InkyBill Posted 19 June , 2003 Share Posted 19 June , 2003 Hello Does anyone know what a Howitzer 'Sausage' is ? The phrase appears in a war diary i'm consulting, i guess its some kind of shell. I have consulted John Brophy and Eric Partridges 'The Long Trail' and it says a sausage was an observation balloon. Any ideas Cheers Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raster Scanning Posted 19 June , 2003 Share Posted 19 June , 2003 Observation ballons were often used for artillary spotting so I presume this is where the term came from. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 20 June , 2003 Share Posted 20 June , 2003 Bill, Could you give us some context for this usage of the phrase? I've a sneaky feeling that it might be a reference to cordite packages. Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stevebec Posted 20 June , 2003 Share Posted 20 June , 2003 I agreed, A number of batteries (Howitzer or Gun) would be under command of an Obsv Balloon and on call for fire. When a target of opertunity was seen, fire could be brought down quickly onto it. S.B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InkyBill Posted 23 June , 2003 Author Share Posted 23 June , 2003 Croonaert The War Diary is the 9th Essex for 25th September 1915, they had just created a diversion at Plugstreet for events taking place further south at Loos. 'In the evening he {the Germans} fired another 30 shells, and in the early morning some trench howitzer 'sausages' to which our enemy replied'. Hope this helps Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InkyBill Posted 23 June , 2003 Author Share Posted 23 June , 2003 Oops to which our artillery replied. - not enemy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raster Scanning Posted 23 June , 2003 Share Posted 23 June , 2003 Observation ballons were often used for artillary spotting so I presume this is where the term came from. John Bill. In the context you give, obviously my reply is incorrect Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 23 June , 2003 Share Posted 23 June , 2003 Bill. In that context, I'd say they were large calibre Trench Mortars, such as the 26 cm (9.84in.) Minenwerfer, or the 24cm. (9.45in.) "Flugelminwerfer". The projectiles are visible as they travel to their destination and could ,I suppose, be described as "sausages". Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InkyBill Posted 23 June , 2003 Author Share Posted 23 June , 2003 Thanks Dave, John and Simon for your replies It really does sound like 'Sausages' were Shells. Nice One ! Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 24 June , 2003 Share Posted 24 June , 2003 Bill. I've been trying to find a photo of a "Flugelminwerfer" projectile or of the mortar itself (or of any of the other large calibre German trench mortars) to illustrate the above points. In this I've failed (though, if you're really interested, I'll look a little deeper). However, this is the mortar of the one size down from it - the 17cm medium Minenwerfer- seen in action. The projectile resembled that of a standard artillery shell without the brass case. (quite long - hence "sausage"?) Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InkyBill Posted 25 June , 2003 Author Share Posted 25 June , 2003 Thanks Dave I see what you mean now, no need to dig deeper. Some of the terms used in the diaries throws me, if you can read them at all !!! Cheers for taking time to illustrate your points Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archangel9 Posted 20 April , 2013 Share Posted 20 April , 2013 Reviving this thread after almost 10 years, but better late than never I suppose! The "Sausage" as drawn in the war diary of the 10th Essex October 1916 - John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 20 April , 2013 Share Posted 20 April , 2013 Croonaert The War Diary is the 9th Essex for 25th September 1915, they had just created a diversion at Plugstreet for events taking place further south at Loos. 'In the evening he {the Germans} fired another 30 shells, and in the early morning some trench howitzer 'sausages' to which our enemy replied'. Hope this helps Bill A Trench howitzer was another name for a trench mortar so they would be shells fired from something like these Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archangel9 Posted 20 April , 2013 Share Posted 20 April , 2013 "...a handle at each end...." Sound unusual for something fired from a trench mortar? Maybe not, I'll leave that to the experts as I know absolutely nothing about the subject. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 20 April , 2013 Share Posted 20 April , 2013 Well the war diary calls them trench howitzer sausages and a trench howitzer is a trench mortar.. I agree that a handle at each end is odd for a trench mortar (the large calibre ones had a pointed shell) but it's even odder for any other kind of gun and I wonder if the sketch is in error. I can find one provisional (interim makeshift) mortar that fired a shell with a handle on one end but even then it was on a conical end not flat as shown in the sketch. However in 1915 the Germans were using a number of locally made 'one off' trench mortars and its quite possible that some have escaped description and photographs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archangel9 Posted 20 April , 2013 Share Posted 20 April , 2013 Sounds odd alright. Perhaps the sketcher was wrong and there was only a handle at one end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 28 October , 2018 Share Posted 28 October , 2018 Fifteen years since this thread began, I suggest that "sausages" came from the Albrecht mortar (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albrecht_Mortar). Here's a photo of the Albrecht and its shell, which strongly resembles the one in the sketch posted five years ago by archangel9: On 20/04/2013 at 08:30, archangel9 said: Reviving this thread after almost 10 years, but better late than never I suppose! The "Sausage" as drawn in the war diary of the 10th Essex October 1916 - John (Thanks, John. I've described this evidence at http://www.thomsonfielddiary.ca/arras.html#02-Jan-1917. If you like, I'd be happy to give you credit using your real name.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom bowler Posted 28 October , 2018 Share Posted 28 October , 2018 That 'shell' is reminiscent of the shell we used to fire from a Centurion AVRE in the 1970's and were last used in the first 'Desert Storm' in 1991 in Iraq.. The AVRE fired a 165mm demolition gun - the largest calibre then of any other British Army gun. It was used for destroying bridges , quickly, and the shells were also filled with high explosive. When fired you could actually see the shell in mid air - they were nicknamed 'The flying dustbin'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archangel9 Posted 29 October , 2018 Share Posted 29 October , 2018 Yes, tfd that looks like a match alright. Thanks for crediting me with finding the picture. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banstead100 Posted 6 August , 2020 Share Posted 6 August , 2020 I know it's an old thread but just to add a little more...The 6th Royal Berkshires (who were brigaded with the 10th Essex on the Somme in 1915-16) make almost daily mentions of bombardment by sausages while they were in the trenches at La Boiselle in 1915-early '16. They make a distinction between at least two different calibres of sausage (there being a "heavy" variant that gets a special mention) and describe them as being the "old oil-drum or 'sausage' and not the aerial torpedo" [WO-95-2037-1_01 10th January 1916] which fits with the sketch from the 10th Essex diary. They mention that several failed to explode in January '16, no duds being previously reported as far as I can see. Last mention of sausages is 7th February 1916, thereafter the references are usually just to trench mortar bombardments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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