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Stokes Mortar (3-inch)

1915 WORLD WAR 1 WORLD WAR 2

History

While mortars largely faded from interest before World War I, the stalemate in trench warfare forced militaries to reconsider its value on the battlefield. For centuries, mortars were an "indirect fire" weapon that could engage enemy forces not only at range, but without line of sight. As a result, entrenched enemy forces are no longer immune to incoming artillery, as mortars can disrupt concentration points and, most importantly, have a powerful psychological impact. The larger counterpart to the mortar is the field howitzer, which serves a dual purpose in the same role, although these designs are often large, heavy and bulky beasts compared to the inherent portability of lighter mortar designs. The British Stokes Mortar (3") was one of the most famous light mortars of the early modern period.

It was designed by the British engineer Sir Wilfred Stokes (hence the name), who ended up serving in the "Ministry of Quartermaster Inventions" during the First World War.

In the summer of 1914, tensions officially peaked with the outbreak of World War I, when Britain declared war on Germany after the Empire attempted to invade France through its British ally Belgium. Trench warfare sealed off the Western Front for months after it was announced, and both sides were grappling with a long war ahead (at first all parties thought the war would end by Christmas, and before the fighting began, large crowds were ecstatic embraced the conflict).

As standoffs were a growing problem for war planners and politicians, various methods of clearing the enemy were considered - including poison gas, flamethrowers, portable machine guns, planes, tanks (then called "landing ships" ) and - of course - cannons.