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Mortars were not used by the British during the South African War (1899-1902) and only to a slight extent by the Boers.
World War 1 caught the British and the French unprepared for the trench warfare which developed towards the end of 1914. In October of that year the British Army foresaw the need for '... some special form of artillery' suitable for the close-range fighting about to be encountered. At first they tried crude bomb projectors made from water pipes, with even cruder firing devices. Of a number sent to France in January 1915, eight of the first eleven burst!
At first the French were able to resurrect some of the mortars they had used in the Crimean War (1854-56), and used them until they developed something better. During the war British and French forces collaborated; each made use of the others inventions.
On the other hand the Germans, having studied the trench warfare waged around Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), and no doubt with an eye to the future, in 1908-09 developed a 25-cm (9.84-in) minenwerfer (literally 'mine thrower'), 160 of which were ready by 1914. These were rifled mortars mounted upon field carriages, of more will be said later.
Then along came a saviour for the British: Mr FWC Stokes (later Sir Wilfred Stokes KBE). (continued on next page)
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