View source for Minenwerfer

{{Short description|Class of German mortars}}
{{For|the US black metal band|Minenwerfer (band)}}
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|footer = {{big|Left image:}} [[German Empire|Imperial German]] [[25 cm schwerer Minenwerfer]] during [[World War I]]. The left soldier is showing a {{convert|25|cm|abbr=on}} [[mine shell]] as used in the artillery piece.<br><br>{{big|Right image:}} Drawing of sectioned [[World War I]]-era [[Shell (projectile)|shell types]]. The left shell is a {{convert|25|cm|abbr=on}} Minenwerfer [[mine shell]]. The right shell is a {{convert|24|cm|abbr=on}} conventional [[high-explosive shell]] for comparison.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Salmonsens konversationsleksikon / Anden Udgave / Bind XVII: Mielck—Nordland / 72 (1915-1930)|url=https://runeberg.org/salmonsen/2/17/0086.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602213053/http://runeberg.org/salmonsen/2/17/0086.html|archive-date=2021-06-02|access-date=2021-12-28|website=runeberg.org}}</ref>
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'''''Minenwerfer''''' ("mine launcher" or "mine thrower") is the [[German language|German]] name for a class of short range [[mine shell]] launching [[Mortar (weapon)|mortars]] used extensively during the [[First World War]] by the [[German Army (German Empire)|Imperial German Army]]. The weapons were intended to be used by engineers to clear obstacles, including bunkers and barbed wire, that longer range artillery would not be able to target accurately.

The name of "minenwerfer" lives on in the German version of [[Clash Royale]], where it refers to a building that deals damage by launching projectiles.

== Background ==
The Germans studied the [[Siege of Port Arthur]], where heavy artillery had been unable to destroy defensive structures like barbed wire and bunkers. The German Military ''Ingenieurkomitee'' ("Engineer committee") began working with [[Rheinmetall]] to study the problem in 1907. The solution they developed was a short-barrelled rifled muzzle-loading mortar for [[mine shell]] ammunition, built in three sizes. In 1910, the largest of these was introduced as the ''[[25 cm schwerer Minenwerfer]]'' (abbreviated "sMW"; English: "{{convert|25|cm|abbr=on}} heavy mine launcher"). Despite weighing only {{convert|955|kg|abbr=on}}, it had the same effect on targets as the {{convert|28|cm|abbr=on}} and {{convert|30.5|cm|abbr=on}} mortars, which weighed ten times as much.

== Combat history ==
At the outbreak of the [[First World War]], the German army had a total of 160 ''minenwerfers''.<ref>Ian Hogg (1976). ''War Monthly - Issue 37: Minenwerfer'', p. 4. {{ISSN|0307-2886}}.</ref> They were used successfully in [[Belgium]] at [[Liège]] and [[Namur]], and against the French fortress of [[Maubeuge]]. After a few months when [[trench warfare]] started, the German infantry began calling for short-range weapons, and the ''minenwerfer'' entered the battle. Before long Allied forces were demanding similar devices. A captured ''minenwerfer'' was taken to the [[Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich|Royal Artillery Woolwich]] establishment in [[London]] in November 1914 and 100 copies rushed to the front by [[Christmas]].<ref>Ian Hogg (1976). ''War Monthly - Issue 37: Minenwerfer'', p. 4. {{ISSN|0307-2886}}.</ref> By mid-1916 there were 281 heavy, 640 medium, and 763 light ''minenwerfers'' in service, with 4,300 new weapons being produced every month.<ref>Ian Hogg (1976). ''War Monthly - Issue 37: Minenwerfer'', p. 6. {{ISSN|0307-2886}}.</ref>

With this powerful armory of short-range artillery, the German forces were able to reach across [[No man's land|No Man's Land]] and bring a punishing fire to bear on any target which presented itself. When [[chemical warfare]] arrived, the ''minenwerfer'' was a highly convenient method of delivering gas. The first German use of gas was in 1915 during the [[Battle of Bolimów]] in [[Poland]] on [[January 31]]. The German army shelled the Russian positions with [[xylyl bromide]], the attack was relatively unsuccessful due to low temperature which prevented the gas from vaporizing and spreading.<ref>Nick Cornish (2001). ''The Russian Army 1914-18'', p. 6. Osprey Publishing. {{ISBN|1-84176-303-9}}.</ref>

