Outdoing the Mine Throwers 



Stokes gun used by British proves simple and 

 effective in trench warfare. You drop in the 

 shells. German "Minenwerfers" aren't in it! 



A WEAPON with little velocity but 

 which could heave considerable 

 quantities of high explosive into an 

 enemy trench, was badly needed at the 

 beginning of the war. The Germans were 

 the first in the field. Hans worked out 

 little trench mortars he called minenwer- 

 fer. Soon the British replied with the 

 Stpkes gun. This latter is now linked 

 with the famous Lewis machine gun, the 

 Mills and Hale grenades, and the like, as 

 one of the most potent inventions brought 

 about by the war. 



Trench mortars and howitzers are 

 merely short-barreled, light-shell pitch- 

 ing guns used for sending shells via the 

 indirect fire route from one trench, over 

 Deadman's land, to another trench. High 

 velocity would defeat its own purpose, 

 just as would direct fire. One would drive 

 the shell entirely too far when the gun 

 was elevated to pitch the shell, the other 

 would merely shoot over the top of the 

 other trenches after the fashion of a rifle 



The rapidity of the fire is limited only by the speed at 

 which the gun crew cah drop shells down the barrel 



A new gun and various types 

 of shells now used in trenches 



bullet. In consequence, a mortar of any 

 sort is elevated to not less than a 45- 

 degree angle. This causes a shell to go 

 skyward and over toward the other 

 fellow like a deceased cat over your alley 

 ience. The method is simple. It is 

 effective none the less. 



Taking advantage of the fact that a 

 mortar is always 

 elevated at an 

 angle of 45 de- 

 grees or more 

 from the hori- 

 zontal, Wilfred 

 Stokes worked 

 out a shell, con- 

 sisting of a case 

 containing a large 

 quantity of high ex- 

 plosive, fitted to a 

 base filled with a 

 light charge of pro- 

 pellant powder — also 

 a primer therefor. 

 The bottom of the 

 gun barrel has a pro- 

 jection or stud in- 

 side. So when this 

 new shell is dropped 

 down the barrel of 

 the gun from the 

 muzzle, the fall 

 bangs the primer 

 against this stud and 

 sets off the gun. 



39 



