Imperial German Ordnance and Battlefield Debris, Part 3

[JensF.]

Sorry for the bad picture! These are the remains of a french Adrien steel helmet. Let's hope nobody was wearing it as it was hit. These holes are definately shell fragment or shrapnell bullet hits!

[JensF.]

Seen from above:

[JensF.]

This strange iron plate is the wing of a french winged-mine (Flügelmine) or air-torpedo. The "mines" used in WWI have nothing to do with the mines of today. They are some kind of heavy mortar. Mechanically fired and filled with a BIG amount of explosives.

[JensF.]

This is the french mine with these wings. Pic is courtesy of Patrik Berlin (http://w1.586.telia.com/~u58602288/index.htm):

[JensF.]

This is the giant german Schwere Wurfmine (heavy mortar mine) 240 mm (!). This monster had a weight of over 100 kg and was filled with about 50 kg explosives. Interesting is that the grooves are in the copper band of these mines. They are "pre-grooved" and had to be loaded in the launcher (Minenwerfer) using the grooves in the rifled-barrel of the launcher (bad to explain this in english, I hope every one understands what I mean).

The range of a Minenwerfer was about 500 - 600 m.

[JensF.]

This is the giant 240 mm mine. This mine was maybe NOT fired! Note the grooved copper band, these grooves were attached to the band and note how big these grooves are. A cannon or howitzer barrel has usually 30 or more grooves, a barrel of a Minenwerfer only 6 to 10.

Pic is courtesy of Patrik Berlin (http://w1.586.telia.com/~u58602288/index.htm):

[Mark S.]

I am really enjoying your presentations! Thanks for going through all the trouble!

So these brass bands around the projectiles, these acted as some sort of rifling, like the grooves in a rifle barrel, to keep it from tumbling? And they had to line up these grooves on the bomb with the grooves in the cannon to load it?

What is all over that bomb that the guy has in his lap in that one picture?

Were there any WW II battles around Verdun?

[David S]

The shell carriers were made of wicker.

During the summer of 1998 a unexploded device decided to do it's job (after at least 80 years) and killed one and injured three. This happened around the area of the Somme, oddly enough I was poking about there three weeks before.

[JensF.]

Mark: Thats exactly what I tried to explain. Many thanks!

David: There are up to three or more dead every year in Verdun and more than 400 Demineurs (the french bomb squad) died since they began to clear these areas from duds.