It’s a very specialized weapon. It’s good because being able to suppress enemy Forces is A key in combat. I don’t see why we would get rid of such a weapon. Being able to suppress enemy troops is a great advantage two friendly troops. My coworker is an Army ranger he was deployed more than once I could see why a mortar would be a great advantage to a unit. He was deployed to multiple countries. I would like to mortars deployed more often for the security of US and NATO troops. I feel like Mortars could be deployed on a squad level that means infantry would have to carry more ammunition but it could save the lives of numerous soldiers on the battlefield. I think we could improve our military effectiveness if we deployed these weapons on a squad level seeing as these weapons are very useful in saving lives not necessarily taking lives. They do final enemy troops into a kill box which makes it easier for Friendly troops to illuminate or capture enemy troops in the kill box. I think capturing enemy troops is a very important move.
Matsimus The they’re good for suppressive fire, not accurate. Even with a ten digit grid, the best it will do is fuck up the area in which they are bunkered down in. But for the most part that is the intent. Once the barrage is over they will push forward and into a kill zone, or they will die in the blasts. It’s a tactic vs a solution. Not an end game. “ words of an army ranger”
Infantry: “I’ve got a bullet with your name on it.” Machine Gunner: “I’ve got a bullet with your name on it and I’m gonna keep firing until I find it.” Sniper: “Surprise!” Mortar man: “Group discounts for groups of five or more.”
this is the shit i'm talking about. when we learned call for fire it was all to the charlies first. the arty fo and the air liaison weren't even part of it. plus we had four deuce which is practically arty
My father was part of a mortar team in WW2, Sicilian and Italian campaign, Pictou Highlanders, West Nova Scotia Regiment. Wounded twice by shrapnel in battle. Healed and sent back to his unit both times. He was also a coal miner for 43 yrs after the war. It was not a mechanized coal mine. I didn’t realize how tough he was when I was younger but really appreciated it as I grew older. Didn’t really talk about the war except with his war buddies. I do remember the nightmares he used to have. He passed in 1999. He was 82 and I still miss him to this day.
My Grandpa was from Corunna, Ontario fought for the 1st Hussars, was a Signalman and mainly fired artillery. He unfortunately had shell shock from the constant explosions, it does something to your central nervous system...as long as you are being attacked the guns have to keep firing... He left in 39' and didnt return until 45' being wounded in France in 44'... He went AWOL quite a bit, sneaking away to London, UK to be with my Grandma who he eventually brought back after the War. 1st Hussars were the only Allied Unit to reach their final D-Day objective on the first day. Also the flying ace Billy Bishop was previously from the Unit en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Hussars
As someone who has been on the receiving end of mortars I can tell you that it is absolutely terrifying and very effective. Anyone who says they are obsolete has never had to run from incoming mortar fire.
Call out, "Are the any bubble chaser' in the crowd", only a mortarman (11C) would know what your talking about! (IE) The gunner is constantly making adjustments on the sight so as to keep the cross hairs of the sight on the aiming stakes and also keeping the elevation/ cross level bubbles in the center where they need to be!
The tube and baseplate isnt TOO terribly bad, but the rounds are a nightmare to hump for long distances. That's why your bring Rifleman on your marches they carry the rounds cause they gonna be the ones asking for them when the ish hits the fan.
I own a demilled M29 81mm from korea / vietnam in my collection. If I ever find a place that I can shoot it im going to NFA and re-arm it... but until then, it sits as a display. Even my demilled HE round is quite heavy for its size and could not imagine having to carry a handful of those fully loaded in containers. The mortar itself is not too bad, the few times I have moved it I took it down but if I need to move my display, I typically just pick up the entire thing (note, the barrel is cut in half with torch/weld marks making it inoperable, but it also has some bent metal plate inside the tube to keep it in 'one peace' for the display making it heavier than if it was live) and it is still not too bad. I would guesstimate it is less than 150 lbs (bipod + barrel + base plate) so I can imagine that it is not too bad in individual peaces, more bulky weight than real weight. Picture - i.imgur.com/N2iSORZ.jpg
Great to see the 173rd Airborne training in the videos, served with this unit in 1970. On battalion operations I found myself carrying not only my own gear, which included thePRC-25 radio and extra batteries, but three 81 mm mortar rounds. It is pure joy when the mortar team took one or more of them away!
Now Stephen, this pissssses me off. I was told by my ROTC Recruiters that I would have an air-conditioned office well away from the battle field. Then when I graduated from college, the next thing I know, they have me serving as a Platoon Leader, getting solder's ready for the Bosnian Conflict. Was the U.S. Army not aware of my sever level of cowardliness? I'm allergic to being shot at. Yes, that's a real thing, Led is a poison....and stuff. I feel so misunderstood. LOL; hope I made you chuckle, dude, I'm in the Denver area, hit me up.
Stephen, welcome home brother. Ah yes, I remember carrying the PRC-25 for LT Sly. And we carried 60mm rounds for the mortar the CO appropriated from somewhere, plus when the 81mm humped with us we carried those also. And each night when we stopped for the night we would turn the rounds into the 60 and 81mm crew, and then in the morning pick them back up to start all over again. And don't be late picking one up in the morning as you might get two. Bill B Co 3/8th 4th Inv Div 68-69
You missed the critical F.O.P., ( Forward Observation Post) 90 degree offset to the target, but equidistant from the mortar crew.....I worked with these teams in Angola, C.A.R. & SE Asia. These guys call in range & deflection corrections, often impossible to see from up to 8km away.
I will never forget the range instructor's best advice to remember first and last. "IF YOU HAVE A MISFIRE, DO NOT LOOK INTO THE TUBE!" It still resonates in my brain today, something I will never forget.
I'm actually wondering now...how do you deal with misfire? If you drop a shell, and it doesn't fire. What do you do? I'm interested in what's the safe protocol.
@@Quicksilver_Cookie Here's an answer one year later. If it's the US 60mm you can try manually firing it by pulling the trigger, if it doesn't fire or it's one of the big bois, you just lift the back end up and the round slides back out.
@@dirtyhlbly The 4.2 inch is 106.7 mm so its smaller than the 120 mm and the 120 mm KRH has a much larger effective range so which one is the real big gun?
The VietNam vet I worked for in 1985 said that when you were under attack with these, it just sounded like somebody slamming a car door. Until it landed. He said he hated it when movies show these hitting and blowing up in a huge fireball like it's 40 gallons of gasoline.
Right? When I was assigned as our mortar platoon medic, the only time you saw a fireball was during night fire exercises. During the day it was just some smoke and whatever debris it blew into the air.
#Orion Red Not to go defensive on Hollywood, but there is a problem they face: how do you display danger? The shockwave and the shrapnel just not visible on screen, the camera unable to capture it. It's too fast. But we instinctively fear fire. That big orange ball of fire says 'DANGER'. Realistic? Not. But it makes danger visible. What is not visible on screen, doesn't exists in that universe.
when watching munition blasts of all types, ignore all the dust and smoke, all that matters is that first 1/2 second of burst that distributes steel at illegality at significant velocities through your body. Let the under-educated marvel at all the dust and smoke afterwards--of little military importance. Our little secret. Stay with me bro, can teach you so much!
@@danmurray1143 We used 4.2" Heavy mortars, equipped with HE or Willy Pete, which had about a 35 meter kill radius. Five or six M-113's (APC's) would pull in spaced 35 meters apart, set up and drop the rounds, and there wasn't nothing left out there that wasn't burning. This covered an area about as long as 1/2 football fields. Not good to be there.
I am bit curious about the audio recording from these videos. From my experience, with modern mortars the less your charge is, the more it goes thunk, instead of bang. So when they are firing a round with no additional charges i expect a thunk, not a bang: But in this video you kind of get a bang noise, but i feel that it might be a product of the recording.
I'm a former mortar crewman. It's not a fun system to haul around and maintain, but it's exhilarating to put into action (mounting the gun) and fire! I miss the bonds I formed with my fellow crewmates in my time.
I used to be an FO (Forward Observer). Mortars saved my ass more than artillery ever did. Mortars would always send my regards to whom it may have concerned.
My dad served his mandatory military service as a mortar commander for the 81mm, so I really appreciate you making this video. Great content again as usual
My Dad was a British mortar man in WW2. He was a D-Day and Operation Market Garden veteran, and a sergeant in charge of his squad of 12 guys including himself, 2x 3inch Mortars and 2x Universal Carriers. He quit the army in 1950 with the rank of Company Quarter Master Sergeant (CQMS). Funny anecdote: I was watching TV news with Dad about 10 years before he passed away. We were watching the young green soldiers just before Operation Desert Storm in Iraq. The young guys were all hollering at the top of their voices, “We’re gonna kick ass, we’re gonna kick ass!”. Dad quietly says; “We’ll see what they’re like when the ‘nuts and bolts’ start flying”. Haha! That’s the kind of comment from someone that’s been in the ‘meat grinder’.
My uncle has been hit by one of these in the croatian war in 1993. His chest was full with small shrapnels and he got very lucky that he survived this. His Cousin still has a shrapnel stuck in his leg. In the 90s this weapon was very effective. I hope that we never have to face an enemy with this thing. Have a nice day guys
Thanks for this mortar video. Was a mortar crewman in the US Army. Mostly working on the M-30, 4.2-inch mortar. Spent some time on the M-29, 81-mm mortar. Both mortars are now obsolete in the US military. The M-29 mortar had nine cloth bag charges to get the range desired, the angle of the gun was also used to get the desired range. The M-30 was composed of a gun cannon, base plate, rotator, bridge, elevator and an optical sight. The "Four-deuce" used square sheets that were a pale yellow, about the size of cheese on hamburgers. Charges were calculated using fractions. Each square sheet had four corners. The corners were counted as 1/8th, so one single sheet was 4/8ths. Two sheets were sewn together making 8/8ths, or one charge. Ten sheets were sewn together to make a charge of five. There are 40/8ths in a pack of five, 40/8ths is reducible to five. So you had "five packs", "ones" and "singles" to add together to make a maximum charge of 42. Example: you need a charge of 34-4/8ths charge. So six "five packs" + two "ones" and one "single" gets you the 34-4/8ths charge. The main thing was the weight of the gun if ground mounted. 672.2 pounds, or, 305-kg. The ammunition was delivered by the ton on pallets. Not a very man portable. Range of 7800 meters if the new shells were used. The barrel was rifled.
@@dirtyhlbly I don't know about the word "standard" as a name for any part of the M-30 mortar system. Maybe you are referring to some video game. The "four deuce", or, M-30 mortar, was composed of a base plate, a rotator that was inserted in the baseplate, a bridge was inserted into the sockets of the rotator, the elevator was inserted into the opposite side of the bridge, the cannon had trunnion pins on bottom of the cannon that were inserted into the socket of the bridge, the top of the elevator had a fastening pin on top that was fastened to a collar on the cannon. The optic sight was fastened to the left side of the collar on the cannon. There was an extension bar that could be used to raise the optical sight to relocated the sight around obstructions. After all the guns we're placed a special transit was used to align all the guns toward a specific direction. That transit looked just like a land surveyor's transit. Then the aiming stakes were placed at 50 meters. Then you waited for a fire mission. So the part in question was an "elevator." I still have some of my old army manuals that no name of "standard" was used. Only an elevator; an elevator raised and lowered than angle of the cannon. The M-30 was a mortar gun that was completely different from any other mortar in the world. Only used by the American Army. I never saw the M-30 being used by the US Marines. Also for a time by the Norwegian Army. Another thing about the ammunition for the M-30, Four-deuce mortar, was a Canadian engineer that designed a better seal for the Four-deuce shell that improved the range of the shell to 7800 meters. That new seal prevented gas blow by loss so all the pressure made by the charges was used to push the shell down range. That engineer was Gerald Bull. The same guy that was employed by Saddam Hussein of Iraq. He made that very long artillery cannon to hit targets in Israel and Iran. Somebody assassinated Gerald Bull in his apartment in Belgium. The cannon in Iraq was never finished. That assassin disappeared and was never found. Now a cold case with only a bullet that was removed from the body.
