the m2 mortar america's primary light mortar of world war ii also seeing service in korea
and vietnam highly mobile with excellent range the m2 mortar was an important part of company
level fire support mortars were essential and used in all theaters of world war ii however on
film mortar teams are often overlooked with their essential role underrepresented and misunderstood
so let's take a look at the m2 mortar and some of the movies it's been featured in
the m2 mortar was a simple highly effective weapon but it's a bit more than just a tube
there's a base plate for a stable platform there's a mortar cup which connects the plate in the tube
it also houses the firing pin it's what the mortar round strikes when it falls down the tube a
soldier can arm and drop around down the tube and it fires on its own of course getting it on target
and most importantly not hitting your own men meant this was a role requiring skill and training
we're held up to the front by minefield blow us a path through and make it a white one
up two turns left five zero fire
aiming the m2 is done with a bipod assembly which attached to the tube
attached to the bipod was a sight these came in their own protective carrying case adjustments
to the mortar were made with a traversing hand wheel and elevation crank on the bipod
rounds for the m1 and m2 were primarily high explosive but there are also illumination
rounds and phosphorus smoke the rounds contained both a propellant at the base allowing them to
be launched from the tube as well as the warhead the rounds needed to be kept dry
a sometimes challenge in the pacific theater
m2 mortar rounds had a range of about two to three hundred meters
but propellant could be increased for each round by adding increments which could be
fastened to the stabilizing fins by adding four increments the maximum range of the m2 could be
pushed to about 2 000 yards or 1 800 meters changing the propellant also allowed mortars
to change their firing arc allowing shells to be lobbed behind buildings or terrain
war it's fantastic the m2 was a licensed production designed by french weapons
engineer Edgar Brandt it shared much in common with its bigger brother used in world war ii
the 81 millimeter m1 mortar again a rarity on film the m2 was smaller but provided great portable
fire support to American infantry at ranges greater than grenades could be thrown or launched
a typical mortar team was five men and they divided carrying the mortar components
the base plate and tube individually weighed just under 13 pounds with the bipod weighing
another 16 and a half pounds with the system altogether weighing 42 pounds or 19 kilograms
three men or more were usually dedicated to carrying just ammunition
skip more ammo go go
a trained mortar team could fire a well-aimed 18 rounds a minute
with he rounds having a blast radius of up to 35 feet or 10 meters teams with good communication
could establish a wall of mortar fire the 60-millimeter mortar had one of the best
ranges of any light mortar of world war ii 60 000 m2 mortars were made during world war ii alone
mortar sections in world war ii were typically part of the weapons platoon in a rifle company
with a section leader being a sergeant in rank a mortar section was made up of 16 to 20 men
a rifle company could count on three mortar teams for immediate and indirect fire support
all right mortars and grenade launchers on that building until it's gone when it's gone
i went first to go straight in for going around everybody else follow me yes sir
light mortars gave infantry greater control over quick and indirect fire as opposed to requesting
artillery or naval fire which needs to be radio requested and not always available or as accurate
for paratroopers mortars were usually the only indirect fire available
the m2 size meant it was ideal for paratroopers assuming mortar teams could assemble after
the drop and the mortar equipment stayed attached to the paratrooper during the jump
every mortar team member was armed typically with an m1 carbine
expected to act as a rifleman when mortars ran out of ammunition they also needed to be able to
defend their position mortarmen like machine gunners were always important enemy targets
mortars can drastically alter defensive and offensive tactics mortars can devastate an
attacking enemy without ever being seen when attacking entrenched positions or machine gun
nests mortars can be used outside the site or range of these fixed positions able to destroy
them without an enemy position able to return fire and one machine gun's holding us back
a little more to the right attacking an enemy armed with mortars sometimes meant rushing them
trying to run within their minimum firing range sometimes the only answer to a mortar section was
another mortar section mortar sometimes dueled even out of sight from each other relying on
information from spotters there is a good example of this in siege of jadadville when an irish
peacekeeping force is under fire from mortars devastating their fixed defensive positions
on film there are many creative ways mortars have been used most of which are actually possible
though highly dangerous mortars could even be used against tanks as shown here
though they were not overly accurate against moving targets for a direct hit tanks however
could be vulnerable to even he mortar rounds as their armor was thinnest on top this is especially
true of poorly built like japanese tanks that could be essentially rattled apart by an at round
primarily if you see mortars firing at a tank it is to kill the enemy infantry supporting it
two of the more famous scenes involving mortar rounds are from saving private ryan and hacksaw
ridge where they are used as grenades this is possible and there are several heroic accounts
of them used this way in world war ii but it was highly dangerous as world war ii mortar
rounds generally carried impact fuses meaning they detonated on impact with the ground as opposed to
a grenade which has a timer fuse the mortar rounds used here just needed the arming wire removed
followed by an impact to be live if you missed through you had no time to take cover
though if the bomb didn't land on its head it also might not explode
the mortars are a rare thing on film HBO's the pacific is the one excellent standout example
following real-life mortarman Eugene sledge and Meryl snafu Shelton sledge thoroughly
documented his experience in this role in the pacific theater the mini-series highlights
the dangers of being a mortarman as well as the experience many shared also serving as riflemen
second squad let's go why us your squad low on ammo
never means any damn difference damn coming with you so grab a rifle and move
a second production highlighting the mortar and its crucial role against defensive positions
and machine-gun nests is go for broke from 1951. it's a progressive film for its time highlighting
the contributions of Japanese American soldiers serving in the European theater approximately 30
000 Japanese Americans served in the us military during world war ii give it another 50 yards
all right I'm johnny thanks for watching this review on the important role mortars played
during world war ii and beyond i have no direct experience handling mortars so if you do please
share any insights on the subject in the comments section and I hope to see you in the next video