Mortars are used by light infantry forces of the US Army and the USMC. For those of you who don’t know about them and are maybe just a little bit curious. Mortars can be carried by the crew or mounted inside of a tracked vehicle. They are more versatile because they are so easily transported. This makes them excellent for small light fighting forces.
A mortar is not a cannon or howitzer. The defining difference is that mortars use what is called high angle indirect fire while artillery pieces use both high and low angle indirect fire. In high angle firing the shell is launched up into the air at an angle greater than 45 degrees and less than 90 degrees and allowed to fall to the ground. All of the factors which effect the shell during its flight have been accounted for with mathematical computations and the tube is not pointed at the target on the ground but it is pointed in the direction which will cause the shell to land where we want it to. I bet you thought that all that mortarmen do is to point and shoot. Well boys and girls its not that simple.
Mortars are faster than cannons, it shell takes longer to fly to the target than it does the crew to set up, shoot, break down, and move. I have actually seen a mortar crew fire a shell, take the mortar apart, and be on the move again before the shell hit the ground. So when you absolutely, positively, have to tear something up in a hurry mortars are the way to go. We love to make mention of different military specialties in this blog because we want you all to realize all of the different things that you can do on a custom military ring if you have a little imagination.
Related posts:
