Historic context :

Very soon after the front stabilization in 1914, the fighting armies improvized some trench mortars made with repuperation hardware found on the battlefields. This gave birth in France to the famous Célerier mortar, simply made of a emptied 77 mm German shrapnell shell body fixed on a wooden wedge, acting as a barrel to throw a 65 mm cartridge filled with explosive.

On the German side, the frontline units facing a lack of trench weapons also improvised a similar weapon that was named Minenwerfer type D, and more accurately '7.7 cm Werfer aus umgebauter Granathülle'.

It was also an emptied 77 mm German shrapnell shell body, mounted on a wooden platform via a pivot and two legs whose base horizontal sliding movement in predefined positions (holes in guiding rails) defined the vertical aiming. This weapon was launching cylindrical ammunitions similar to the 'stove pipes' used by the Mauser MinenWerfers..

The characteristics and performances of these apparatus are unknown.

Technical data :

• Complete description : 7.7 cm type D minenwerfer
• Design year : 1914
• Calibre : 77.00 mm
• Weight in firing position : Unknown
• Weight for transportation :
• Tube length in calibres : 0.00
• Grooves : 0
• Projectile weight : Inconnu
• Initial speed :
• Fire rate :
• Range : 400 m
• Elevation range :
• Direction range :

• German Artillery of World War One           Herbert Jager                   Crowood   2001  
• Die deutschen Minen- und Granatwerfer im Ersten Weltkrieg 1914-1918       Dr Tillmann Reibert                   epubli GmbH   2014