== Development ==
The medium version, the ''[[17 cm mittlerer Minenwerfer]]'' (mMW; "{{convert|17|cm|abbr=on}} mid-sized mine launcher"), was introduced in 1913. The model remained in reserve service until 1939-40.<ref>Ian Hogg (1976). ''War Monthly - Issue 37: Minenwerfer'', p. 6. {{ISSN|0307-2886}}.</ref> The light version of the weapon, the [[7.58 cm Minenwerfer|7.58 cm ''Leichter Minenwerfer'']] (LMW; "light mine launcher"), was still at the prototype stage when the war started, but rapidly entered production. The weapon was far more efficient than its artillery counterpart: in comparison, the {{convert|7.7|cm|abbr=on}} FK 96 n/A needed to be towed by a team of six horses, compared with a single horse for the LMW; additionally, the LMW could be moved around the battlefield by four men. The ''minenwerfer'' was cheaper, costing only one-seventh as much as the artillery gun, as did its ammunition.

Since the muzzle velocity, and thus firing shock, of ''minenwerfers'' was low, a variety of explosives that would usually be unsuitable for use in artillery was used to fill the shells. In any case, [[trinitrotoluene|TNT]] explosive was reserved for use in artillery shells. Typically, the explosives used in ''minenwerfer'' shells were [[ammonium nitrate]]-[[carbon]] explosives. However, the sensitivity of the explosives occasionally made them detonate in the tube. There were a large number of these incidents, one of which claimed the life of Karl Völler, head designer of Rheinmetall, in 1916. These problems, however, were eventually overcome.

Recognizing the numerous advantages of the ''minenwerfer'' in trench warfare, production was stepped up and, by 1918, the numbers had increased dramatically to 1,234 heavy, 2,361 medium and 12,329 light ''minenwerfer''. A {{convert|38|cm|abbr=on}} calibre ''sehr schwerer Minenwerfer'' (ssMW; English: "very heavy mine launcher") was also developed.

== Gallery ==
<gallery widths="175">
File:Иллюстрация к статье «Бомбометы». Военная энциклопедия Сытина (Санкт-Петербург, 1911-1915) (cropped) Early Krupp MinenWerfer.jpg|Early Krupp MinenWerfers
File:Kann - Journal d'un correspondant de guerre en Extrême-Orient - p279.jpg|Japanese troops using a mortar during the [[Russo-Japanese War]]
File:German 7.58 cm minenwerfer.jpg|German 7.5&nbsp;cm MinenWerfer, [[World War I]]
File:17cmMinenwerferAWM-1.jpg|17&nbsp;cm nMW nA
File:25cmMinenwerferCrewLoading.jpg|German soldiers loading a 25&nbsp;cm MinenWerfer, World War I
File:111-SC-28652 - NARA - 55216758 (cropped).jpg|24&nbsp;cm schwerer FlügelMinenWerfer IKO
File:240mmalbrechtmortar2.jpg|24&nbsp;cm schwerer FlügelMinenWerfer Albrecht
File:German Artillery on the Western Front Q160.jpg|A Minenwerfer Lanz 91
</gallery>

== See also ==
* [[Granatenwerfer 16]]
* [[9.15 cm leichtes Minenwerfer System Lanz]]
* [[24 cm schwerer LadungsWerfer Ehrhardt]]
* [[24 cm schwere Flügelminenwerfer IKO]]
* [[24 cm schwere FlügelMinenWerfer Albrecht]]
* [[Albrecht Mortar]]

==References==
{{more footnotes needed|date=November 2016}}
{{Reflist}}
* ''Russian army 1914-18'', Osprey Publishing, Nick Cornish, {{ISBN|1-84176-303-9}}
* ''German artillery of World War One'', Herbert Jäger, {{ISBN|1-86126-403-8}}
* ''German trench warfare: Minenwerfer'', Ian Hogg, {{ISSN|0307-2886}}

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[[Category:World War I mortars of Germany]]