Menning, Bayonets Before Bullets, says they were adopted 1887-95, and that they could keep up with field guns but limited reliability & range imposed 'severe' restrictions in the field. Dowding, Russian Campaign In Manchuria 1900, mentions the use of mortars by the columns invading Manchuria, so they must have been 'mobile' but says nothing about size or make.
I have a reference somewhere else to mortars in the field too, which I had dismissed as faulty translation of 'howitzer' by a non-military reader - looks like I was wrong again...
Can any of the artillery experts here shed any light on these pieces, please?
Can anyone suggest a reference source I can try? (I have Googled and Binged without success)
"Aleksandr Engelgardt (18361907) was one of the students of the academy as well. He designed not only carriages for guns Model 1877, but also all limbers and caissons during the 1870s1880s. The Russian-Turkish War of 18771878 revealed a necessity for high fire guns in the field artillery to fire powerful shells. However, attempts at firing from carriages with a steep angle of elevation caused carriage axles to break. A. Engelgardt solved this difficult problem by using rubber buffers and a support pedestal. He was the first in the world who created a 6inch (152mm) field mortar Model 1885 on a wheeled carriage. Mortars of this type were used during the Russian-Japanese War. A portrait of A. Engelgardt is exhibited in the room."
I have tried to contact them in the past, with no success... anybody got a contact, please?
I am looking for photos, performance specification etc, constructional drawings...
See attached; the first is the field carraige version, while the second pic is of the fortress carraige.
These weapon systems were all captured with the fall of the Ruski Polish fortresses in 1915. I have found no record of their subsequent use by German forces.