Whomagoose Long ago soldier I've always wondered just how effective the 60mm mortar is. Personally it seems too small a caliber to be efficient and effective, but I know absolutely nothing about mortars.
I kept waiting for the part where he showed what mortars actually do. Hundreds of launches, but very little footage of hits. An animation of its intended function including the shrapnel spread would have been nice. This was tons of verbiage, but not a lot of actual information about the mortar's place in an integrated battle plan, nor how it is determined if it is hitting its target, etc. Remember not all of us have military experience.
I was wounded by a mortar attack in Iraq in 2004. You’d usually here the report before the incoming detonation. This particular attack that wasn’t the case. We were staging up to leave our FOB (Justice) on the banks of the Euphrates River in Kadhimiya, when the first mortar rounds detonated. The initial round blew up an ING’s car making us think initially it was a V-BED. Then the second round impacted half way between myself and the smoldering Caprice Classic. It was obvious then, we were taking indirect fire. I remember being shocked that the second round, which impacted a good asphalt road only left a shallow “splash” mark. Nonetheless, I turned in a panic looking for the closest cover. That’s when the third round detonated directly behind me and threw me over the M-1114 I was prepping for that nights’s directives. That mortar crew was shit hot. It was “Add 50 Fire for Effect” 11 out of 28 of us were wounded. Miraculous that we suffered no casualties. They had “eyes on”.
"Have you actually hit anything with that mortar ?" - random soviet soldiers in CoH2. Tbh mortar is the de facto king of infantry support weapon (there is also the MGs but you get the gist). Not to pick on the heavy artillery but the ability for a group of infantry to just set up a forward platform on near the front line and start shelling enemy lightly fortified position is invaluable. Not every time you can just pull up a coms and call the 105mm guy in the back line with coordinate for a danger close supporting fire.
Heavy artillery is better against armor and strategic targets like airfields where a have bomber isn't practical and a multipurpose fighter isn't enough
To the contrare mon cherrie. The A-10 is the de facto king of infantry support. I know you are talking about man portable infantry weapons but the infantry support crown belongs to the brrrrrrrraaaaaappppp.
Dunno what it's like for other armies, but Canadian artillery regiments have mortar batteries as their soldiers will also go out into the field and perform pretty much the same job as the infantry. We have our field artillery batteries, mortar batteries and reconnaisance batteries too. Funnily enough, they pick artillery soldiers for door gunner jobs. How's that for weird?
Young Lord I suggest you go around to every infantryman you can find and ask him if he’d rather have an A-10 supporting his operations or a mortar team. Let me know what you find out. You’ll probably get waterboarded for asking stupid questions like that.
Former Rifleman here. The number one reason I respect the Mortarmen is the math they have to do on the fly to get rounds on target from a position outside of visual range. Trig or calculus, I don't know, but calling for indirect fire only requires my position to be known as well as distance and direction to the target. On top of that, when we walk the guns on for an accurate effect, we give the mortar crews directions from our perspective, so they get to translate "100 meters left, 200 back" into whatever adjustments they require from an angle up to 90 degrees or more from our direction of fire. I bet the Army got some sweet gadgets that do the calculations automatically for the crews, but knowing our supply situation, our mortar guys had to do them by hand, and they had to be perfect to prevent friendly fire with AP shells.
I served as a USMC mortarman with 60mm and 81mm mortars - yeah, they are man-portable but far from light. When they were assigning MOSs at Infantry Training School, most of the guys they put in crew-served weapons rather than making them riflemen were bigger guys. The machine gunners hauled a lot of weight too, and when I was in the antitank assault men were using 106mm recoilless rifles, and that's a REALLY heavy item that takes at least three people to carry it. We carried the crew-served weapons on a tiny flatbed vehicle called a mechanical mule when we could. Also, the weight was sort of balanced out by the fact that we tended to stay in one position a bit longer than the rifle platoons. Still called for a strong back and legs, though.
Mortars are also rather quiet too. Well, at least when it comes to the mortar projectile already flying in the air, and flying FAR FAR away from the barrel. Mortars have subsonic muzzle velocities, so because of that, I don't think they produce the loud "whizzing" sounds that a supersonic howitzer shell produces
Ha! No man its CLP, it's a type of oil. they just put it in a Gatorade bottle, I've see CLP carried in many more obscure places, it's just how we do it XD
@CompleteXgaming wow good for you brother, 11C is a slow painful death for me XD I like to here the motivation, kind ass bro! You can keep it though, I'm headed too psyops.
The 60mm Light Mortar is much more lethal especially the M224. It can be moved faster because its light, put into action quicker, engage enemy targets quicker, and used as direct lay like short range artillery to buildings and structures. The 60mm rounds are lighter and every infantryman in the company can at least carry 3 rounds of HE. The infantry squad has 2 or 3 M203 40mm grenade launchers attached to M16A4s or M4 carbines for more indirect or direct support weapons. The 60mm Light Mortar is very effective for immediate kick ass high angle death to the enemy.
I agree that the 60mm mortar is a great company/platoon level asset. If you want bigger, you get the 81/107/120 platoon on the radio. if you need bigger than that, you have to climb up to artillery or CAS, which is harder to get quickly without pre-planning or luck.
I used to be a mortar maggot and have used all the mortar systems in the US Army. The 60 MM mortar is pond-for-pond the most lethal and my personal favorite. As a section SGT for a 60 MM Mortar in a light infantry company weapons platoon, we were quite devastating. I had the best crew; my gunners were like magicians on that thing. Oh yeah, I convinced my battalion commander to have every infantry soldier in the line companies carry a minimum of 2 rounds HE each. Initially they all bitched and complained but when we bailed them out of some tight spots in combat, they came around pretty quickly.
@@epion660 Nah, a regular frag grenade has a casualty producing radius of 15 meters or about 50 feet. Also most grenades will detonate after 5 to 8 seconds, making it very ineffective when dropped from to high up. a 120 mm High Explosive round has a kill radius of 60 to 75 meters (200 to 250 feet), depending on the type of round used. You drop that kind of ordnance with precision on something, like a building or fighting position, it will break it real good :)
@@Cavemale2000 Alright, I'll gladly correct myself - An RC plane with equivalent explosive charge would be almost as effective as a GPS shell, at likely under half the cost.
11C here! I have to say your information is spot on!! You did your research my friend!! I’ve seen a lot of shit on RUclips that wasn’t 100%. But by far this video has been the most accurate and well put together one I’ve seen on Mortars. Well done my friend!! High Angle Hell.
I was an 11C 20 at one point. The 4.2 was heavy, had a great illumination round and could destroy troops in the open. Our truck, a 6-wheel monstrosity had a turbine engine and was so loud it could be heard for miles. At 672 lbs it was too heavy too carry.
I provided ambulance support at training ranges in the 70’s. I got a day's practice with mortars. When given the chance to drop a live one late in the day the tube was dirty and nothing came out. I got to see how an officer catches the live round from an inverted tube. What fun!
mostly the smaller mortars have a smooth barrel. The french Hotschkiss-Brant 120 mm Brandt Rayé (rayé means rifled) witch the dutch artillery also uses, is one of the few mortars i know with rifling. So because of the lack of rifling the other mortar munitions use the acceleration of the projectile to arm themselves. @@kevinc9065
@@thermoskanThe mortars I learned in the 1980s were 60mm and 81mm (smoothbore) and 107mm/4.2inch (lands and grooves). Getting a misfire out of a smoothbore is quick and scary. Getting a misfire out of a tube with lands and grooves is like a well-made slow-build terror film. And you can hear the round coming slow down the barrel as air passes the rubber ring.
One range day, we were firing 107mm/4.2inch from APCs, and the sergeant on the gun called for rounds faster than the listed rate of fire on a hot tube. The last round he fired that day didn't make it all the way down the tube. it bounced out on a spring of expanding hot gases, tumbled out of the tube, and bounced three times down the ramp, on the detonator end. - - - I have never seen people jump out of a tracked vehicle without touching the sides before then... That sergeant had to be ordered to go recover his misfire and carry it to the dud pit while the Lt. put in a call to range control and EOD.
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the speed of adjustment makes doing the BC’s fire plan a lot faster. Get a corrected grid from the mortars, then one round from each gun on that grid to get gun data. 360 fire arc good for forward deployment. Volume of fire is great, book rate 20rds per min, but an experienced crew could reach almost 30rds per min, sustainable ten rounds per min.
Just got back from a deployment, I wasn’t too fun lugging the 60mm and rounds; but handheld is absolute greatest. Love being a mortarman. Thanks for some love for us Chucks.
As a former artillery observer (1989-1990 conscript, Dutch army) I appreciate this video a lot! I was part of the mortar company of an infantry battalion and I had a very good time there.
For those correcting me about the birth of mortars.... please.... I know they were part of warfare long before WW1. My point is they were most extensively used and realized then... 🙄
My father served in a mortar platoon in Jan-Feb 1942 (Malaya-Singapore). When the battalion was been over-run, by using 3 loaders they fired from their 3-inch mortar 21 ten pound bombs into the air before the first one hit the ground. He said it was a bit scary and they had take care with keeping they timing correct but the situation was desperate. In 22 days the battalion was effectively destroyed twice and reformed twice have suffered nearly a thousand battle casualties; not a fun time especially followed with the surrender of Singapore on the 15th Feb 1942 to the Japanese.
There are, mortars first appeared in Ming dynasty China in 1372 and all of them were man portable, weighing in at 37 kg. It actually got increasingly larger from then on because gunpowder was not as volatile as modern day propellant so the range and explosiveness was heavily dependent on the size of the mortar. They were though quite extensively used in naval combat, then siege.
The flare on the end of the tube is a GREAT improvement. When I was stationed at Ft Knox, (early 70's) each platoon in our troop had one (carried by a 5/4 ton thankfully) and if we tried to cowboy it using only one hand it would really hurt when the web of the thumb was pinched between the round and the tube.
Those "ear muffs" at 3:00 let you hear a casual conversation from about 50 yards they amplify sound but block out the sound of the mortor. We got to play with em' when we went from M777 to the 120.
First time I used those it freaked me out because I couldn't figure out who was talking to me, then I realized it was the FDC Humvee that was nowhere near me I was hearing.
@Alaric its resonance. Everything has its own natural vibrating frequency. Try hold a string with something tied to the end then shake it. First swing it slow, then shake it fast, then try to swing it at a rate where it actually can swing nicely. Thats the natural frequency. Some sounds are too high and some are too low. Engineers can design stuff to filter off different sounds while leaving different sounds to pass through
As a Cav 19D Cav trooper I saw a 80mm mortar platoon light up a target area at about 1 kilo range just about at evening twilight .... it was an amazing display that made me glad that my job description very seldom called for us to remain still very long.
Good video. I was a mortarman for 12 years on 60mm, 81mm and 4.2 inch. Most of my time was on 60mm in an airborne unit in Alaska (A Co. 1/501st PIR) You just haven't lived until you have jumped, at 0200, in the midst of the northern lights with an arctic ruck, a 60mm tube, bipod and small baseplate.
in my eyes Pretty much the most ingenius weapon of modern Battlefield fast, uncomplicated, coparebly cheap as well as the ammonition, indirect fire ...
The bloke sitting behind the mortar base plate is the gunner and he should be adjusting fire based on the info from the radioman, who should have a fire control computer to direct his fire. Geoff Who notes modern times.
