9.45 inch mortar propellant packages ?

[RodB]

This photograph from Libraries and Archives Canada purports to show officers of V.2.C. Heavy Trench Mortar Battery at Mailly, SE of Arras May 1918. I understand V means 9.45-inch and 2 C means second Canadian Division. Correct ? Anybody know what the stack of packages behind them is ? They look like wooden containers. For propellant cartridges ? They look too well-constructed to hold powder bags though : look more like shell boxes but not for the 9.45. 6-inch Newton mortar bombs ??

thanks

Rod

[centurion]

The calibre of the breach where the propellant was loaded was much less than that of the barrel where the shell was loaded. From the manual for the 9.45 inch mortar

The cartridge case is of solid drawn brass 9.776 inches long and 6.67 inches in diameter. The head or base of the case has a projecting flange or rim to facilitate the removal of the case from the breech. The centre of the base is bored out to form a seat, into which the primer is forced. The primer seat is mandreled to near the finished- dimensions with a tapered steel plug to toughen the metal of the case around the primer seat and then reamed to finished size. This toughening is necessary to prevent expansion of the seat under gas pressure, with a consequent looseness of the primer in subsequent firings. The primer is inserted in the case by means of a primer-inserting press to avoid injury to the primer seat or cause the explosion of the primer.

The base of the case is marked with the name of the mortar and the lot number of the case.

[centurion]

Further to the above - from the same manual

Charges and fuses. The boxes which contain the cases and the boxes which contain the fuses should be sheltered from rain and dampness; do not open them until the moment of fire, close them as soon as the fire is ended ;open only one case at a time.

Which suggests that the propellant did come boxed

[RodB]

Appreciate the detailed input. But AFAIK Brits and associated Empire used a pure muzzle-loading version - they dropped powder bags down the barrel. The US used the French version which indeed used brass cases. I wonder whether these are boxes of fuzes ? There may be confusion over the fact that the Brits called both bagged and cased charges "cartridges". Or maybe I'm wrong, maybe the Canadians used the French version with brass cartridges ? Would sharing procurement with the US or French be an option ? They operated alongside the British and presumably shared their logistics.

[centurion]

According to Hogg the Brtiish 9.45 was merely the 240mm CT which was the short barrelled version of the 240mm LT but otherwise identical (the French used both the CT and LT)

Edit bags were of course used to fill the brass case which was reusable

[RodB]

British 9.45 inch mortar manual describes various methods of igniting propellant : "Safety fuze; Lee-Enfield rifle mechanism with blank cartridge; firing lead or striker, percussion". Not compatible with a cased charge. I got this from "Handbook of the M.L. 9.45-In. Trench Mortars. Mks I, II and III. February 1918. War Office, UK" at the AWM in Canberra a few years ago. See diagram below. Chamber is indeed much smaller than the bomb's size. I seem to remember that the original French design used 155-mm howitzer cartridge. Precisely how the charge was inserted into the chamber is not described in this manual. The Stokes and 6-inch Newton mortar were working along the idea of the propellant incorporated into the bomb's fins and tail, and the above ignition description would seem to be compatible. Except from the questions : why doesn't the bomb diagram (below) show propellant in fins and : does the flame from the 303 blank travel reliably up to the fins ?