Regarding medium para mortars (US and Commonwealth OOBs)

[Griefbringer]

I have noticed that there are two para mortars in the game OOBs that do not seem familiar to me. These are "Abn 81mm mortar" in the USA OOB and "3in para mortar" appearing in various British Commonwealth OOBs, and both of these weapons have a range of 20 hexes (shorter than for ordinary 81 mm or 3" mortars). Specifically these can be found as follows:

- USA (OOB12): weapon 57, used by unit 260 (Abn 81mm mortar)
- Great Britain (OOB07): weapon 217, used by unit 234 (Para mortar sec)
- Poland (OOB02): weapon 217, used by unit 210 (Para support)
- India (OOB18): weapon 227, used by unit 284 (Para mortars)
- Canada (OOB30): weapon 217, used by unit 197 (Para mortar pl)

I am afraid I have never heard of such reduced range airborne variants of these two weapons having been designed. Did they actually exist historically?

I am aware that the Germans at some point developed a shortened version of their 8 cm mortar, with a range of 1 km, for issue to FJ companies, and this weapon is appropriately represented in the game (with a range of 20 hexes).

Also, I am aware that the US paras were issued small numbers of 60 mm M19 mortar (lighter than the usual M2 mortar), and that the British developed a shorter version of their 2" mortar for issue to airborne forces. Neither of these weapons is currently included in the game (and I don't think there is need for that).

[DRG]

They are direct fire only mortars. Did you not notice they do not appear in the bombard menu ? It's a game/unit design decision and it's been like that for years

[jp10]

In my recollection there was a scenario dealing with the first days of D-Day that used these mortars to represent actions before the scattered groups were able to link up and establish a fire-support radio network.

[DRG]

WinSPWW2 does not have aircraft with the lift capacity for guns ( mortars are classed as guns for the game )...deliberately...MBT does but SPWW2 does not so para dropped mortars have to be "infantry" and that's why there are DF infantry mortars.....regular mortars can be brought in by glider.

The alternative was NO mortars at all for dropped paras...

[Griefbringer]

Thanks for the clarification, I was not aware that it was a design decision to limit the range of these particular weapons in this case.

I noticed that they are of the para mortar unit class, which is a direct fire unit type - it is even displayed in the game with an infantry icon rather than a mortar icon. My first experience with this unit type was playing with the German FJG version, where I assumed the 20 hex range version to represent the short 8 cm mortar that historically had approximately this range. So when encountering the US/UK versions I also initially assumed them to represent some historical weapon, but later on became puzzled when I realised I had not actually encountered any mentions of such weapons in the literature.

Gaming-wise, I must admit that the 20 hex range is still pretty good - and with the limited ammo loads that these units tend to carry it might be best to not waste it in trying to hit too distant targets.


That said, there seems to be a number of infantry units in the US, French and Romanian OOBs with direct fire 60 mm mortars, and I have not noticed any similar range restriction for these units (not even the US paras which have a 60 mm mortar in the platoon HQ) - these seem to have the same 28 or 40 hex range weapon as is used for the indirect fire light mortar class.

[Mobhack]

They parachute as an entire unit. As far as I recall - guns cannot be dropped, or if you do then like tanks, the crew is separated and has to marry up with its gun or mortar.

No need to go into endless navel gazing, that is all they are there for. Support weapons that para-drop as a cohesive infantry team and can get going straight off once landing.

If you are not parachuting in, then they can be safely ignored - buy proper mortars if you want them.