Also sometimes teams have a mortar leader. His most visible imminent job being pulling the firing string on models with non fixed firing pins. Though in reality that is rather their smallest job. The leader of course leads the team given tasks etc, he also determines the base direction of weapon, checks the calibration of the sights etc., receives incoming orders, keeps track of available ammunition and rounds fired etc. Also that is the person most imminently getting their head bitten of by infantry platoon leader, if mortar accidentally aim bad and land on friendlies. Sometimes elevation and azimuth are on different persons, depending on mortar model. Most again heavier stuff might have separate elevation and azimuth scopes, adjustments. there thus being gunner, assistant gunner who aim one of the axis each and loader who lobs rounds in the tube. the lead pulls the string. Ofcourse this is mostly based on my Finnish experience and we are known to be rather artillery&mortar crazy and have usually massive teams on guns. Just to make everything that few seconds faster. And since we are conscript army, there isn't exactly lack of personnel. Plus it speeds up transport, maintenance etc.
@@GameFreak7744 you must be referring to Advanced Mortar System. And yes I'm a Finn. Though I must add AMOS was kinda joint project with Swedes. Though the single barrel NEMO follow up is ours only. Apparently AMOS kinda was even too heavy and powerfull. Which lead to smaller single tube variant to allow smaller mounting platforms and vehicles. Still it is one amazing mortar I must say. Both technically and just the 'we have epic looking double barreled scifi turret' factor.
I was a 11C (81mm mortar) in Vietnam in 1970-1971, Company C, 4/3, 11th Light Infantry Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division (American). Carrying the 81mm mortar in the central highlands in the jungle was very difficult. We only used it twice in six or seven months (fired 2 or 3 rounds on each of the two fire missions). I have to admit that I was glad when the decision was made not to replace 1 mortar when the tube was damaged by an enemy mortar attack during the Lam Son 719 offensive. It's a great weapon if you have the right terrain and a good supply of mortar rounds. In triple canopy jungle and a very limited supply of rounds, it was just a lot of extra weight that the 4th platoon had to carry. Still a big fan of mortars. Really a bigger fan of the 105 howitzers firing from the Fire Support bases that saved our butts more than once.
@@Ehsggsh12747 well you can disarm and tie them, and send them far behind your lines. You don't need many soldiers for a very large number of well tied prisoners.
@@ras573 true but it will still slow your mission down regardless, also you have to feed and shelter your prisoners which costs money. But from an ethical standpoint taking prisoners is much better then lining them up in front of a rifle squad, then moving on.
I was in the U.S. Army from 1988 through 1990. I was a mortarman ( 11C ) assigned to an Armored Cav Unit ( the 11th Armored Cav ) in Germany. We used the 107 mm M2 mortar, which was carried in the M106 Mortar Carrier. We had two guns in the Mortar Section, and we provided Fire Support for the Tanks, mainly Smoke and Illumination rounds with some HE. I'm glad to see that the Mortar still has a place on the battlefield. PFC Napier, signing out.
I think the natural evolution of the mortar system is to somehow allow robotics to help with the carrying. Possibly a unit like similar to the Big Dog could be carrying around a modular mortar. And when you give it the order, it just lays flat with the weapon immediately ready to go. Other possibility is to equip a soldier with an exoskeleton, so maybe only one person can lug around the most of the necessary weight.
and with computerized loading, auto fire and aiming. Could you imagine it firing off 9 rounds in under five seconds in any sort of pattern needed using either manual aim, or gps assisted?
Great video. You hit most of the biggest points. The reason why mortars are considered infantry weapons, and what makes them invaluable to an infantry commander is that he commands them and doesn’t need to request support from them in the middle of a battle. If a company commander wants air or artillery support, he needs to call for it and hope it’s available when he needs it
As a Veteran Mortarman of the US Army and a I love this. The unit in this video was my unit. The 173rd Airborne Brigade. You are right. When we parachuted into Northern Iraq. Each member of our company carried a mortar round and dropped it off our mortar firing point once we were set up.
fun fact; the mortar appears to have been invented ether in india or china in the 700s and not as a weapon of war. but as a way of getting big firecrackers high into the air at religious festivals
The siege mortars of the civil war and those from prior times provided the high angle of fire of a mortar but were quite different from todays mortars. They were heavy and required a lot of time to set up. The trench mortars of WWI are basically the grand daddy of today's mortars.
@@stevebutler4629 There were smaller versions (horse/mule portable) though meant for mountain warfare, forested areas and the like. The british for example used them in colonial warfare to good effect. I think he was just a little bit inaccurate there, the modern mortar indeed was invented in WW1 (because the basic form is essentially unchanged since then) but the principle of mortars - high angle, high trajectory artillery able to fire over obstacles without LOS - is almost as old as gunpowder.
Aeth Alpenglow oh sweet jesus. My private gave me a misfire cuz he fucked up one of the cheese charges while I was gunning. Had to kick that bitch to get it to fire xD felt my heart sink when I kicked and heard the 0.5 seconds of it sliding down till BOOM. Thought I was dead xD
i think all of the support company roles would be an awesome addition to the series maybe something like why is recon, signals, assault pioneers,surveillance snipers or DFSW so important?
former Captain US Army Artillery. This was a concise but VERY thorough and excellent presentation. You really covered a lot including questions people prob had before watching this video. My only contention would be the aspect of artillery you mentioned. While true, artillery normally uses low angle fire that has a flatter trajectory, we are just as capable of high angle fire, which is what mortars use. We can hit trenches and enemy behind deflates the same way as mortars would. Besides splash damage, the key difference is TIME. I was on 155mm howitzers (this is Medium Artillery btw) and for us to shoot high angle we had to first load the howitzer at low angle, then crank it up to the right quadrant elevation (QE). After it is fired, it must be lowered to a low angle QE in order to load again because the angle of the breech is so low we wouldn't be able to load a round if left at that angle. This takes time and is hard on the crew to raise and lower the cannon constantly. Side note - as punishment, we would sometimes do this by calling a lot of high angle missions (dry fire) but they had to act as the real thing and raise and lower... straightened them up in a hurry. Mortars are designed as high angle only so this wouldn't apply. Anyway - all correct about not needing same strength of the round causing better fragmentation because less pressure on the projectile, base of fire being much faster than artillery, the different mortar sizes and what support each is used for, the reasons we still use mortars today - ALL very good and 100% on. Lastly, so you know - for the U.S. Light Artillery is 105mm, Med is 155mm and Heavy is MLRS/HIMARS Missile Systems. The MLRS replaced the 8 inch howitzers probably sometime in the 1980's.
Don't forget the morale factor. Artillery, armour and aircraft require specific weapons to typically cause them harm (i.e., ranged, AT and AA). Infantry can be killed by a rock. Mortar crews frequently share the same dangers as other infantry and if operating close enough to the infantry, have a minimum range that makes "friendly fire" very difficult. The fact that they can occasionally see their target means they can adapt and almost follow it as it moves. Add in "danger close" missions which are far less dangerous to friendlies than your "earth movers", they feel a "little" safer.
240mm Tulpan is nice :) Small portable mortars were almost replaced by grenade launchers and automatic grenade launchers.. AGS17 can lay down pretty nasty fire support, while being 1-2 guy wapon only. And there is a lighter variant too. Vehicle mounted automatic mortars are also nice... they can spray multiple rounds quickly at the enemy and move to different position very quickly.
I served on a 120mm for a training exercise, before I was unceremoniously picked up to do desk work in battalion command because they demanded, and I quote, "send someone who knows how to work with computers". Following that I was shuffled around a bit more so I got to do more shit and experience more variety in my 2 years of professional service as a soldier than some officers do in 20. anyways, that exercise was great fun and it is a really cool feeling when you are part of 2 sections, so 6 guns firing off in sequence. When it gets to the closest ajdecent gun and ours going off, you can feel the sound wave in your chest. They let me pull the trigger on the last round we fired out of the gun I was on and it's a weird feeling. Basically I've been listening to some very loud booms all the damn time, probably about 25 shots all told per gun and then when you are actually pulling the short rope on the trigger, I barely even heard the firing of the weapon a meter behind my back. Pro tip from my squaddies: keep your mouth open when rocking that sucker. Small authors note: I've not had a sweeter lunch in the military than when I was eating canned beans one spoon at a time between running 120mm mortar mines between the prep spot and the weapon itself. It doesn't hurt that Croatian IBOs (Individual Combat Meal) are actually quite decent.
I was a corpsman stationed with 3/7. I first got to them in the middle of their Mountain Warfare Training package in Bridgeport. They couldn’t figure out where to stick me, so I was put with the mortar squad. What a great group of guys. Kinda mean and scary, but they’ll bend over backwards for you.
The bar none most important factor that makes mortars better than other fire support assets is their speed and ubiquity as an organic asset to the manuever. All fire support assets have their advantages and drawbacks for example air support's advantage is it's lethality but has a lot of limits on use and availibility. Artillery is slow but the range of it and shear amount of fire it can send is what makes it so dangerous. But often it is too slow (or atleast slower than mortars) for manuever because it is not organic and in general has to worry about the bigger fight. I don't think mortars will ever be replaced they may change shape but their role on the battlefield as the initial big gun to be used will never be replaced. Edit: I see a lot of questions about the effects of indirect on MBTs. You're likely to do damage to things like sensors, reactive armor if they have any, tracks (idealy), and concuss/harrass the crew with bigger munitions. But to effectively destroy an MBT is a hell of a task. Hence why the best counter to tanks is not light infantry. Though there are tools they can use to counter tanks, the only true effective recouse they have is using terrain and obstacles to slow them down.
I have only been on the giving of artillery in training... that was enough to convince me... that can't be pleasant to experience. Lost 30% of the hearing in my left ear before I left Fort Sill, OK. Love you my brother-in-arms.
In 1974 I was in the U.S. Army. I was a field mechanic in a mechanized Infantry mortar unit. I had a blast doing it. It really is a major strategic factor, my unit were in armored person/mortar track carriers. We were multi-role tasked missions. The drivers were totally INSANE..LOL, example: we get the scatter call, the drivers all would pick a direction in a randomized way according to your lead and floor it. Mind you our carriers were capable of 65 mph when kept top shape, however the braking system above 50-55 mph failed to work very well and in some cases failed all together. As a result you could not use the brakes above 50 mph, you had to use engine braking. That being its only major downfall. We were a Infantry Mortar Unit. In our War Games we supported a tank battalion. Anyway, we were inside a metal box on metal bench seats with looping straps hanging from the ceiling and your bouncing around at 55 mph across open fields and also not so open ground. This is on time you use your chin strap or your helmet to keep from becoming a casualty of war..lol. really it is a crazy ride. These ammusment park rides hold nothing on a ride in one. I can't for life of me remember their designation the carriers. Our unit Bravo 2-2-2, Fort Riley. Oh 3 120mm mortar tubes and infantry support... I like your videos...!
In my 4 years in army and 4 years national guard, I got to go through all 4 mortars starting with 81s for 3 years and 60s for 1 in army and 3 years 4.2 inch and 1 year with the 120. I liked them all. Hiking 35 miles with 81 mm tube is not fun though.
Another Great Vid! The US Army Armored Cavalry Regiment's TO&E used to have one M106A1 mortar platoon (4 tracks) per Cav Troop. I'm not sure if that's still the same makeup today and I do know the venerable '4 Duece' have been replaced by the 120mm.. This gave the Troop Commander, usually a Captain, a high degree of flexibility and firepower. With 12 tanks, 18 M113s some TOW equipped, M88 Recovery Vehicle and his other assortment of support vehicles, this O3 had at his disposal a miniature battalion worth of fire power. My favorite units to which I was assigned during my 22 year active duty career were the 3rd ACR and the 11th ACR. The pride and esprit de corps in these two units was unequaled in any other units in which I served. It was a definite honor to have been a part of the Armored Cavalry and to have served with so many second to none troopers.
Mortars add a insane rate of fire and heavy Mortars like 120mm are large fairly thin skin shell with as much HE as 150mm rounds. In WW2 a 120mm mortar was capable of knocking out a tank if it got a direct hit.
