Some time ago on the pages of "VO" there was an article about a Swedish self-propelled mortar. What is the history of this type of weapon and, most importantly, what are its prospects? What original technical solutions were proposed by the designers of self-propelled mortars? This is what the story will be about now.
Carden-Lloyd wedge with a mortar as the main armament.
It will be necessary to start with the fact that both the classic Stokes mortar and the first mobile mortars first appeared in the British. On tanks "Tedpol tail" ("Tadpole's Tail"), a heavy English mortar of 9.45 inches (in fact, it is a copy of the French 240-mm mortar Dumézil-Batignol, but loaded from the muzzle) was installed on the platform between the rear parts of the elongated tracks and with he shot on the same site. The British, with their characteristic English humor, called the shell to it "Flying Pig", and then the name "stuck" to the mortar itself. The maximum range of the shot was 2300 m with a barrel length of 130 cm for the Mk. I sample and 175 cm for the Mk. II. Vertical guidance angles from + 45 ° to + 75 °. The Mark I weighed 680 kg and the Mark II 820 kg. The mortar was served by a crew of 9 people. But on the tank it was reduced to 4. Since the target in front of the tank was not visible to him, the commander of the tank commanded the crew, indicating the distance to shoot, for which a special table was attached in front of him on the armor plate. It is clear that the “flying pig” could not wait for accurate shots at the target, but the powerful explosion had a strong psychological effect on the enemy. But still, the British refused this weapon, considering it not very effective.
3-inch mortar on the Bren Carrier chassis.
They also made the second call in the 1920s, having installed Stokes' 76-mm mortar on the Carden-Lloyd tankette. True, only 18 of these mortars were fired. In them, the mortar was installed on a rotary carriage, in place of a machine gun, it was loaded manually, then it was aimed at the target and only then a shot was fired. Such a scheme negated the main advantage of the mortar - its rate of fire, which in Stokes mortars reached 30 rounds per minute. But, on the other hand, this mortar also had dignity. His shell fell on the enemy from above!
Experienced 9.75-inch American (248-mm) mortar on the chassis of the M7 self-propelled guns.
During the Second World War, the Germans, having acquired a mass of trophy tracked vehicles, decided to use it not so much for its intended purpose, but as a base for the most extensive experiments in the field of weapons. Flamethrowers were mounted on the chassis of French tanks, guns and howitzers were installed, and installations for launching rockets were mounted. One of the directions was the creation of self-propelled mortars on the basis of both captured vehicles and their own. Their own, as a rule, had a traditional scheme for placing a mortar in the fighting compartment of an armored personnel carrier, from which the roof was removed. Here, the rate of fire did not decrease, and the mobility did not decrease, and besides, the security of the calculation increased many times.
German self-propelled mortar on the Sdkfz250 armored personnel carrier chassis.
But the Germans tried to create on the basis of captured chassis and the first self-propelled multiple launch rocket mortars. There were modifications with sixteen and even twenty barrels. In both cases, the French 81-mm mortars of the Brandt system were used with a barrel length of 13.8 caliber, firing both fragmentation and smoke mines weighing 3.3 kg at a distance of 3030 m, high-explosive mines of 6.5 kg with an explosive charge about 1.5 kg at a distance of 1120 m. According to its data, this mortar was very close to the Soviet 82-mm mortar. But the self-propelled mortar was distinguished by the presence of a rotary gun carriage and the ability to fire 360 degrees. The elevation angles were common for mortars - 40 … 90 degrees.
German self-propelled mortar on the chassis of the Somua armored personnel carrier.
The chassis used was the Somua MCL, developed in 1933 as an artillery tractor for the 155-mm cannon. The length of the vehicle was 5.5 m, height 2.44 m, wheel track 1.7 m, tracks 1.6 m.
The MCL's weight was 9 tons, carrying capacity 1.5 tons, the power of the four-cylinder petrol engine was 85 hp. Its maximum speed on the highway was 32 km / h, and with an ammunition trailer - 15 … 18 km / h.
Self-defense mortar on the chassis of the T6E1 prototype based on the M24 tank.
