91mm type GR Trench Mortar

[David]

The unforseen demands created by the new type of trench warfare in WW1 called for many new types of weapons. One of the most important of these was the Trench Mortar. Very soon all Armies started experimenting with Mortars, at first of a very improvised and even crude nature, but soon becoming more and more sophisticated.

This Russian mortar can be seen as one of the second generation of mortars, that were introduce in the middle of the war. Very little is known of it, except that the calibre was 91mm, and that it used two different types of grenades - that can be seen in the photos: both probably HE, but probably with different types of fuses. The type designation suggests that it was introduced in 1916. The Mortar was manufactured by AB Maskin & Bro in Helsinki.