No not the same, not even close. 3 lbs HE with the 120 mm mortar and about 14 lbs HE with the 155 howitzer. Thats a modern howitzer Maybe the effect comes from a much higher rate of fire. If you can fire 4 or 5 rds to every 1 from the big gun its kinda the same
Almost impossible to hit a tank with a mortar. And mortars overheat like any weapon so you have to wait after a burst (I think it was about 6 or so) - otherwise you cook one of in which it pre-ignites and fires short.
Ok what tank? Like a ww1 tank then yes a sherman doubtful anything larger you honestly dont know cause the answer is NO a 120mm could hit anywhere but the tippity top and like the hatch or driving scope otherwise no
Watching these Mortarmen makes me feel like they're probably the most proficient soldiers in their trade. They all surely know their shit...Just my humble opinion.
I was a mortarman in the Marines, and I have to say this. Even with the size and weight of the 81mm barrel and baseplate, I hated humping that bipod the most. It was so unwieldy. You couldn't strap it to anything and no matter where you put it it was digging into some part of your body. Great video, really enjoyable. And I have to give it to you, the ending (13:29) is hysterical.
One of our 113A2 4.2 inch mortar crews were short, as a 19D we were not parked very far away from them. TOP came over and said "hey Specialist I want to show you something" so of course I followed him. Our 1sgt was an 11D with 4 tours in Vietnam so he was widely respected by the scout Platoon. We walked over and we sat down in the APC... He said congratulations... Your the loader for today , I know you'll do great and he walked away giggling. I had some of the most interesting and fun experiences in my career with those guys. Burning the Cheese charges at the end of the night was pretty cool. Mortars are very deadly in the right hands.
Was a mortarman. I used the 60mm, 81mm, and the 120mm both ground mounted, trailer mounted, and out the back of strykers and 113 tracks. 60mm is my shit I can carry that thing all day. Doing a shake n bake with the 120mm is beautiful.
Why is artillery/indirect fire weapons the KING OF THE BATTLEFIELD? Having been on the receiving end, and having seen the results of our artillery and mortar fire on enemy troops; you don't want to be there. Great videos. Keep up the good work!!!
@@irishsavage8715... although it is true that mortars are quite old they are still being used the only difference is mortars well, morters of the U.S has tracking capability which allows the operator to aim and fire with pinpoint accuracy!
My grandpa was in the Soviet Army, he was in charge of an 85-mm mortar team for a brief time. I remember his stories, that every February they used to come to the Yuzhny Buh river some 30 kilometers above the city of Mykolaiv and shoot the ice chunks that were floating down the stream, breaking them, so that they would not collide with bridges.
I was the senior medic for our mechanized infantry battalion‘s mortar platoon. It was a lot of fun and I even got to qualify with the 4.2” (four-deuce) mortars they carried around in the back of their APC’s. They could fire from inside, but more often we set them up on the ground.
I was a communication Sergeant in an Infantry Battalion in Alaska,78-80. Went out with Bn Mortars a couple of times. Our guys were GOOD. Their platoon Sergeant told me. they always tried to " put one in the back pocket" Our unit had mortar teams that could hit dead on within 2-3 rounds. Our unit had 81mm mortars, both at company and battalion level. their level of accuracy always impressed me. I'd love to watch a team do their stuff. HANGIN' AND BANGIN' .....HOOAH
Well unless it lands on top of the engine deck then I dont think it’s gonna work. Even that the tanks need to be some old model tanks for it to happen.
Even a Steel on Steel contact isnt going to do anything more than scratch the paint off a tank. However, you take a 120mm HE round on Airburst and you'll turn a technical into swiss cheese, and any organic matter inside is now organic goop.
best thing on mortars is that allows troops to keep the enemy on its position...not allowing to advance nor go back, adjusting angle of shooting, and winning time to attack with other means like line infantry or air support, is like Matsimus said on the narrative "harrass the enemy with mortar fire and attack it later"...on defense is the same...if enemy is cuantitative bigger and is getting on your danger zone...allows the mortar team to go back (because is nonsense to settup mortar on 90º) and restart the game...youre limited if you try to use this tactic if you are using heavy artillery guns like cannons or "obussier"...very good video...Greetings from Argentina!
Don't know how i found your channel but I subbed. As a fellow Artilleryman from the States. Its nice to see that I'm not crazy for my insane love for Howitzers and Mortars. I've been out for a while now but, I miss being a fister every day.
And at the end of the day, you always have cheese left over.... new guy gets to burn the left over cheese. 😆😆😆 you can always tell the new guy because he has no eyebrows.
Actually smart antitank mortar rounds have been developed STRIX is a 120 mm version and the British developed a 81mm antitank round though I don't know if it was deployed.
Pretty sure you can get laser guided mortar rounds these days. IN other words, some spec ops guy puts a laser dot on the target, and the round homes in on it. Tanks would appear to be pretty likely targets for these.
Austin Pundit certainly, the Russians have a very large mortar that fires laser guided shells. They were used to destroy fortifications. The two that I mentioned were meant to destroy tanks. The first was heat seeking and would aim itself at any tank in a certain radius of the point at which it was launched with no further human input needed. The second was never accepted by the British but was also self guided. If you know of any western laser guided mortar shells I would love to research it.
I took part in the British Merlin 81mm Mortar tactical handling trials on Salisbury Plain in the 90’s. Th concept was good but the cost per round let it down. I still have my Merlin tie pin.
No need, it's just an overrated 30mm gun. The myth that it will kill tanks is just that, a myth. There is a reason why tanks, who can actually kill other tanks, have 120mm guns.
AAA9734 That 30mm DU round (even though I've seen more API-T rounds fired thought the GAU-8) is powerful enough to go through the tops and engine decks of older tanks. But it really shines vs light skinned and lightly armored vehicles. Such as IFVs, APCs, etc. But yeah, the A-10 and Gau-8 are overrated as fuck
I been following you since right before I left the military and got everything turned on. Not once has RUclips told me when you posted I always come to your page to check even though I know you been busy lately. I don't know why RUclips likes not supporting our military or other things.
Like this video????... Check out the new Challenger 2 upgrades coming to the British Army! ruclips.net/video/tK2y2dt8v38/видео.html
Brian Leuthauser Lol thanks 👍
can you do a vid about 11EOD regt or EOD in the britsh army in genral please
It’s a very specialized weapon. It’s good because being able to suppress enemy Forces is A key in combat. I don’t see why we would get rid of such a weapon. Being able to suppress enemy troops is a great advantage two friendly troops. My coworker is an Army ranger he was deployed more than once I could see why a mortar would be a great advantage to a unit. He was deployed to multiple countries. I would like to mortars deployed more often for the security of US and NATO troops. I feel like Mortars could be deployed on a squad level that means infantry would have to carry more ammunition but it could save the lives of numerous soldiers on the battlefield. I think we could improve our military effectiveness if we deployed these weapons on a squad level seeing as these weapons are very useful in saving lives not necessarily taking lives. They do final enemy troops into a kill box which makes it easier for Friendly troops to illuminate or capture enemy troops in the kill box. I think capturing enemy troops is a very important move.
Matsimus The they’re good for suppressive fire, not accurate. Even with a ten digit grid, the best it will do is fuck up the area in which they are bunkered down in. But for the most part that is the intent. Once the barrage is over they will push forward and into a kill zone, or they will die in the blasts. It’s a tactic vs a solution. Not an end game. “ words of an army ranger”
Nice video! :) ...here one more (120 mm )mortal squad performance.... (fire start about 01:00 ---> ) ruclips.net/video/jFsYfOi42Mc/видео.html
Infantry: “I’ve got a bullet with your name on it.”
Machine Gunner: “I’ve got a bullet with your name on it and I’m gonna keep firing until I find it.”
Sniper: “Surprise!”
Mortar man: “Group discounts for groups of five or more.”
Nuclear Submarine Captain: "I'm about to fuck up global climate"
Artillery - Pallet discount and 25% off for truck loads.
don't get frutrated, get even
The Sun : I am going to end this Solar system's whole career.
this is the shit i'm talking about. when we learned call for fire it was all to the charlies first. the arty fo and the air liaison weren't even part of it. plus we had four deuce which is practically arty
My father was part of a mortar team in WW2, Sicilian and Italian campaign, Pictou Highlanders, West Nova Scotia Regiment. Wounded twice by shrapnel in battle. Healed and sent back to his unit both times. He was also a coal miner for 43 yrs after the war. It was not a mechanized coal mine. I didn’t realize how tough he was when I was younger but really appreciated it as I grew older. Didn’t really talk about the war except with his war buddies. I do remember the nightmares he used to have. He passed in 1999. He was 82 and I still miss him to this day.
Tough is one thing. Very tough indeed.
My Grandpa was from Corunna, Ontario fought for the 1st Hussars, was a Signalman and mainly fired artillery. He unfortunately had shell shock from the constant explosions, it does something to your central nervous system...as long as you are being attacked the guns have to keep firing...
He left in 39' and didnt return until 45' being wounded in France in 44'...
He went AWOL quite a bit, sneaking away to London, UK to be with my Grandma who he eventually brought back after the War.
1st Hussars were the only Allied Unit to reach their final D-Day objective on the first day. Also the flying ace Billy Bishop was previously from the Unit
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Hussars
Legends. Cool stories!
My grandfather killed some GIs in Vietnam
SALUTE ...
As someone who has been on the receiving end of mortars I can tell you that it is absolutely terrifying and very effective. Anyone who says they are obsolete has never had to run from incoming mortar fire.
Lol u cant see the results of round
Yep. TQ, oif 2.5.
If I remember correctly (WWII) mortar fire killed more than artillery,
@@BruceMyersLBZ FOB Forsyth Iraq, FOB Ridgeway, COB Keating, Kamu province...etc. Great weapon in defense and offense.
Echo that 👌
Mortars break the engineers triangle, by being good, fast AND cheap!
Also, unsurprisingly one of the most primitive weapons in the arsenal of any army. If it ain't broke - don't fix it.
Yes, but they lack range, and that breaks the artilleryman's square.
@@maxiona714 they are made for the infantry teams not the arty
Simple, reliable, and easy to use.
Mounted on a truck with a thermal image drone spotter team could be very efective and very mobile.
How to spot a mortar man in a room ?
Just ask everyone "anyone here a mortar guy ?" he'll be the one yelling "WHAT DID YOU SAY ?!"
Probably
Also, there's a chance he'll only have one hand.
Call out, "Are the any bubble chaser' in the crowd", only a mortarman (11C) would know what your talking about! (IE) The gunner is constantly making adjustments on the sight so as to keep the cross hairs of the sight on the aiming stakes and also keeping the elevation/ cross level bubbles in the center where they need to be!
What did you say?? One more time, didn't catch that....Oh yeah, damn straight.
Lol... or he could be the RPG-7 guy..... that launching charge going off behind your ear gives you a hell of a buzz in the ears
From what I heard from my dad, it’s a fun and games until you had to carry one.
Typical person or jump with the baseplate
Or be on the downrange side of things
The tube and baseplate isnt TOO terribly bad, but the rounds are a nightmare to hump for long distances. That's why your bring Rifleman on your marches they carry the rounds cause they gonna be the ones asking for them when the ish hits the fan.
I own a demilled M29 81mm from korea / vietnam in my collection. If I ever find a place that I can shoot it im going to NFA and re-arm it... but until then, it sits as a display. Even my demilled HE round is quite heavy for its size and could not imagine having to carry a handful of those fully loaded in containers. The mortar itself is not too bad, the few times I have moved it I took it down but if I need to move my display, I typically just pick up the entire thing (note, the barrel is cut in half with torch/weld marks making it inoperable, but it also has some bent metal plate inside the tube to keep it in 'one peace' for the display making it heavier than if it was live) and it is still not too bad. I would guesstimate it is less than 150 lbs (bipod + barrel + base plate) so I can imagine that it is not too bad in individual peaces, more bulky weight than real weight. Picture - i.imgur.com/N2iSORZ.jpg
exactly!
Great to see the 173rd Airborne training in the videos, served with this unit in 1970. On battalion operations I found myself carrying not only my own gear, which included thePRC-25 radio and extra batteries, but three 81 mm mortar rounds. It is pure joy when the mortar team took one or more of them away!
