It reminds me of it's HISTORY
which is interesting
Mortars have been used for hundreds of years, originally in
siege warfare. Many historians consider the first mortars to have been used at the
1453 siege of Constantinople by
Mehmed the Conqueror. An Italian account of the
1456 siege of Belgradeby Giovanni da Tagliacozzo said that the
Ottoman Turks used seven mortars that fired "stone shots one
Italian mile high".
[2] The time of flight of these was apparently long enough that casualties could be avoided by posting observers to give warning of their trajectories.
[3] However, earlier mortars were used in Korea in a 1413 naval battle when Korean gunsmiths developed the Wan'gu (gourd-shaped mortar) (완구, 碗口).
[4] The earliest version of the Wan'gu dates back to 1407.
[5] Choi Hae-san (최해산, 崔海山) (1380–1443), the son of
Choe Mu-seon(최무선) (1325–1395), is generally credited with inventing the first Wan'gu.
[6]
French mortar diagram from the 18th century.
Engraving depicting the Venetian siege of the
Acropolis of Athens, September 1687. The trajectory of the shell that hit the Parthenon, causing its explosion, is marked.
Early mortars, such as the
Pumhart von Steyr, were also large and heavy, and could not be easily transported. Simply made, these weapons were no more than iron bowls reminiscent of the kitchen and apothecary
mortars whence they drew their name. An early transportable mortar was invented by Baron
Menno van Coehoorn (Siege of Grave, 1673).
[7] This mortar fired an exploding shell, which had a fuse lit by the hot gases when fired. This innovation was quickly taken up, necessitating a new form of naval ship, the
bomb vessel. Mortars played a significant role in the Venetian conquest of
Morea and in the course of this campaign an ammunition store in the Parthenon was blown up (see diagram).
An early use of these more mobile mortars as field (rather than siege) weapons was by British forces in the suppression of the
Jacobite rising of 1719 at the
Battle of Glen Shiel. High angle trajectory mortars held a great advantage over standard
field guns in the rough terrain of the
West Highlands of Scotland.
US Army 13-inch mortar "Dictator" was a rail-mounted gun of the
American Civil War.
1841 US Coehorn mortars, photographed in 1865
The mortar had fallen out of general use in Europe by the
Napoleonic era and interest in the weapon was not revived until the beginning of the 20th century.
Mortars were heavily used by both sides during the
American Civil War. At the
Siege of Vicksburg, General
US Grant reported making
coehorn mortars "by taking logs of the toughest wood that could be found, boring them out for six- or twelve-pound shells and binding them with strong iron bands. These answered as Coehorns, and shells were successfully thrown from them into the trenches of the enemy".
[8]
During the
Russo-Japanese War,
Lieutenant-General Leonid Gobyato of the
Imperial Russian Army applied the principles of
indirect fire from closed firing positions in the field and, with the collaboration of General
Roman Kondratenko, he designed the first mortar that fired navy shells.
German 7.5 cm
Minenwerfer.
The
German Army studied the
Siege of Port Arthur, where heavy artillery had been unable to destroy defensive structures like barbed wire and bunkers. As a result, they developed a short-barreled rifled muzzle-loading mortar called the
Minenwerfer. Heavily used during World War I, they were made in three sizes; 7.58 cm (2.98 in), 17 cm (6.7 in) and 25 cm (9.8 in).
World War I also saw the introduction of the
Stokes mortar. It was the first modern man-portable mortar and the forerunner of all modern mortars in use today. These modern weapons are light, adaptable, easy to operate, and yet possess enough accuracy and firepower to provide infantry with quality close fire support against soft and hard targets more quickly than any other means.
i can call/complain the govt officer like Myaor office is something bad happen, something like street light or signal light is not working with in hour this problem solved by govt that's called performance/honesty/sincerity and will and that's real power of democracy sir
@Fawadqasim1
Then let our democracy grow to that level it takes time and toll. You will like the history of mortars that I have posted and is regarding this thread