The 20 cm leichter Ladungswerfer (20 cm le.LdgW) was a

spigot mortar A mortar today is usually a simple, lightweight, man-portable, muzzle-loaded cannon, consisting of a smooth-bore (although some models use a rifled barrel) metal tube fixed to a base plate (to spread out the recoil) with a lightweight bipod ...

used by

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

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 ...

. It was used by engineers to demolish obstacles and strongpoints. It was gradually withdrawn from front-line service from 1942. It fired

High Explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...

(20 cm Wgr. 40) and smoke rounds in addition to a special ''Harpunengeschosse'' (harpoon bomb) that carried a rope with hooks to clear mines or wire obstacles. The mortar was towed via the Pf. 25 handcart. Production was discontinued after 158 pieces had been delivered, and the mortars were replaced with the Granatwerfer 42.

References

Bibliography

* 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 Spigot mortars World War II mortars of Germany Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1940 {{Germany-WWII-stub