Now Stephen, this pissssses me off. I was told by my ROTC Recruiters that I would have an air-conditioned office well away from the battle field. Then when I graduated from college, the next thing I know, they have me serving as a Platoon Leader, getting solder's ready for the Bosnian Conflict. Was the U.S. Army not aware of my sever level of cowardliness? I'm allergic to being shot at. Yes, that's a real thing, Led is a poison....and stuff. I feel so misunderstood. LOL; hope I made you chuckle, dude, I'm in the Denver area, hit me up.
@@danmurray1143 Damn, flashback to The Deer Hunter.
Stephen, welcome home brother. Ah yes, I remember carrying the PRC-25 for LT Sly. And we carried 60mm rounds for the mortar the CO appropriated from somewhere, plus when the 81mm humped with us we carried those also. And each night when we stopped for the night we would turn the rounds into the 60 and 81mm crew, and then in the morning pick them back up to start all over again. And don't be late picking one up in the morning as you might get two.
Bill
B Co 3/8th 4th Inv Div 68-69
You missed the critical F.O.P., ( Forward Observation Post) 90 degree offset to the target, but equidistant from the mortar crew.....I worked with these teams in Angola, C.A.R. & SE Asia. These guys call in range & deflection corrections, often impossible to see from up to 8km away.
BTW, mortars also assist with nighttime battlefield illumination (60 & 82mm)
Yip, these guys are key.
Our forward observers were the line platoons.
11C infantry 120 mm mortar Platoon. 2/8 CAV "honor and courage!"
Thank you, us mortars don't get much spotlight. Respect.
I was 2/5 CAV "Loyalty and courage"
@Joseph Shannon... Love you mortar guys! "IF YOU AIN'T CAV, YOU AIN'T SHIT"
As a 13 fox I have massive respect for the 11C. Thank you guys, you have turned the tide of more battles than you will ever know.
Thank You All' For Your Sacrifice and Service 🇺🇸
Steel on steel
I will never forget the range instructor's best advice to remember first and last. "IF YOU HAVE A MISFIRE, DO NOT LOOK INTO THE TUBE!" It still resonates in my brain today, something I will never forget.
I'm actually wondering now...how do you deal with misfire? If you drop a shell, and it doesn't fire. What do you do? I'm interested in what's the safe protocol.
@@Quicksilver_Cookie Here's an answer one year later. If it's the US 60mm you can try manually firing it by pulling the trigger, if it doesn't fire or it's one of the big bois, you just lift the back end up and the round slides back out.
Once you shoot with a 120 mm all personal weapons sound and feel like air soft guns
I came here looking for this comment. Wasn't disappointed.
Poor youngster missed out on the 4.2 inch the real big gun.
@@dirtyhlbly The 4.2 inch is 106.7 mm so its smaller than the 120 mm and the 120 mm KRH has a much larger effective range so which one is the real big gun?
Right? Lol
Naaaaaaaaaa 203mm mortar bigger the Soviet 203 b4m super heavy artillery oh shit ITS THE ULTIMATE SPG
The VietNam vet I worked for in 1985 said that when you were under attack with these, it just sounded like somebody slamming a car door. Until it landed. He said he hated it when movies show these hitting and blowing up in a huge fireball like it's 40 gallons of gasoline.
Right? When I was assigned as our mortar platoon medic, the only time you saw a fireball was during night fire exercises. During the day it was just some smoke and whatever debris it blew into the air.
And the shrapnel
#Orion Red
Not to go defensive on Hollywood, but there is a problem they face: how do you display danger? The shockwave and the shrapnel just not visible on screen, the camera unable to capture it. It's too fast. But we instinctively fear fire. That big orange ball of fire says 'DANGER'. Realistic? Not. But it makes danger visible. What is not visible on screen, doesn't exists in that universe.
when watching munition blasts of all types, ignore all the dust and smoke, all that matters is that first 1/2 second of burst that distributes steel at illegality at significant velocities through your body. Let the under-educated marvel at all the dust and smoke afterwards--of little military importance. Our little secret. Stay with me bro, can teach you so much!
@@danmurray1143 We used 4.2" Heavy mortars, equipped with HE or Willy Pete, which had about a 35 meter kill radius. Five or six M-113's (APC's) would pull in spaced 35 meters apart, set up and drop the rounds, and there wasn't nothing left out there that wasn't burning. This covered an area about as long as 1/2 football fields. Not good to be there.
i love the sound a mortar makes, especialy the older ones that has that THUNK sound
I am bit curious about the audio recording from these videos. From my experience, with modern mortars the less your charge is, the more it goes thunk, instead of bang. So when they are firing a round with no additional charges i expect a thunk, not a bang: But in this video you kind of get a bang noise, but i feel that it might be a product of the recording.
Don`t forget the impact sound.. !! Both sounds are so special.
and the fact that u can shoot while fully covered.
Then someone sound make music our of it
The thunk sound isnt real man. Its Hollywood. They work just like any other gun, so they sound about the same.
oh. i was so sure that i had heard the sound in a video some time ago, and not in a hollywood movie.
I'm a former mortar crewman. It's not a fun system to haul around and maintain, but it's exhilarating to put into action (mounting the gun) and fire! I miss the bonds I formed with my fellow crewmates in my time.
I used to be an FO (Forward Observer). Mortars saved my ass more than artillery ever did. Mortars would always send my regards to whom it may have concerned.
I'm a Mortar Squad Leader, I've been on 120's for seven years and I can say it's the best job I've ever had.
Enemy: dies
Enemy: dies
Enemy: dies
Enemy: dies
Guy who loads the mortar: makes naruto move
Enemy: dies
My dad served his mandatory military service as a mortar commander for the 81mm, so I really appreciate you making this video. Great content again as usual
My Dad was a British mortar man in WW2. He was a D-Day and Operation Market Garden veteran, and a sergeant in charge of his squad of 12 guys including himself, 2x 3inch Mortars and 2x Universal Carriers. He quit the army in 1950 with the rank of Company Quarter Master Sergeant (CQMS). Funny anecdote: I was watching TV news with Dad about 10 years before he passed away. We were watching the young green soldiers just before Operation Desert Storm in Iraq. The young guys were all hollering at the top of their voices, “We’re gonna kick ass, we’re gonna kick ass!”. Dad quietly says; “We’ll see what they’re like when the ‘nuts and bolts’ start flying”. Haha! That’s the kind of comment from someone that’s been in the ‘meat grinder’.
My uncle has been hit by one of these in the croatian war in 1993. His chest was full with small shrapnels and he got very lucky that he survived this.
His Cousin still has a shrapnel stuck in his leg.
In the 90s this weapon was very effective.
I hope that we never have to face an enemy with this thing.
Have a nice day guys
Thanks for this mortar video. Was a mortar crewman in the US Army. Mostly working on the M-30, 4.2-inch mortar. Spent some time on the M-29, 81-mm mortar. Both mortars are now obsolete in the US military.
The M-29 mortar had nine cloth bag charges to get the range desired, the angle of the gun was also used to get the desired range.
The M-30 was composed of a gun cannon, base plate, rotator, bridge, elevator and an optical sight. The "Four-deuce" used square sheets that were a pale yellow, about the size of cheese on hamburgers. Charges were calculated using fractions. Each square sheet had four corners. The corners were counted as 1/8th, so one single sheet was 4/8ths. Two sheets were sewn together making 8/8ths, or one charge. Ten sheets were sewn together to make a charge of five. There are 40/8ths in a pack of five, 40/8ths is reducible to five. So you had "five packs", "ones" and "singles" to add together to make a maximum charge of 42. Example: you need a charge of 34-4/8ths charge. So six "five packs" + two "ones" and one "single" gets you the 34-4/8ths charge.
The main thing was the weight of the gun if ground mounted. 672.2 pounds, or, 305-kg. The ammunition was delivered by the ton on pallets. Not a very man portable. Range of 7800 meters if the new shells were used. The barrel was rifled.
Whomagoose Long ago soldier thanks for your service 👍
Whoomagoose not an elevator a standard buddy. Fall out one.
You certainly cut some charges my friend
@@dirtyhlbly I don't know about the word "standard" as a name for any part of the M-30 mortar system. Maybe you are referring to some video game.
The "four deuce", or, M-30 mortar, was composed of a base plate, a rotator that was inserted in the baseplate, a bridge was inserted into the sockets of the rotator, the elevator was inserted into the opposite side of the bridge, the cannon had trunnion pins on bottom of the cannon that were inserted into the socket of the bridge, the top of the elevator had a fastening pin on top that was fastened to a collar on the cannon. The optic sight was fastened to the left side of the collar on the cannon. There was an extension bar that could be used to raise the optical sight to relocated the sight around obstructions. After all the guns we're placed a special transit was used to align all the guns toward a specific direction. That transit looked just like a land surveyor's transit. Then the aiming stakes were placed at 50 meters. Then you waited for a fire mission.
So the part in question was an "elevator." I still have some of my old army manuals that no name of "standard" was used. Only an elevator; an elevator raised and lowered than angle of the cannon.
The M-30 was a mortar gun that was completely different from any other mortar in the world. Only used by the American Army. I never saw the M-30 being used by the US Marines. Also for a time by the Norwegian Army.
Another thing about the ammunition for the M-30, Four-deuce mortar, was a Canadian engineer that designed a better seal for the Four-deuce shell that improved the range of the shell to 7800 meters. That new seal prevented gas blow by loss so all the pressure made by the charges was used to push the shell down range. That engineer was Gerald Bull. The same guy that was employed by Saddam Hussein of Iraq. He made that very long artillery cannon to hit targets in Israel and Iran. Somebody assassinated Gerald Bull in his apartment in Belgium. The cannon in Iraq was never finished. That assassin disappeared and was never found. Now a cold case with only a bullet that was removed from the body.
Whomagoose Long ago soldier I've always wondered just how effective the 60mm mortar is. Personally it seems too small a caliber to be efficient and effective, but I know absolutely nothing about mortars.
I kept waiting for the part where he showed what mortars actually do. Hundreds of launches, but very little footage of hits. An animation of its intended function including the shrapnel spread would have been nice. This was tons of verbiage, but not a lot of actual information about the mortar's place in an integrated battle plan, nor how it is determined if it is hitting its target, etc. Remember not all of us have military experience.
I agree. No explanation of aiming either. Lots of blabbering though.
ruclips.net/video/mGORzau-TWY/видео.html
I was wounded by a mortar attack in Iraq in 2004. You’d usually here the report before the incoming detonation. This particular attack that wasn’t the case. We were staging up to leave our FOB (Justice) on the banks of the Euphrates River in Kadhimiya, when the first mortar rounds detonated. The initial round blew up an ING’s car making us think initially it was a V-BED. Then the second round impacted half way between myself and the smoldering Caprice Classic. It was obvious then, we were taking indirect fire. I remember being shocked that the second round, which impacted a good asphalt road only left a shallow “splash” mark. Nonetheless, I turned in a panic looking for the closest cover. That’s when the third round detonated directly behind me and threw me over the M-1114 I was prepping for that nights’s directives. That mortar crew was shit hot. It was “Add 50 Fire for Effect” 11 out of 28 of us were wounded. Miraculous that we suffered no casualties. They had “eyes on”.
@@jamesmoss9487hm
No one volunteered to go down range? How odd! 😒
"Have you actually hit anything with that mortar ?" - random soviet soldiers in CoH2.
Tbh mortar is the de facto king of infantry support weapon (there is also the MGs but you get the gist). Not to pick on the heavy artillery but the ability for a group of infantry to just set up a forward platform on near the front line and start shelling enemy lightly fortified position is invaluable. Not every time you can just pull up a coms and call the 105mm guy in the back line with coordinate for a danger close supporting fire.
