Landships II

The designer was general Pierre van Deuren. It must have been a rather accurate weapon.
It weighted 175 kg, but you could take it apart in pieces of approx 60 kg.
Rate of fire was 3 till 4 rounds per minute and the range was 600m firing the 18kg grenade. The 38kg grenade ranged a 350 meters. The weapon was nicknamed "Mortiers Valt Dood"(Mortars Drop Dead) after the abbreviation MVD. The use of it was rather unpopular because like every action with (hand)grenades out of trenches close to the enemy (and some were very close at the Yser front) it provoked counter reactions. (One of the last Belgian Yser vets alive told the story that after first 'joking' around with throwing dead rats, somebody had the splendid idea to throw a grenade, which provoked an artillery shelling that lasted hours).

regards, Kieffer

-- Edited by kieffer on Saturday 18th of September 2010 11:48:43 PM

Ironsides wrote:

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Kieffer I think you might mean inaccurate...





-- Edited by Ironsides on Sunday 19th of September 2010 09:30:26 AM

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Hi Ironsides...this I read too, even that it was a dangerous weapon. My source was a booklet, according to the editor his pictures and text are founded on the cooperation with Brussels. But only the Pope is infallible isn't he...

regards, Kieffer

 

Hello,

The "Van Deuren" was a good weapon, the french adpopted the 70 mm modèle 1915 "Van Deuren" studied by Major Van Deuren of belgian Army and 600 were made for french Army in the Westhinghouse Works in Le Havre in France.French hoped the "VD" (french name for Van Deuren mortar in official books) will replace the "mortier de 58 n° 1 bis".
In service, two defects occured:
-the tube was hot very swiftly.
-the electric ignition device was not durable in the trenchs.
The "VD" was accurate and the 19 kg bomb was good to 600 m (the belgian books claim 720 m for maximum range but french Army books said 600 m only).
In 1918, french Army withdraw the "VD" from front use and the weapons were passed to french Navy for use on ships as anti-submarine weapon with special bombs.
In belgian Army, "big" Van Deuren mortars were also used, notably a 90 mm modèle 1916 (heavy mortar, fired 120 kg bomb to 1400 m).
In few days, my new book "Les canons de la Victoire-Tome 3-L'artillerie de côte et l'artillerie de tranchée" is published with photographs of all french trench guns and the "light" and "heavy" Van Deuren mortars built in France.
Sorry for my poor english writing!
Yours sincerely,
Guy François.

Bonjour Guy!

Aha, an accurate weapon again!
A small side line about Van Deuren's rank: I don't know his rank when he invented the weapon, but if I am right he lectured at the Krijgsschool (War academy or military school)
where he had the rank as major-general. But I also read that he was a captain, but that could be of course at the beginning of his carreer. He died in 1956.
Regards, Kieffer