The barrels were mounted on a gun carriage and a rotary base, had guidance mechanisms and a remote drive for firing mechanisms. The crew loaded the barrels with mines, after which the car went to position and … fired either with a high rate of fire, bringing down all its 16-20 minutes on the enemy in a matter of seconds, or, on the contrary, firing them one at a time, with careful adjustment of each shot. For obvious reasons, the main of which was slow loading, this system did not take root after the war.
Self-propelled mortar based on the M113 - M125 armored personnel carrier.
The Americans, for example, and not only they made self-propelled mortars on the basis of their most massive armored personnel carrier M-113. A retractable roof was arranged on it, that is, it differed from German similar vehicles only in a completely tracked chassis. It turned out to be very convenient to use the chassis of outdated tanks for such mortars. The turret was removed from them, then something like an armored "box" was mounted on them, holders for the mortar plate were placed on the bottom, which, by the way, made it possible to remove the mortar from the chassis and shoot from the ground, and that was all that was required. That is, such a modification of a combat vehicle could be built even without a developed military industry!
Soviet monstrous self-propelled mortar 2B1 "Oka". Only one thing can be said about him: small caliber! It was necessary to make at least 508-mm and show it in action to foreign military attachés and journalists at one of the training grounds! It would be the best PR of all time, but 420 mm made a splash!
In the future, many attempts were made to create an effective self-propelled mortar with an arrangement of weapons in the tower, and to increase the rate of fire of mortars, two were installed in it at once. The Americans also took this path and created an experienced mortar on the M113 chassis, but … it turned out that the car was too large, too noticeable, and had no real advantages over the reckless version.
Israeli 160-mm self-propelled mortar on the chassis of the Sherman tank. Fort Latrun.
The main problem with the mortar is its design. So, if it is loaded from a muzzle, then this is a high rate of fire, unattainable if such a mortar is placed in the tower. If, on the contrary, it is charged from the breech, as, for example, our 240-mm "Tulip", then this is a huge destructive power, but … a low rate of fire! That is, in one case we win while losing in another, and vice versa - in the opposite case. How to combine a horse and a quivering doe in one harness? There are a lot of offers here. There are many curiosities among them. For example, arrange a self-propelled mortar with large-caliber barrels in the back of a KAMAZ car! Book a cabin and … use it as a multiple launch rocket system at relatively short distances.
The Tulip mortar is a powerful weapon in every way!
Now more and more fighting is taking place in cities and on roads where concrete checkpoints are being erected. The distance to them is quite easy to determine. So we put such a car at a predetermined distance, which, by the way, does not arouse any special suspicions, and … we fire a volley at the target. If the checkpoint is not destroyed, then it is suppressed in any case, after which the group of capture on the car will be able to capture it quickly and without loss.
Mortar on the chassis of the Wiesel combat vehicle.
The device of a mortar on the chassis of the vehicle "Wiesel".
There are also quite exotic projects, one of which is shown in our picture. Tower mortar, with an octagonal turret of a complex configuration. It houses four blocks of 16 short barrels, which contain 72 ready-to-use mines of 81-82-mm caliber. One block of long shafts with a crane system for regulating gas pressure is movably fixed on the base of the tower. The short barrel blocks rotating with the turret are alternately aligned with the long barrel block. In this case, loading occurs: all mines from short barrels immediately fall into long ones. At the same time, the tower can rotate in all directions, since the block of long barrels is fixed in any position, and its elevation angle is always the same, just like with short barrels.
Finnish AMOS-4.
Further, the fully equipped block is aimed at the target together with the turret, the firing range is set using the crane system, the armored cover of the blocks is opened and shots are fired either at a high rate or with single fire. Such a device allows you to fire 72 shots at a high rate, give four volleys of 16 minutes each, or fire single mines for a rather long time. The original system, isn't it? However, it is one thing to come up with and patent, and quite another - to achieve that the idea is embodied in metal!
Mortar with four blocks of barrels and 72 mines in a rotating turret (project). Rice. A. Shepsa.