Heavy artillery is better against armor and strategic targets like airfields where a have bomber isn't practical and a multipurpose fighter isn't enough
To the contrare mon cherrie. The A-10 is the de facto king of infantry support. I know you are talking about man portable infantry weapons but the infantry support crown belongs to the brrrrrrrraaaaaappppp.
Dunno what it's like for other armies, but Canadian artillery regiments have mortar batteries as their soldiers will also go out into the field and perform pretty much the same job as the infantry. We have our field artillery batteries, mortar batteries and reconnaisance batteries too. Funnily enough, they pick artillery soldiers for door gunner jobs. How's that for weird?
Two Buffalos Making Noise dude u have no idea wtf u talking about. Mortars are quick, and can travel anywhere in the World along with the infantry
Young Lord I suggest you go around to every infantryman you can find and ask him if he’d rather have an A-10 supporting his operations or a mortar team. Let me know what you find out. You’ll probably get waterboarded for asking stupid questions like that.
Former Rifleman here. The number one reason I respect the Mortarmen is the math they have to do on the fly to get rounds on target from a position outside of visual range. Trig or calculus, I don't know, but calling for indirect fire only requires my position to be known as well as distance and direction to the target. On top of that, when we walk the guns on for an accurate effect, we give the mortar crews directions from our perspective, so they get to translate "100 meters left, 200 back" into whatever adjustments they require from an angle up to 90 degrees or more from our direction of fire. I bet the Army got some sweet gadgets that do the calculations automatically for the crews, but knowing our supply situation, our mortar guys had to do them by hand, and they had to be perfect to prevent friendly fire with AP shells.
I served as a USMC mortarman with 60mm and 81mm mortars - yeah, they are man-portable but far from light. When they were assigning MOSs at Infantry Training School, most of the guys they put in crew-served weapons rather than making them riflemen were bigger guys. The machine gunners hauled a lot of weight too, and when I was in the antitank assault men were using 106mm recoilless rifles, and that's a REALLY heavy item that takes at least three people to carry it.
We carried the crew-served weapons on a tiny flatbed vehicle called a mechanical mule when we could. Also, the weight was sort of balanced out by the fact that we tended to stay in one position a bit longer than the rifle platoons. Still called for a strong back and legs, though.
Mortars are also rather quiet too. Well, at least when it comes to the mortar projectile already flying in the air, and flying FAR FAR away from the barrel. Mortars have subsonic muzzle velocities, so because of that, I don't think they produce the loud "whizzing" sounds that a supersonic howitzer shell produces
They clean the mortar tubes with orange gatorade?!?!
It's probably water to cool the barrel and prevent cook off.
@CompleteXgaming Tell Sgt Miller Barclay says wassup
Ha! No man its CLP, it's a type of oil. they just put it in a Gatorade bottle, I've see CLP carried in many more obscure places, it's just how we do it XD
@CompleteXgaming wow good for you brother, 11C is a slow painful death for me XD I like to here the motivation, kind ass bro! You can keep it though, I'm headed too psyops.
It's not Gatorade, it's Mortarade!
The 60mm Light Mortar is much more lethal especially the M224. It can be moved faster because its light, put into action quicker, engage enemy targets quicker, and used as direct lay like short range artillery to buildings and structures. The 60mm rounds are lighter and every infantryman in the company can at least carry 3 rounds of HE. The infantry squad has 2 or 3 M203 40mm grenade launchers attached to M16A4s or M4 carbines for more indirect or direct support weapons. The 60mm Light Mortar is very effective for immediate kick ass high angle death to the enemy.
@Megas Pantelos And far too expensive to justify itself. A RC plane with a hand grenade would be more useful and less expensive.
I agree that the 60mm mortar is a great company/platoon level asset. If you want bigger, you get the 81/107/120 platoon on the radio. if you need bigger than that, you have to climb up to artillery or CAS, which is harder to get quickly without pre-planning or luck.
I used to be a mortar maggot and have used all the mortar systems in the US Army. The 60 MM mortar is pond-for-pond the most lethal and my personal favorite. As a section SGT for a 60 MM Mortar in a light infantry company weapons platoon, we were quite devastating. I had the best crew; my gunners were like magicians on that thing. Oh yeah, I convinced my battalion commander to have every infantry soldier in the line companies carry a minimum of 2 rounds HE each. Initially they all bitched and complained but when we bailed them out of some tight spots in combat, they came around pretty quickly.
@@epion660 Nah, a regular frag grenade has a casualty producing radius of 15 meters or about 50 feet. Also most grenades will detonate after 5 to 8 seconds, making it very ineffective when dropped from to high up. a 120 mm High Explosive round has a kill radius of 60 to 75 meters (200 to 250 feet), depending on the type of round used. You drop that kind of ordnance with precision on something, like a building or fighting position, it will break it real good :)
@@Cavemale2000 Alright, I'll gladly correct myself - An RC plane with equivalent explosive charge would be almost as effective as a GPS shell, at likely under half the cost.
I was a mortarman and carried the 60’s. Thank you for representing this job extremely well!
11C here! I have to say your information is spot on!! You did your research my friend!! I’ve seen a lot of shit on RUclips that wasn’t 100%. But by far this video has been the most accurate and well put together one I’ve seen on Mortars. Well done my friend!! High Angle Hell.
Thanks brother
I was an 11C 20 at one point. The 4.2 was heavy, had a great illumination round and could destroy troops in the open. Our truck, a 6-wheel monstrosity had a turbine engine and was so loud it could be heard for miles. At 672 lbs it was too heavy too carry.
Because it is free artillery?
Nothing is free.
Eric Johnson I mean it as in already deployed.
Your mortars are too short ranged to serve anyone else than you. Which means they're yours and yours alone.
Almost as good as free real estate.
A mini artillery, can't direct fire though
I provided ambulance support at training ranges in the 70’s. I got a day's practice with mortars. When given the chance to drop a live one late in the day the tube was dirty and nothing came out. I got to see how an officer catches the live round from an inverted tube. What fun!
I thought they needed rotations while in flight to arm. At least that's what I would tell myself if I had to do that.
mostly the smaller mortars have a smooth barrel. The french Hotschkiss-Brant 120 mm Brandt Rayé (rayé means rifled) witch the dutch artillery also uses, is one of the few mortars i know with rifling. So because of the lack of rifling the other mortar munitions use the acceleration of the projectile to arm themselves.
@@kevinc9065
@@thermoskanThe mortars I learned in the 1980s were 60mm and 81mm (smoothbore) and 107mm/4.2inch (lands and grooves). Getting a misfire out of a smoothbore is quick and scary. Getting a misfire out of a tube with lands and grooves is like a well-made slow-build terror film. And you can hear the round coming slow down the barrel as air passes the rubber ring.
One range day, we were firing 107mm/4.2inch from APCs, and the sergeant on the gun called for rounds faster than the listed rate of fire on a hot tube. The last round he fired that day didn't make it all the way down the tube. it bounced out on a spring of expanding hot gases, tumbled out of the tube, and bounced three times down the ramp, on the detonator end. - - - I have never seen people jump out of a tracked vehicle without touching the sides before then... That sergeant had to be ordered to go recover his misfire and carry it to the dud pit while the Lt. put in a call to range control and EOD.
@Gene Palmiter.... Yep, that was the scariest thing, dumping the dud round back out. I had to do it once, had the shakes for a long time after!
First rule of combat...don't let Germany make light morters.....(seriously, have you even seen some of their WW2 era light mortars)??
Jagannath Barman what u mean
@@dr3yfusz ruclips.net/video/XnQkLt3VJF8/видео.html
Watch Gun Jesus preaching about WW2 German light mortar ruclips.net/video/XnQkLt3VJF8/видео.html
@@dandhan87 All hail Gun Jesus.. He got his hands on a G11 for chrissakes
@@jagannathbarman6712 jai Hind nice to meet you again after a long time
To let you know, a year after you uploaded this video this got recommended to me.
Was a really good video cheers!
You know what they say, "The Mortar the Merrier."
Remove the word "the" and we got "the mortar merrier" still sound like the more the merrier tho
So lugging your Mortar around is getting you down? Introducing the New and Improved Lance-Grenade MLE F1 a 51mm mortar with electronic aiming that only weighs 4.8kg, it also only produces 52 dB of noise so the enemy will have a hard time spotting you. Buy in the next 30 minutes and get a SECOND ONE FREE (just pay the usual extorsion fees) plus shipping.
But wait, theres more...................
you had me at 51mm; I'd kiss you through the internet, but my wife is watching.
Sounds a bit op, especially if your can aim with gps.
taxation is theft brother. taxation is theft
I used to play worms2 and my dad was really good with the mortar.
the speed of adjustment makes doing the BC’s fire plan a lot faster. Get a corrected grid from the mortars, then one round from each gun on that grid to get gun data. 360 fire arc good for forward deployment. Volume of fire is great, book rate 20rds per min, but an experienced crew could reach almost 30rds per min, sustainable ten rounds per min.
Just got back from a deployment, I wasn’t too fun lugging the 60mm and rounds; but handheld is absolute greatest. Love being a mortarman. Thanks for some love for us Chucks.
As a former artillery observer (1989-1990 conscript, Dutch army) I appreciate this video a lot! I was part of the mortar company of an infantry battalion and I had a very good time there.
For those correcting me about the birth of mortars.... please.... I know they were part of warfare long before WW1. My point is they were most extensively used and realized then...
🙄
My father served in a mortar platoon in Jan-Feb 1942 (Malaya-Singapore). When the battalion was been over-run, by using 3 loaders they fired from their 3-inch mortar 21 ten pound bombs into the air before the first one hit the ground. He said it was a bit scary and they had take care with keeping they timing correct but the situation was desperate. In 22 days the battalion was effectively destroyed twice and reformed twice have suffered nearly a thousand battle casualties; not a fun time especially followed with the surrender of Singapore on the 15th Feb 1942 to the Japanese.
Yes siege weapons , totally different to modern mortars that started in WW1.
There were man-portable mortars before WW1, one of the best known is the Coehorn mortar: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coehorn
There are, mortars first appeared in Ming dynasty China in 1372 and all of them were man portable, weighing in at 37 kg. It actually got increasingly larger from then on because gunpowder was not as volatile as modern day propellant so the range and explosiveness was heavily dependent on the size of the mortar. They were though quite extensively used in naval combat, then siege.
But you were right about one thing, they became standard equipment during WW1, regardless of when they were invented.
The flare on the end of the tube is a GREAT improvement. When I was stationed at Ft Knox, (early 70's) each platoon in our troop had one (carried by a 5/4 ton thankfully) and if we tried to cowboy it using only one hand it would really hurt when the web of the thumb was pinched between the round and the tube.
Those "ear muffs" at 3:00 let you hear a casual conversation from about 50 yards they amplify sound but block out the sound of the mortor. We got to play with em' when we went from M777 to the 120.
@@alaric_3015 kraut
Need those peltors lol a 120 gave me gnarly hearing damage
Ice27076 we had to wear earplugs together with earmuffs when firing the 120.
First time I used those it freaked me out because I couldn't figure out who was talking to me, then I realized it was the FDC Humvee that was nowhere near me I was hearing.
@Alaric its resonance. Everything has its own natural vibrating frequency. Try hold a string with something tied to the end then shake it. First swing it slow, then shake it fast, then try to swing it at a rate where it actually can swing nicely. Thats the natural frequency. Some sounds are too high and some are too low. Engineers can design stuff to filter off different sounds while leaving different sounds to pass through
As a Cav 19D Cav trooper I saw a 80mm mortar platoon light up a target area at about 1 kilo range just about at evening twilight .... it was an amazing display that made me glad that my job description very seldom called for us to remain still very long.
