21 cm Mörser 10

21 cm Mörser 10
21 cm Mörser 10
	21 cm Mörser 10 near Victoria Barracks, Melbourne, Australia.
Type	Howitzer
Place of origin	German Empire
Service history
In service	1910
Used by	German Empire
Wars	World War I
Production history
Designer	Krupp
Designed	1907–1910
Produced	1910
Specifications
Mass	15,496 lb (7,029 kg)
Barrel length	2.57 m (8 ft 5 in) L/12
Shell	252 pounds (114 kg)
Caliber	211 mm (8.3 in)
Breech	horizontal sliding-wedge
Recoil	hydro-pneumatic
Carriage	box trail
Elevation	-6° to +70°
Traverse	4°
Muzzle velocity	335 m/s (1,101 ft/s)
Maximum firing range	9,400 m (10,300 yd)

The 21 cm Mörser 10 (21 cm Mrs 10) was a heavy howitzer used by Germany in World War I (although classified as a mortar (Mörser) by the German military). It replaced the obsolete 21 cm Mörser 99, which lacked a recoil system. For transport, it broke down into two loads. Some howitzers were fitted with a gun shield during the war. As it was also intended for siege use, a concrete-penetrating shell was also used. Unusually, it had two spades: a folding one halfway down the trail and a fixed one at the end of the trail. Before the 21 cm Mörser 10 was commissioned for mass production, a small test series of 21 cm Versuchmörser 06 ("test mortar") was given to the German army. Eight pieces equipped two batteries, but their range of only 7 km was found insufficient, so the range was increased for the production version. Serial number 3 of these rare pieces is now exposed at Red Cliffs, Victoria.^[1] 216 were in service at the beginning of the war.^[2] It was replaced by the 21 cm Mörser 16, which was also known as the langer 21 cm Mörser since it was merely a lighter 21 cm Mrs 10 with a longer barrel for extra range and other refinements. The specifications provided for this weapon by difference sources are contradictory and, thus, those given here cannot be regarded as authoritative.

Gallery

21 cm Versuchsmörser 06
21 cm Mörser 10, July 1915
A 21 cm Mörser carriage being transported.
A 21 cm Mörser barrel being transported.

References

Hogg, Ian. Twentieth-Century Artillery. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2000 ISBN 0-7607-1994-2
Jäger, Herbert. German Artillery of World War One. Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire: Crowood Press, 2001 ISBN 1-86126-403-8