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| Developments During World War 2 - British 4.2-inch | ||
| from "The Mortar" by WL Ruffell | ||
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It was at first manned by the Royal Engineers but later by the Royal Artillery, and first appeared in action at El Alamein in 1942. New Zealand Gunners will remember the mortar in Italy where a battery was formed in 1944 from members of 7 Anti-tank Regiment NZA.
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Figure 29: Ordnance ML 4.2-in Mortar. | |
Briefly, the 4.2 was an enlarged copy of the 3-inch when first issued. Subsequent modifications included replacement of the bipod with a tripod, and after World War 2 by the provision of a mobile base plate. It is no longer current equipment in British Commonwealth forces but in 1979 was still employed by five other countries. When New Zealand Gunners formed a mortar battery (16 pieces) in Italy, they found that no range table existed for the equipment! They had to produce one themselves. | ||
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Figure 30: Mortar No J2. | |
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