Re: British Paratroops in WWII
 

On the web it says they produced about 23,000,000 bombs for the 2 inch mortar
http://www.wwiiequipment.com/index.p...tish&Itemid=59 guy

Re: British Paratroops in WWII
 

Note, however that, that figure includes reloads for tank smoke dischargers.

Re: British Paratroops in WWII
 

The 1939 pamphlet says there were smoke and HE bombs.
Each platoon carried 6 containers of bombs in their platoon truck. Each container has 6 bombs. One might assume it was 3 containers of smoke, 3 containers of HE, or 18 bombs of each.

Unrelated to the bombs, the pamphlet was 1939 when the sighted mortar was still in use. The sights were found to be extra weight and bulk for not much advantage, and platoons started carrying the lighter unsighted version.


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Re: British Paratroops in WWII
 

Actually, not.

Production was:

22,758,758 HE rounds for 2-in Mortar (not including tank mortar)
22,899,659 Smoke rounds for 2-in Mortar

8,168,900 Smoke rounds for tank dischargers
4,314,000 WP smoke rounds for tank dischargers



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Re: British Paratroops in WWII
 

I wonder if the HE rounds includes the illuminating rounds? I also note that smoke rounds were of two types one being white phosphorus and that can be nasty stuff.

Also while the UK replaced the 2 inch mortar with a new 51mm mortar, and then a US 60mm mortar. India still uses a modified version of the WWII 2 inch mortar.

Re: British Paratroops in WWII
 

I don't know production figures for illuminating rounds.
But one of the differences between the 1939 and the 1942 manuals is that the 1939 only mentions HE and smoke, but the 1942 references the use of illuminating rounds (with parachute) and signaling rounds in red or green (page 5).

I have attached the 1942 training manual for the 2-inch mortar.


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Re: British Paratroops in WWII
 

I just remembered that I have War Office study on the 2-inch mortar.


WO 291/157 Performance of 2-in mortar.

Results from trials performed in 1942.

Use of the no. 2 sight is recommended to improve accuracy.

The 2-in smoke bomb was criticised for leaving smoke trails that were thought to give away the firing position; in fact the problem was with smoky propellant.

It is mentioned that the chance of hitting a target under 2-in mortar illumination at night is
approximately one-third of the chance in daylight.

The following table gives the hit probabilities and number of rounds needed to secure a 50% chance of
incapacitating the target, a standing man, at the ranges given:

Range (yds) 200 LA
Hit probability 10%
No. bombs 7

Range (yds) 400 LA
Hit probability 3.8%
No. bombs 18

Range (yds) 525
Hit probability 6.8%
No. bombs 10

Range (yds) 400 HA
Hit probability 4.9%
No. bombs 14

Range (yds) 200 HA
Hit probability 6.0%
No. bombs 12


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