Service
The wheels were removed and the sMW was then placed in a pit or trench at least 1.5 meters deep, protecting the mortar and its crew. Despite the extremely short range, the sMW proved to be very effective as its massive shells that were almost as effective penetrating fortifications as the largest siege guns in the German inventory, including the 42 cm Dicke Bertha (Big Bertha), a howitzer that was more than 50 times heavier than the sMW. The effectiveness of the sMW is indicated by the number in service which increased from 44 when the war broke out, to 1,234 at its end. In 1916 a new version with a longer barrel was put into production. The new mortar was designated 25 cm schwerer Minenwerfer neuer Art (German for "new pattern"), which was abbreviated as 25 cm Smw n/A. The older, short-barrel model was then designated as 25 cm Smw a/A (alter Art)(German for " old pattern." It is unclear what benefit this change had over the older version.
Note: The data for this weapon differs between sources and cannot be considered definitive.
Data provided has generally been for an a/A mortar as given at the U.S. Army Field Artillery Museum, Ft. Sill, Oklahoma.
Read more about this topic: 25 Cm Schwerer Minenwerfer
Famous quotes containing the word service:
“I can counterfeit the deep tragedian,
Speak, and look back, and pry on every side,
Tremble and start at wagging of a straw,
Intending deep suspicion. Ghastly looks
Are at my service like enforced smiles,
And both are ready in their offices
At any time to grace my stratagems.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Barnard’s greatest war service ... was the continuance of full-scale instruction in the liberal arts ... It was Barnard’s responsibility to keep alive in the minds of young people the great liberal tradition of the past and the study of philosophy, of history, of Greek.”
—Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve (1877–1965)
“We too are ashes as we watch and hear
The psalm, the sorrow, and the simple praise
Of one whose promised thoughts of other days
Were such as ours, but now wholly destroyed,
The service record of his youth wiped out,
His dream dispersed by shot, must disappear.”
—Karl Shapiro (b. 1913)