9 cm Minenwerfer M 14

The 9 cm Minenwerfer M 14 (Trench mortar) was a light mortar used by Austria-Hungary in World War I. It was designed by the Army's own Technisches und Administratives Militär-Komitee (TMK) in an effort to quickly satisfy the demand from the front for a light mortar. It had a number of issues with its ammunition, namely the black powder used as a propellant gave off copious smoke clouds on firing that revealed the tube's location and the mortar bomb fuzes had a high rate of failure. The breech-loading mortar tube was mounted on a framework that didn't allow for any traverse, which meant that it was impossible to engage different targets without relaying the mortar. In turn the frame was mounted a rectangular firing platform.

9 cm Minenwerfer M 14
9 cm Minenwerfer M 14 in 1916
Type	Light trench mortar
Place of origin	Austria-Hungary
Service history
In service	1914–1918
Used by	Austria-Hungary
Wars	World War I
Production history
Designer	TMK
Designed	1914
Produced	1914–17?
Variants	M 14/16
Specifications
Mass	72 kilograms (159 lb)
Crew	3
Shell	2 kilograms (4.4 lb)
Caliber	90 mm
Breech	interrupted-screw or cylinder lock
Effective firing range	199 metres (218 yd) (M 14)
Maximum firing range	345 metres (377 yd) (M 14/16)

The M 14/16 had a circular platform to provide traverse and weighed only 65 kilograms (143 lb). A later model allowed the mounting to be collapsed for ease of transport. A new M 16 mortar bomb that used the German Poppenberg fuze system generally cured the dud problem, but it still used black powder as its propellant. This was a severe tactical disadvantage and it was decided to purchase replacement mortars from the German firm of Heinrich Lanz from 1917.

References

• Ortner, M. Christian. The Austro-Hungarian Artillery From 1867 to 1918: Technology, Organization, and Tactics. Vienna, Verlag Militaria, 2007 ISBN 978-3-902526-13-7