9 cm Minenwerfer M 14

9 cm Minenwerfer M 14
Type Light trench mortar
Place of origin Austria-Hungary
Service history
In service 1914-1918
Used by Austria-Hungary
Wars World War I
Production history
Designer TMK
Designed 1914
Produced 1914-17?
Variants M 14/16
Specifications
Weight 72 kilograms (159 lb)
Crew 3

Shell 2 kilograms (4.4 lb)
Caliber 90 mm
Breech interrupted-screw or cylinder lock
Effective firing range 199 metres (218 yd) (M 14)
Maximum firing range 345 metres (377 yd) (M 14/16)

The 9 cm Minenwerfer M 14 (Trench mortar) was a light mortar used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. It was designed by the Army's own Technisches und Administratives Militär-Komitee (TMK) in an effort to quickly satisfy the demand from the front for a light mortar. It had a number of issues with its ammunition, namely the black powder used as a propellant gave off copious smoke clouds on firing that revealed the tube's location and the mortar bomb fuzes had a high rate of failure. The breech-loading mortar tube was mounted on a framework that didn't allow for any traverse, which meant that it was impossible to engage different targets without relaying the mortar. In turn the frame was mounted a rectangular firing platform.

The M 14/16 had a circular platform to provide traverse and weighed only 65 kilograms (143 lb). A later model allowed the mounting to be collapsed for ease of transport. A new M 16 mortar bomb that used the German Poppenberg fuze system generally cured the dud problem, but it still used black powder as its propellant. This was a severe tactical disadvantage and it was decided to purchase replacement mortars from the German firm of Heinrich Lanz from 1917.

References


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