The 10 cm ''Nebelwerfer'' 35 (10 cm NbW 35) was a heavy

mortar Mortar may refer to: * Mortar (weapon), an indirect-fire infantry weapon * Mortar (masonry), a material used to fill the gaps between blocks and bind them together * Mortar and pestle, a tool pair used to crush or grind * Mortar, Bihar, a village i ...

used by Germany during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Much like the American

M2 4.2 inch mortar The M2 4.2-inch mortar was a U.S. rifled 4.2-inch (107 mm) mortar used during the Second World War, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. It entered service in 1943. It was nicknamed the "Goon Gun" (from its large bullet-shaped shells, m ...

it was intended to deliver chemical munitions, such as gas and smoke shells. Unlike the American weapon it appears to have had an ordinary

high-explosive shell A shell, in a modern military context, is a projectile whose payload contains an explosive, incendiary, or other chemical filling. Originally it was called a bombshell, but "shell" has come to be unambiguous in a military context. A shell c ...

from the beginning. It was of conventional design, and was virtually a scaled-up 8 cm GrW 34. It broke down into the standard three loads for transport. The tube weighed , the baseplate and the bipod . Each could be man-packed for some distance, but small handcarts were issued for longer distances. Each mortar squad consisted of a squad leader, three gunners and three ammunition bearers. It was initially deployed in ( "smoke mortar") battalions belonging to the Chemical Corps of the Heer; exactly how the American initially fielded their own 4.2 inch mortar in

chemical mortar battalion Chemical mortar battalions were United States Army non-divisional units that were attached to infantry divisions during World War II. They were armed with 4.2-inch (107 mm) chemical mortars. For this reason they were also called the "Four-deucers ...

s. From 1941 they were replaced by the 10 cm ''Nebelwerfer'' 40 and the 15 cm ''Nebelwerfer'' 41

multiple rocket launcher A multiple rocket launcher (MRL) or multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) is a type of rocket artillery system that contains multiple rocket launcher, launchers which are fixed to a single weapons platform, platform, and shoots its rocket (weapon ...

Operational use

Initially they were deployed in ''Nebelwerfer'' battalions numbered 1 to 9, plus the ''Nebel-Lehr Abteilung'' (Demonstration Battalion) and saw service in the

Battle of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembour ...

and Russia during

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

. Specialist units using these mortars were also formed, such as ''Gebirgs-Werfer-Abteilung'' (Mountain Mortar Battalion) 10 which was formed in Finland in early 1942 by expanding ''Nebelwerfer-Batterie'' 222. This had itself been converted from 8th Battery of Artillery Regiment 222 of the 181st Infantry Division during the

invasion of Norway Invasion of Norway may refer to: *1033 invasion by Tryggvi the Pretender *1567 Swedish invasion during the Northern Seven Years' War *1658 Swedish invasion during the Second Northern War *1716 Swedish invasion during the Great Northern War *1808 S ...

. Following their replacement in the chemical corps, further uses were found for the mortars, including issue to ''Fallschirmjager'' units as heavy mortars.Grey Wolf, ''Battlefront Miniatures'' 2012

Notes

References

* Gander, Terry and Chamberlain, Peter. ''Weapons of the Third Reich: An Encyclopedic Survey of All Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the German Land Forces 1939–1945''. New York: Doubleday, 1979

External links

mortar page from TM-E 30-451 Handbook on German Military Forces
{{WWIIGermanGuns World War II field artillery World War II infantry mortars of Germany 100 mm artillery Chemical weapon delivery systems Military equipment introduced in the 1930s