GERMAN SOLDIERS WITH 8CM GRENADE LAUNCHER AND MAUER AND GRENADE LAUNCHER (6 FIGURES)

The German experience from World War I showed a large role of mine throwers and mortars in infantry operations. Already at the beginning of the 1920s, designs of new mortars based on lessons learned from the Great War appeared, but they entered production at the beginning of the 1930s. We are talking here primarily about the mortar 8 cm Grenatwerfer 34 , which was the basic mortar of the German infantry during World War II and the less successful 5 cm Leichter Granatwerfer 36. In 1939, however, the heavy Nebelwerfer 35 mortar was introduced into service with infantry units, and in 1942/1943 it was supplemented by 12 cm Granatwerfer 42. German infantry tactics saw mortars as a very important means of supporting attack and defense, which should work closely with machine weapons. It is worth adding that the equipment of the German infantry division mobilized as part of the so-called In the 1st wave, in September 1939, there were 84 light 50 mm mortars (grenade launchers) and 54 81 mm mortars.