13 September 2015

German 8cm Granatwerfer 34



I've been meaning to load these pics up for a while now but sadly my Cam seems to have lost some of the photos (together with some of other on going projects) and I only now came round to take new ones. So here it is for you to enjoy, the German 8cm Granatwerfer 34 (kurz). Miniatures and decals by Warlord Games again.


The 8cm Granatwerfer 34 was the standard German heavy mortar of WW2. Its developement began in 1932 at the Rheinmetall company in Düsseldorf and was introduced into the Wehrmacht arsenal in 1934. From 1940 on the 'kurze 8cm Granatwerfer 42' was developed and put into production in 1941 as a replacement for the 5cm Granatwerfer 36. Weighing about half as much as the 'lange' (long) version and hence beeing more mobile it was primarily meant to be used by the Fallschirmjäger Divisions but was adopted later by the Wehrmacht as well.


The heavy mortar was deployed in the so called 'Granatwerfer Zug' (Mortar Platoon) as part of the 'Maschinengewehrkompanien' (Machine gun companies) of the 'Infanteriebataillone' and motorised 'Schützenbataillone'. The platoon consisted of six mortars.


It was feared by the Allies because of its great accuracy and rapid fire. Much or better most of the credit should go to the highly trained crews though. The weapon itself was of conventional design and broke down into three loads (i.e. barrel, base plate and bipod). It fired Smoke and High Explosive shells, which weighed about 3,5 kg, at about 2400 metres.


Trained crews were able to fire salvos of about 6-7 rounds before the first round impacted. So a Zug of six mortars was able to lay down a barrage of up to 84 rounds per minute.


Unfortunately Warlord Games have messed up this kit by depicting the 'kurze' version instead of the 'lange' therefore it's more or less only of use if you're doing Operation Barbarossa and onwards. This means if you're so picky... I for one have not decided yet if I do another mortar for my 'Fall Rot' army or if I just live with the inaccuracy ;-)

18 comments:

  1. Outstanding work Nick! No question German mortars were deadly and probably one of the most feared assets they had due to their ability to lay down fire so quickly and accurately. As for playing as the short or long barrelled version you know I won't mind however you do it in our games.:-)

    Christopher

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  2. What a splendid vignette! Details are fantastic and realistic...awesome job!

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  3. A wonderful creation! Beautiful painting :o)
    Cheers
    Matt

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  4. Superb figure painting and love the basing. Definitely not picky with the inaccuracy, it would shine on any wargames table or cabinet.

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  5. Very nice mortar team. I do like the early-war uniform - particularly when they still had helmet emblems.

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  6. Outstanding my good man, truly outstanding!

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  7. They are perfect. The basing is godlike.

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  8. Great work once again!

    I think you can get away with using the "wrong" model :) If somebody starts asking tough questions blame it on scale distortion and distract them somehow :P

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  9. Painted up to your normal and very high standards. The base really complements the fine work on the figures. Bravo.
    How many smoke rounds would a mortar team normally carry, and would use of smoke be a normal part of German tactics in small-unit attacks?
    Cheers,
    Michael

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    1. Can't give you an answer on you first question as I wasn't able to find any reliable source on the topic. But German doctrine encouraged the use of smoke even on smaller scale albeit under some restrictions. A unit leader for example had to make sure a smoke barrage would not afflict the actions of other friendly units like Artillery or other infantry without coordinating prior to any action. Should have been common sense anyway in my oppinion. The only ones beeing more or less free in their use of smoke were the tank units when covering an advance or retreat.

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  10. First of all - amazing work! I'm desperately trying to convince myself that my WW2 collection in 15mm is enough. But we all know that's never going to stand :0) Effective fire from these babies - 84 rounds per minute will make most units pinned if not scatter!

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  11. Great. Don´t worry about "inaccuracies"...they are no Napo´s :)

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  12. Superb painting and wonderful basing!

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  13. Great paint work as usual and this time the photos look extra cool. Love the fourth one.

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