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Unlike the British and French the Germans were prepared to some extent for the trench warfare which began towards the end of 1914 during World War 1. Having studied the action around Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) - and no doubt with an eye to the future - they had developed the 'minenwerfer' (mine thrower), a rifled mortar, manufacture of which commenced in 1908-09. By 1914 160 of 25-cm (9.8-inch) calibre were available. See Fig. 18.
In addition to the 25-cm version two others of 7.6-cm (2.99-inch) and 17-cm (6.7-inch) were later produced. Except for size all three were similar in construction. The 25-cm minenwerfer was a rifled muzzle-loading mortar firing a shell with a pre-engraved driving band. A short shell was at first employed but by 1917 had become obsolete. A longer HE shell was adopted as shown in Fig. 18A. The shell was described in a 1918 publication by the British Army as having 'great moral and destructive effect due to concussion even against troops in dugouts ...'. Also, it could clear a space 33 feet (10 m) or more in diameter in a barbed wire entanglement. While others fired other types of shell, e.g. smoke and gas, the 25-cm seems to have been restricted to HE. Propellant charges were first dropped down the barrel, then the base of the shell inserted in the muzzle so the driving band fitted the rifling and slid down to the breech. Ignition of the propellant charge was by friction tube. All three minenwerfer were mobile with the wheels being removed on coming into action.
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