Can anyone id this odd looking trench mortar with rounds that look not unlike WW2 Piat bombs (which of course they aren't)? If it helps at least one of the soldiers in the picture is an American member of the French Foreign Legion.
There had been trials at St Etienne to convert the old and obsolete LEBEL- rifle actions to something useful in trench warfare. This "odd" mortar seems to be one of those products as on the top portion of the breech part seems to be a rifle action connected with the mortar barrel by a 90°-piece of tubing thus inducing the propellant gases of a blank cartridge behind the "tourterelles"-type grenades. Additionally, the proponent ring-loads with propellant around the grenade-tails are missing. The makeshift elevating device is another hint to my proposal. No wonder this s... never has been adopted.
Best regards,
Pody
__________________
"Ein Volk, das keine Waffen traegt,
wird Ketten tragen!"
(Carl von Clausewitz)
So its a projector rather than a mortar. I've come across a number of British and French devices that used the gas from a rifle round as the propellant.
Hello Centurion! Please read my entry in the forum about arty fuzes. As early as 24th of Sept. 1914, all german arty projectiles have been "shot". All further attempts to compensate have been made by the allies. This is one of them. Reading is strenous, but contemplative,
best regards,
Pody
__________________
"Ein Volk, das keine Waffen traegt,
wird Ketten tragen!"
(Carl von Clausewitz)