Good video. I was a mortarman for 12 years on 60mm, 81mm and 4.2 inch. Most of my time was on 60mm in an airborne unit in Alaska (A Co. 1/501st PIR) You just haven't lived until you have jumped, at 0200, in the midst of the northern lights with an arctic ruck, a 60mm tube, bipod and small baseplate.
in my eyes Pretty much the most ingenius weapon of modern Battlefield fast, uncomplicated, coparebly cheap as well as the ammonition, indirect fire ...
do you remember that video of a mortar team, and it shows that one of the guy just chilling there being lazy and everything
The bloke sitting behind the mortar base plate is the gunner and he should be adjusting fire based on the info from the radioman, who should have a fire control computer to direct his fire. Geoff Who notes modern times.
You mean this video? ruclips.net/video/gsxaeIPOJIs/видео.html
Also sometimes teams have a mortar leader. His most visible imminent job being pulling the firing string on models with non fixed firing pins. Though in reality that is rather their smallest job. The leader of course leads the team given tasks etc, he also determines the base direction of weapon, checks the calibration of the sights etc., receives incoming orders, keeps track of available ammunition and rounds fired etc. Also that is the person most imminently getting their head bitten of by infantry platoon leader, if mortar accidentally aim bad and land on friendlies.
Sometimes elevation and azimuth are on different persons, depending on mortar model. Most again heavier stuff might have separate elevation and azimuth scopes, adjustments. there thus being gunner, assistant gunner who aim one of the axis each and loader who lobs rounds in the tube. the lead pulls the string.
Ofcourse this is mostly based on my Finnish experience and we are known to be rather artillery&mortar crazy and have usually massive teams on guns. Just to make everything that few seconds faster. And since we are conscript army, there isn't exactly lack of personnel. Plus it speeds up transport, maintenance etc.
Ah, you're Finnish? The ones who built the giant double barreled 120mm MRSI-firing self propelled mortar of doom?
@@GameFreak7744 you must be referring to Advanced Mortar System. And yes I'm a Finn. Though I must add AMOS was kinda joint project with Swedes. Though the single barrel NEMO follow up is ours only. Apparently AMOS kinda was even too heavy and powerfull. Which lead to smaller single tube variant to allow smaller mounting platforms and vehicles.
Still it is one amazing mortar I must say. Both technically and just the 'we have epic looking double barreled scifi turret' factor.
I was a 11C (81mm mortar) in Vietnam in 1970-1971, Company C, 4/3, 11th Light Infantry Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division (American). Carrying the 81mm mortar in the central highlands in the jungle was very difficult. We only used it twice in six or seven months (fired 2 or 3 rounds on each of the two fire missions). I have to admit that I was glad when the decision was made not to replace 1 mortar when the tube was damaged by an enemy mortar attack during the Lam Son 719 offensive. It's a great weapon if you have the right terrain and a good supply of mortar rounds. In triple canopy jungle and a very limited supply of rounds, it was just a lot of extra weight that the 4th platoon had to carry. Still a big fan of mortars. Really a bigger fan of the 105 howitzers firing from the Fire Support bases that saved our butts more than once.
I was in Vietnam in 70-71 with the 1/1 Cav Americal but I was 11D
Was fighting in Vietnam for helicopters and heroin worth it mate? Fighting farmers worth it?
@@neilgrant6876 should have been mate. Shoot'em up, burn'em up. Anything that breathes
What kind of range could you get from that 81mm ?
I served on a 105 towed howitzer from 82-89. Thank you sir for all you did. @John Ponton.
Mortars allow rifle companies to walk across enemy positions and bayonet the wounded.
Well...you could take the bastards prisoner. Sometimes.
@@neilgriffiths6427 prisoners are liabilities and slow your mission down.
@@Ehsggsh12747 well you can disarm and tie them, and send them far behind your lines.
You don't need many soldiers for a very large number of well tied prisoners.
@@ras573 true but it will still slow your mission down regardless, also you have to feed and shelter your prisoners which costs money. But from an ethical standpoint taking prisoners is much better then lining them up in front of a rifle squad, then moving on.
I was in the U.S. Army from 1988 through 1990. I was a mortarman ( 11C ) assigned to an Armored Cav Unit ( the 11th Armored Cav ) in Germany. We used the 107 mm M2 mortar, which was carried in the M106 Mortar Carrier. We had two guns in the Mortar Section, and we provided Fire Support for the Tanks, mainly Smoke and Illumination rounds with some HE. I'm glad to see that the Mortar still has a place on the battlefield. PFC Napier, signing out.
That guy with the Antenna is my buddy Rojas we went to Boot Camp Together
I had a Rojas in my boot camp platoon, good guy
@@randydewees7338
Everybody had a Rojas in boot camp.
@@13ivanogre13 shit had one in 2007 great guy
@@moeb9561
Yeah, I never talked to ours.
We had a Black guy named White and a White guy named Black!
I think the natural evolution of the mortar system is to somehow allow robotics to help with the carrying. Possibly a unit like similar to the Big Dog could be carrying around a modular mortar. And when you give it the order, it just lays flat with the weapon immediately ready to go. Other possibility is to equip a soldier with an exoskeleton, so maybe only one person can lug around the most of the necessary weight.
and with computerized loading, auto fire and aiming. Could you imagine it firing off 9 rounds in under five seconds in any sort of pattern needed using either manual aim, or gps assisted?
good way to retask m113 imo.
Well done on your mortar video. Very informative.
Kept my interest.
Thumbs up for sure. 👍
Great video. You hit most of the biggest points. The reason why mortars are considered infantry weapons, and what makes them invaluable to an infantry commander is that he commands them and doesn’t need to request support from them in the middle of a battle. If a company commander wants air or artillery support, he needs to call for it and hope it’s available when he needs it
As a Veteran Mortarman of the US Army and a I love this. The unit in this video was my unit. The 173rd Airborne Brigade. You are right. When we parachuted into Northern Iraq. Each member of our company carried a mortar round and dropped it off our mortar firing point once we were set up.
Fun fact: The mortar dates back to the 14th Century
fun fact; the mortar appears to have been invented ether in india or china in the 700s and not as a weapon of war. but as a way of getting big firecrackers high into the air at religious festivals
The siege mortars of the civil war and those from prior times provided the high angle of fire of a mortar but were quite different from todays mortars. They were heavy and required a lot of time to set up. The trench mortars of WWI are basically the grand daddy of today's mortars.
@tommy fred fun fact; gunpowder was invented in the 900s...
@@stevebutler4629 There were smaller versions (horse/mule portable) though meant for mountain warfare, forested areas and the like. The british for example used them in colonial warfare to good effect. I think he was just a little bit inaccurate there, the modern mortar indeed was invented in WW1 (because the basic form is essentially unchanged since then) but the principle of mortars - high angle, high trajectory artillery able to fire over obstacles without LOS - is almost as old as gunpowder.
Historical Chinese military text Wu Jing Zong Yao shows that mortars have existed in China since the 13th at least.
THEN YOU EXPERIENCE THIS...
*MISFIRE*
Aeth Alpenglow oh sweet jesus. My private gave me a misfire cuz he fucked up one of the cheese charges while I was gunning. Had to kick that bitch to get it to fire xD felt my heart sink when I kicked and heard the 0.5 seconds of it sliding down till BOOM. Thought I was dead xD
MISFIRE MISFIRE MISFIRE
Reminds me of that training camp scene.
i think all of the support company roles would be an awesome addition to the series maybe something like why is recon, signals, assault pioneers,surveillance snipers or DFSW so important?
former Captain US Army Artillery. This was a concise but VERY thorough and excellent presentation. You really covered a lot including questions people prob had before watching this video. My only contention would be the aspect of artillery you mentioned. While true, artillery normally uses low angle fire that has a flatter trajectory, we are just as capable of high angle fire, which is what mortars use. We can hit trenches and enemy behind deflates the same way as mortars would. Besides splash damage, the key difference is TIME. I was on 155mm howitzers (this is Medium Artillery btw) and for us to shoot high angle we had to first load the howitzer at low angle, then crank it up to the right quadrant elevation (QE). After it is fired, it must be lowered to a low angle QE in order to load again because the angle of the breech is so low we wouldn't be able to load a round if left at that angle. This takes time and is hard on the crew to raise and lower the cannon constantly. Side note - as punishment, we would sometimes do this by calling a lot of high angle missions (dry fire) but they had to act as the real thing and raise and lower... straightened them up in a hurry. Mortars are designed as high angle only so this wouldn't apply. Anyway - all correct about not needing same strength of the round causing better fragmentation because less pressure on the projectile, base of fire being much faster than artillery, the different mortar sizes and what support each is used for, the reasons we still use mortars today - ALL very good and 100% on. Lastly, so you know - for the U.S. Light Artillery is 105mm, Med is 155mm and Heavy is MLRS/HIMARS Missile Systems. The MLRS replaced the 8 inch howitzers probably sometime in the 1980's.
Don't forget the morale factor. Artillery, armour and aircraft require specific weapons to typically cause them harm (i.e., ranged, AT and AA). Infantry can be killed by a rock. Mortar crews frequently share the same dangers as other infantry and if operating close enough to the infantry, have a minimum range that makes "friendly fire" very difficult. The fact that they can occasionally see their target means they can adapt and almost follow it as it moves. Add in "danger close" missions which are far less dangerous to friendlies than your "earth movers", they feel a "little" safer.
Excellent essay, really well compiled and edited, thank you.
105mm 자주박격포
120mm 자주박격포
155mm 자주박격포...
240mm Tulpan is nice :)
Small portable mortars were almost replaced by grenade launchers and automatic grenade launchers.. AGS17 can lay down pretty nasty fire support, while being 1-2 guy wapon only. And there is a lighter variant too.
Vehicle mounted automatic mortars are also nice... they can spray multiple rounds quickly at the enemy and move to different position very quickly.
Out of that entire movie length video, I didn't see a single mortar land...
6:04
@@zachdurocher1166
This is how reliable witnesses to a crime would be, all of us.
What cameraman is stupid or crazy enough to get close to the landing point to film it?
Neither did the enemy...
I served on a 120mm for a training exercise, before I was unceremoniously picked up to do desk work in battalion command because they demanded, and I quote, "send someone who knows how to work with computers". Following that I was shuffled around a bit more so I got to do more shit and experience more variety in my 2 years of professional service as a soldier than some officers do in 20.
anyways, that exercise was great fun and it is a really cool feeling when you are part of 2 sections, so 6 guns firing off in sequence.
When it gets to the closest ajdecent gun and ours going off, you can feel the sound wave in your chest.
They let me pull the trigger on the last round we fired out of the gun I was on and it's a weird feeling. Basically I've been listening to some very loud booms all the damn time, probably about 25 shots all told per gun and then when you are actually pulling the short rope on the trigger, I barely even heard the firing of the weapon a meter behind my back.
Pro tip from my squaddies: keep your mouth open when rocking that sucker.
Small authors note: I've not had a sweeter lunch in the military than when I was eating canned beans one spoon at a time between running 120mm mortar mines between the prep spot and the weapon itself. It doesn't hurt that Croatian IBOs (Individual Combat Meal) are actually quite decent.
I was a corpsman stationed with 3/7. I first got to them in the middle of their Mountain Warfare Training package in Bridgeport.
They couldn’t figure out where to stick me, so I was put with the mortar squad. What a great group of guys. Kinda mean and scary, but they’ll bend over backwards for you.
Great video! Very comprehensive. I like that you shows crews with different sized mortars. And of course, everyone love watching stuff blow up.
The bar none most important factor that makes mortars better than other fire support assets is their speed and ubiquity as an organic asset to the manuever. All fire support assets have their advantages and drawbacks for example air support's advantage is it's lethality but has a lot of limits on use and availibility. Artillery is slow but the range of it and shear amount of fire it can send is what makes it so dangerous. But often it is too slow (or atleast slower than mortars) for manuever because it is not organic and in general has to worry about the bigger fight. I don't think mortars will ever be replaced they may change shape but their role on the battlefield as the initial big gun to be used will never be replaced.
