Wigeon Posted 27 April , 2021 Share Posted 27 April , 2021 Canadian Corps Assistant Director Ordnance Services War Diary, entry for 5th April 1918 regarding a premature which occurred on 28 March involving a 3 inch Stokes on charge 9th Canadian LTMB. " A Mark 2 Bomb was used and the charge consisted of 1 green cartridge and 3 augmenting rings. A pistol head with safety fuze and detonator, was used, the safety fuze having been shortened to 5 seconds for Anti-Aircraft purposes. " A further example of the mortar's AA use is in WO 95-1282-6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ServiceRumDiluted Posted 27 April , 2021 Share Posted 27 April , 2021 Thanks Wigeon, thats pretty unambiguous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMeech Posted 21 June , 2021 Share Posted 21 June , 2021 Hi Trench Mortars did put 'claims' in for shooting down aeroplanes, as did others, contained in the Intelligence Summary's of 40th Division War Diaries is the following: I hope that is of interest. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Open Bolt Posted 22 June , 2021 Share Posted 22 June , 2021 Brilliant! Well I think that clears up nicely the relative effectiveness of anti-aircraft measures, with the RAMC in their rightful place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wigeon Posted 23 June , 2021 Share Posted 23 June , 2021 Australian 8th LTMB War Diaries for 1918 record the supply of an incendiary shell for ground and anti-aircraft use. 25th Jan 1918 ".... demonstration of a Stokes Incendiary shell was given with success, also the above shell was demonstrated against low-flying aircraft." An entry in an appendix to the following month's diary discussing anti-aircraft defence states all mortars will be " supplied with both Incendiary and HE anti-aircraft shells. Hostile aircraft will be engaged whenever opportunity offers." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMeech Posted 23 June , 2021 Share Posted 23 June , 2021 Hi Use of TM in anti-aircraft role could depend on the circumstances, as part of the 40th Division Defence Scheme, dated 26th January, 1918, expressly 'forbids' TM to fire on aircraft (Part 3 (d)) as they would have to fire on their SOS lines in the case of a German infantry attack. However, this does suggest that they would normally fire on aircraft. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith_history_buff Posted 20 February , 2023 Share Posted 20 February , 2023 An interesting picture of a Stokes mortar, as reproduced on a French website Link to photo:https://acierettranchees.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/stokes_mortar_aa_mounting-3.jpg?w=431&h=418 The article about the Stokes mortar, in French, without mention of AA usagehttps://acierettranchees.wordpress.com/2017/10/02/le-3in-stokes-pere-des-mortiers-modernes/ More images in this postMortier 3 inch AA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now