142mm Mortar Delattre

[David]

At the end of 1915 the Belgian Army, like most armies entangled in the new and troublesome type of trench warfare had aquired three types of Trench Mortars. One of these - beside the French Schneider F75 Type A and the so called Van Deuren Mortar - was the 142mm Delattre Mortar.

It is a pretty typical product of this first experimental phase of mortar design. It had a number of novel features. Firstly, it was fired electrically (as can also be deduced by the extensive wiring). Secondly, although its calibre technically speaking was 142mm, in reality it was a multi-projectile weapon, firing in rapid succession (circa 1 minute) seven 1kg shells to a minimum of 100 and a maximum of 260 meters. The spread of the shells seems to have been pretty big, making it less of a precision weapon than often required. It was very light: the mortar itself weighed only some 40kg. It was first employed by special mortar platoons outside Dixmunde in late 1915, and it was phased out of service in 1917.