Edit: I see a lot of questions about the effects of indirect on MBTs. You're likely to do damage to things like sensors, reactive armor if they have any, tracks (idealy), and concuss/harrass the crew with bigger munitions. But to effectively destroy an MBT is a hell of a task. Hence why the best counter to tanks is not light infantry. Though there are tools they can use to counter tanks, the only true effective recouse they have is using terrain and obstacles to slow them down.
Served as a mortar man in the British Infantry, oh how i miss it.
Mortars hit it from every angle!
andrew dunkle In fact, 45 (longest range) to 85 degrees, that's call 'uper angles'.
@@TheBing65 What about 0 degrees? Maximal kinetic energy? Useful to destroy things at close range, I guess?
I was on the receiving end of 60's, 82's and 120's in Baghdad it ain't fun.
I have only been on the giving of artillery in training... that was enough to convince me... that can't be pleasant to experience. Lost 30% of the hearing in my left ear before I left Fort Sill, OK. Love you my brother-in-arms.
Significant emotional event
In 1974 I was in the U.S. Army. I was a field mechanic in a mechanized Infantry mortar unit. I had a blast doing it. It really is a major strategic factor, my unit were in armored person/mortar track carriers. We were multi-role tasked missions. The drivers were totally INSANE..LOL, example: we get the scatter call, the drivers all would pick a direction in a randomized way according to your lead and floor it. Mind you our carriers were capable of 65 mph when kept top shape, however the braking system above 50-55 mph failed to work very well and in some cases failed all together. As a result you could not use the brakes above 50 mph, you had to use engine braking. That being its only major downfall. We were a Infantry Mortar Unit. In our War Games we supported a tank battalion. Anyway, we were inside a metal box on metal bench seats with looping straps hanging from the ceiling and your bouncing around at 55 mph across open fields and also not so open ground. This is on time you use your chin strap or your helmet to keep from becoming a casualty of war..lol. really it is a crazy ride. These ammusment park rides hold nothing on a ride in one. I can't for life of me remember their designation the carriers. Our unit Bravo 2-2-2, Fort Riley. Oh 3 120mm mortar tubes and infantry support... I like your videos...!
Love it man. Respect from SA
In my 4 years in army and 4 years national guard, I got to go through all 4 mortars starting with 81s for 3 years and 60s for 1 in army and 3 years 4.2 inch and 1 year with the 120. I liked them all. Hiking 35 miles with 81 mm tube is not fun though.
To bad you didnt borrow a pack animal or use a farmer
No hiking with an 81mm definetily isn’t fun, let alone the ammo crates, but it is very deadly as an infantry support weapon
Will you talk about Nato forces reusing M40 recoiless guns In Afghanistan
Thanks Matsimus, Good Work .👍👍👍.
Great Video. I was a Marine Infantry Mortarman in the early 90s and used a 81mm in combat during Operation Desert Storm. 0341 WPNS Co. 1/8 Ooo-Rah
Another Great Vid!
The US Army Armored Cavalry Regiment's TO&E used to have one M106A1 mortar platoon (4 tracks) per Cav Troop. I'm not sure if that's still the same makeup today and I do know the venerable '4 Duece' have been replaced by the 120mm.. This gave the Troop Commander, usually a Captain, a high degree of flexibility and firepower. With 12 tanks, 18 M113s some TOW equipped, M88 Recovery Vehicle and his other assortment of support vehicles, this O3 had at his disposal a miniature battalion worth of fire power.
My favorite units to which I was assigned during my 22 year active duty career were the 3rd ACR and the 11th ACR. The pride and esprit de corps in these two units was unequaled in any other units in which I served. It was a definite honor to have been a part of the Armored Cavalry and to have served with so many second to none troopers.
Mortars add a insane rate of fire and heavy Mortars like 120mm are large fairly thin skin shell with as much HE as 150mm rounds. In WW2 a 120mm mortar was capable of knocking out a tank if it got a direct hit.
No not the same, not even close. 3 lbs HE with the 120 mm mortar and about 14 lbs HE with the 155 howitzer.
Thats a modern howitzer
Maybe the effect comes from a much higher rate of fire. If you can fire 4 or 5 rds to every 1 from the big gun its kinda the same
A 120 motar would break the track on a m2 but maybe a shitty track apc or a palidan .... A ww2 tank u ever stood next to a sherman a "tiny" tank
Almost impossible to hit a tank with a mortar. And mortars overheat like any weapon so you have to wait after a burst (I think it was about 6 or so) - otherwise you cook one of in which it pre-ignites and fires short.
Ok what tank? Like a ww1 tank then yes a sherman doubtful anything larger you honestly dont know cause the answer is NO a 120mm could hit anywhere but the tippity top and like the hatch or driving scope otherwise no
Watching these Mortarmen makes me feel like they're probably the most proficient soldiers in their trade. They all surely know their shit...Just my humble opinion.
I always thought mortars as the most OP weapon in battlefield. You can deliver that much explosive so fast that its mind blowing
I was a mortarman in the Marines, and I have to say this. Even with the size and weight of the 81mm barrel and baseplate, I hated humping that bipod the most. It was so unwieldy. You couldn't strap it to anything and no matter where you put it it was digging into some part of your body.
Great video, really enjoyable. And I have to give it to you, the ending (13:29) is hysterical.
One of our 113A2 4.2 inch mortar crews were short, as a 19D we were not parked very far away from them. TOP came over and said "hey Specialist I want to show you something" so of course I followed him. Our 1sgt was an 11D with 4 tours in Vietnam so he was widely respected by the scout Platoon. We walked over and we sat down in the APC... He said congratulations... Your the loader for today , I know you'll do great and he walked away giggling. I had some of the most interesting and fun experiences in my career with those guys. Burning the Cheese charges at the end of the night was pretty cool. Mortars are very deadly in the right hands.
In many armies, mortars are respected almost like some holy weapon.
Greeting to all my 120mm brothers out there!
REPEAT
REPEAT
if artillery is the queen of the battlefiled what dose that make mortars the duchess. the baroness?
The Artillery is the King of Battle... The Infantry, which includes mortars, is the Queen of Battle...
8:54 was that US and Polish troops together.
Was a mortarman. I used the 60mm, 81mm, and the 120mm both ground mounted, trailer mounted, and out the back of strykers and 113 tracks.
60mm is my shit I can carry that thing all day. Doing a shake n bake with the 120mm is beautiful.
Why is artillery/indirect fire weapons the KING OF THE BATTLEFIELD? Having been on the receiving end, and having seen the results of our artillery and mortar fire on enemy troops; you don't want to be there. Great videos. Keep up the good work!!!
Nothing like things randomly exploding to make an afternoon much more interesting.
If any weapon that still remains in the battlefield for many years if not centuries to come is the mortar cuz you just can't replace them!
While I would agree with the sentiment, people said the same thing about swords, spears, and bows
Frank Tank they did with the recoilless rifle, mortars are antiquated and really rarely used by conventional forces
@@irishsavage8715... although it is true that mortars are quite old they are still being used the only difference is mortars well, morters of the U.S has tracking capability which allows the operator to aim and fire with pinpoint accuracy!
And the ak47? It was I think used in ww2 or ww1 made by Mikhail Kalashnikov
@@harharhahrahrharo fail. Go read about it -_-
AK47 was post WW2... the 47 is 1947.
My grandpa was in the Soviet Army, he was in charge of an 85-mm mortar team for a brief time. I remember his stories, that every February they used to come to the Yuzhny Buh river some 30 kilometers above the city of Mykolaiv and shoot the ice chunks that were floating down the stream, breaking them, so that they would not collide with bridges.
So you're saying there's *MORTAR* this fancy contraption than it lets on?
I'll leave now.
Make sure to lock and close the door behind you
You forgot your fanny pack. Don't come back. We'll mail it to you.
Bah dunn. Tissshh
Boom boom! So to speak....
I was the senior medic for our mechanized infantry battalion‘s mortar platoon. It was a lot of fun and I even got to qualify with the 4.2” (four-deuce) mortars they carried around in the back of their APC’s. They could fire from inside, but more often we set them up on the ground.
I was a communication Sergeant in an Infantry Battalion in Alaska,78-80. Went out with Bn Mortars a couple of times. Our guys were GOOD. Their platoon Sergeant told me. they always tried to " put one in the back pocket" Our unit had mortar teams that could hit dead on within 2-3 rounds. Our unit had 81mm mortars, both at company and battalion level. their level of accuracy always impressed me. I'd love to watch a team do their stuff. HANGIN' AND BANGIN' .....HOOAH
I keep hearing the music from the intro demo everywhere. Does anyone know the name of the piece?
Enemy Jincheng zhang
The music before your intro deserves a derp-thomas-face
The mortar can take out tanks,groups of men and can shoot flares.
Thx matsimus
No it can't take out tank, maybe if hull down with 20+ round for
Range, but c'mon fella........
Well unless it lands on top of the engine deck then I dont think it’s gonna work. Even that the tanks need to be some old model tanks for it to happen.
Even a Steel on Steel contact isnt going to do anything more than scratch the paint off a tank.
However, you take a 120mm HE round on Airburst and you'll turn a technical into swiss cheese, and any organic matter inside is now organic goop.
Heard about Swedish STRIX?
best thing on mortars is that allows troops to keep the enemy on its position...not allowing to advance nor go back, adjusting angle of shooting, and winning time to attack with other means like line infantry or air support, is like Matsimus said on the narrative "harrass the enemy with mortar fire and attack it later"...on defense is the same...if enemy is cuantitative bigger and is getting on your danger zone...allows the mortar team to go back (because is nonsense to settup mortar on 90º) and restart the game...youre limited if you try to use this tactic if you are using heavy artillery guns like cannons or "obussier"...very good video...Greetings from Argentina!
Don't know how i found your channel but I subbed.
As a fellow Artilleryman from the States. Its nice to see that I'm not crazy for my insane love for Howitzers and Mortars. I've been out for a while now but, I miss being a fister every day.
what are them rings for on the mortar round
Bhum Brahmavira thanks
Call'em cheese charges
@@joeprimal2044 cheese
It's not made out of cheese, that's just what they call it.
And at the end of the day, you always have cheese left over.... new guy gets to burn the left over cheese. 😆😆😆 you can always tell the new guy because he has no eyebrows.
Actually smart antitank mortar rounds have been developed STRIX is a 120 mm version and the British developed a 81mm antitank round though I don't know if it was deployed.
The British 81mm anti-armour round was called Merlin and as far as I know was trialled but never went into service.
Pretty sure you can get laser guided mortar rounds these days. IN other words, some spec ops guy puts a laser dot on the target, and the round homes in on it. Tanks would appear to be pretty likely targets for these.
Austin Pundit certainly, the Russians have a very large mortar that fires laser guided shells. They were used to destroy fortifications. The two that I mentioned were meant to destroy tanks. The first was heat seeking and would aim itself at any tank in a certain radius of the point at which it was launched with no further human input needed. The second was never accepted by the British but was also self guided. If you know of any western laser guided mortar shells I would love to research it.
Is the warhead a heat type? (curious)
I took part in the British Merlin 81mm Mortar tactical handling trials on Salisbury Plain in the 90’s. Th concept was good but the cost per round let it down. I still have my Merlin tie pin.
Do a video on the A-10 gun
No need, it's just an overrated 30mm gun. The myth that it will kill tanks is just that, a myth. There is a reason why tanks, who can actually kill other tanks, have 120mm guns.
Yes, ouch! The truth hurts sometimes.
AAA9734 That 30mm DU round (even though I've seen more API-T rounds fired thought the GAU-8) is powerful enough to go through the tops and engine decks of older tanks. But it really shines vs light skinned and lightly armored vehicles. Such as IFVs, APCs, etc.
But yeah, the A-10 and Gau-8 are overrated as fuck
You guys must be commies.
Just search up “GAU-8 Avenger” If it says something about “ISIS no more” It’s the right one.
I been following you since right before I left the military and got everything turned on. Not once has RUclips told me when you posted I always come to your page to check even though I know you been busy lately. I don't know why RUclips likes not supporting our military or other things.