stagnated into trench warfare the light field guns that the combatants went to war with began to show their limitations when facing an enemy who was now dug into prepared positions.^[2]

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 indirect fire or the interdiction fire needed to deal with enemy troops in dug-in positions. The simple expedient was to elevate the guns by having them fire from pits but the weight and size of the guns were excessive for the task at hand since pack animals couldn't move the guns in the trenches or across the quagmire of no man's land.^[2]

Design

The Mortier de 75 modèle 1915 was a short-barrelled, breech loaded, rifled mortar with a horizontal sliding-block that fired separate loading cased charges and projectiles. The barrel was of autofretted monoblock construction which was trunnioned while the sliding-block breech bore no relation to the Nordenfelt eccentric screw breech used by the mle 1897. The projectiles came from the ubiquitous Canon de 75 modèle 1897 while the casing was a shortened mle 1897 casing which could hold three propellant charges and be reused up to 50 times.^[3]

By varying the number of propellant charges both the range and angle of impact for the projectile could be controlled. The mortar had no recoil mechanism and the barrel sat on a heavy steel base that absorbed recoil. Due to its low velocity and soft recoil the mle 1915 could use large stocks of defective shells with unstable explosives that were produced during the war.^[1] The barrel pivoted at the front of the base and could be traversed by a wooden handle at the rear while levers near the trunnion controlled elevation. For transport, the mortar could be placed on a two-wheeled wooden cart with two wooden handles and pulled by a team of 5 men or it would be broken down into 14 pieces and carried by soldiers to the front line trenches.^[3]

Beginning in September of 1915 regiments of the French and Belgian army was equipped with the mle 1915 and it can be considered a rough equivalent of the 7.58 cm Minenwerfer of the German Army. However, it was found that despite being able to provide high-angle fire its light shell was little more effective than if it was fired by the Canon de 75 modèle 1897. The shells lacked the explosive power needed to get at troops in reinforced bunkers and they did not have enough explosive power to destroy trenches.^[4] By comparison, a French Mortier de 58 mm type 2 weighed 226 kg (498 lb) and could deliver a projectile that weighed between 18–35 kg (40–77 lb). While the British Stokes mortar could deliver a 4.84 kg (10 lb 11 oz) projectile it had a better rate of fire and only weighed 47.17 kg (100 lb) versus the 215 kg (474 lb) for the mle 1915. For these reasons, the mle 1915 did not last long after the end of World War I.^[3]

Gallery

Mortier de 75 Mle 1915 Side View
Mortier de 75 Mle 1915 Rear View
Mortier de 75 Mle 1915 On Cart

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Mortier de 75 mm T Mle 1915 Schneider Type 1". www.passioncompassion1418.com. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
^ ^a ^b Hogg, Ian (2004). Allied artillery of World War One. Ramsbury: Crowood. pp. 129–134 & 218. ISBN 1861267126. OCLC 56655115.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Matériel de 75 mm de tranchée modele 1915 type A Schneider - WO1Wiki". www.forumeerstewereldoorlog.nl. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
^ "Mortier Schneider 75mm T type A Bruxelles". www.maquetland.com. Retrieved 2020-01-05.

External links

[:0-1] "Mortier de 75 mm T Mle 1915 Schneider Type 1". www.passioncompassion1418.com. Retrieved 2020-01-05.

[:1-2] Hogg, Ian (2004). Allied artillery of World War One. Ramsbury: Crowood. pp. 129–134 & 218. ISBN 1861267126. OCLC 56655115.

[:2-3] "Matériel de 75 mm de tranchée modele 1915 type A Schneider - WO1Wiki". www.forumeerstewereldoorlog.nl. Retrieved 2020-01-05.

[4] "Mortier Schneider 75mm T type A Bruxelles". www.maquetland.com. Retrieved 2020-01-05.

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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