Brandt mle 27 (Mortier Brandt de 81mm modele 27)

History

Brandt mle 27 mortars served (in one form or another) with various world powers in the late 1920s and 1930s, and eventually served in World War II. The weapon is based on the revolutionary British Stokes mortar used in combat during World War I, but is itself a step forward in the mortar design process.

The type served its operators well and became the standard origin design for several famous and successful designs, all based on the French Brandt.

British Stokes Mortar

During the second half of the First World War, the British introduced the 3-inch Stokes mortar designed by engineer Sir Wilfred Stokes (1860-1927). This type was widely used in the British Army and passed on to the Commonwealth Army as well as the Portuguese and American armies.

Despite its apparent simplicity in form and function, the Stokes Mortar proved to be an evolutionary step in the field of famous artillery. The design borrows heavily from the cylindrical launch tube, adjustable support frame and recoil-absorbing base plate of modern mortar systems, and fires a high-explosive grenade. This weapon serves its operator well, as it can be fired from tight spaces and behind cover.

Over the next few years and even decades, the Stokes mortar became the basis for many mortar systems. This weapon served with the British Army until 1936, when it was replaced by the more modern Ordnance ML 3-inch infantry mortar.

Brandt improves Stokes

The French Brandt Company, led by French engineer Edgar Williams Brandt (1880-1960), took Stokes' basic design and developed it further to complement the development of a new mortar shell. The basic shape remains the same as the Stokes design, but with enough modifications to produce a combat-ready final product with a more uniform keel - a more efficient design that is easier to use and implement. The complete weapon system weighs 132 pounds and has a 4-foot launch tube. Operated by a crew of three, the mortar is designed around an 81mm shell and is available in two shell types - a "light" version weighing 3.25kg and a "heavy" version weighing 6 and 9kg. With a range of up to 1,900 meters (smaller with the heavier available projectiles - up to about 1,000 meters), a trained and experienced crew can fire 18 rounds per minute.

The crew was able to disassemble the entire system into three separate components for easy transport. The launch tube weighs 46 pounds, while the bipod and base plate weigh 41 and 45 pounds, respectively.

Elevation is limited between +45 and +80 degrees, while inherent lateral is limited between 8 and 12 degrees. Further directional adjustments required the crew to reposition their mortars.

This new mortar was named the "Brandt mle 27" (better known as "Mortier Brandt de 81mm modele 27"), and as the model name suggested, the weapon was introduced in 1927.

Brandt mle 27 General Operations

The operation of the Brandt mle 27 is traditional even by modern standards. Adjustments are made via an integrated lift crank on the bipod, including mounting screws under the muzzle end of the launch tube. The "layer" can be seen through a device on the upper left side of the bipod assembly - this moves it away from the muzzle for safety reasons. An operator inserts the prepared 81mm projectile into the muzzle and drops it down the tube, eventually hitting the waiting firing pin at the bottom of the tube. This ignites the projectile's propellant, forcing the shell out of the tube at high speed.

The inside of the tube is smooth, so the "rifle" didn't spin the projectile to stabilize it in flight. Instead, each projectile is equipped with stabilizing fins for this purpose. The projectile simply follows a predetermined trajectory arc set by the layer towards the target area. The shells are mainly high-explosive (HE) and are suitable for dispersing enemy troops that have been excavated, attacking unprotected soldier concentrations from above, or paralyzing soft-skinned vehicles to a certain extent. Their main purpose is to give hell to enemy infantry.

Smoke grenades can be used to cover offensive operations or defensive maneuvers as needed. The projectile is also designed to hold a range of smoke grenades available in various colors for field signaling and more.

Improved Brandt mle 27/31

The Brandt mle 27 proved to be the ultimate success once it entered service, a huge improvement over the British Stokes mortars of decades earlier. It was modified a few years later as the "Brandt mle 27/31" in 1931, firing an ever-growing number of improved 81mm projectiles. Such is the French woman Brandt's design success that Austrians, Danes, Germans, Japanese, Dutch, Russians, Italians and Americans have used her as a standard to develop their own 81mm and above Caliber infantry mortar series.

Other countries that wished to avoid royalties simply copied Brandt's designs directly, although none were as highly regarded as the French version. As expected, each of these Brandt "clones" were slightly different from the original French design to meet the various military requirements of their respective operators.

The World War engulfs Europe

In the 1930s, when Adolf Hitler came to power as chancellor of Germany, the governments of Japan and Italy demanded more and more of the world's real estate. The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) in the Iberian Peninsula proved to be a testing ground for several world powers, including Germany and the Soviet Union, and the war soon spread to the rest of Europe. When Germany invaded France in May 1940, the French army was in full swing, and their 8,000 Brandt mortars were brought into service. Further production took place in Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, Poland and Yugoslavia, so after their respective conquests many of the products became the property of the German army.

In the German Army inventory, the designation of each country of origin is unique, namely Austria 8.14 cm GRW 33 (o), Czechoslovakia 8.14 cm GRW 278 (t), Denmark 8.14 cm GRW 275 (d) and Netherlands 8 .14 ??cm GRW 286 (h), French 8. 14 cm GRW 278 (f), Polish 8. 14 cm GRW 31 (p) and Yugoslav 8. 14 cm GRW 270 (j). The Brandt mle 27 and mle 27/31 mortars and all their derivatives saw extensive combat operations throughout the war.

Their designs successfully survived global conflicts and survived in many postwar forms during the Cold War.

Brant Mortar Impact

Like the Stokes mortar before it, the Brandt mortar influenced many recent designs in the decades after its introduction and can still be seen in many mortar designs used by the military today to its range. While today's shape is superior to the Brandt collection in almost every way, the Brandt remains the standard thanks to its finely tuned and inherently strong French design.

Specification

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