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Friday, 29 July 2022

An Independent Army For An Independent Nation: The Four Inch Mortar

 
4.2 inch mortars of the 33rd Anti tank Regiment Royal Artillery in the Sittang Bend area of Burma on the 1st of August 1945
 
 
The Four Inch Mortar shall be the standard medium mortar in the British Army,the Home Guard and the Royal Marines and shall equip platoons or troops held at the battalion level.
 
3 inch mortars of the British 36th Infantry Division in action in Burma in January 1945
 
 
The Four Inch Mortar shall be issued on the scale of one section of two mortars to every light infantry company,medium infantry company,cavalry squadron,reconnaissance company,reconnaissance squadron and Royal Marines company.
 
A mortar of G Tobruk Company 1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment at Forward Operating Base Khar Nikar in Afghanistan on the 21st of July 2010
 
 
The Four Inch Mortar shall have a smooth bore,be muzzle loaded and fire twenty pound fin stabilised bombs,to a range of five miles,at rates of up to twenty bombs per minute.
 
A British Army 81mm mortar in action during a summer training exercise in the late 1970s
 
 
The Four Inch Mortar shall use the same indirect fire sight as the Three Eighths Inch Machine Gun.
 
Men of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps play cards on trench mortar bombs known as toffee apples at Acheux in France in July 1916
 
 
The Four Inch Mortar bombs shall be able to be fitted with proximity,impact and delay fuses,stand off probes and a variety of terminal homing systems including,but not limited to,active radar,passive thermal,semi active laser and television guidance.
 
A trench mortar crew of the Second Battalion Cameron Highlanders at Mena Camp near Giza in Egypt on the 4th of June 1940
 
 
The Four Inch Mortar may be carried by it's crew of five men when operating on foot.
 
Members of 45 Commando mortar troop firing the 81mm mortar while testing Outlander vehicles on Salisbury Plain
 
 
The Four Inch Mortar crew of five men may be carried in the Ox vehicle,with one mortar and it's ammunition being towed in it's unprotected trailer.
 
A Royal Air Force Chinook lifts a Land Rover and trailer at Royal Air Force Waddington on the 4th of July 2010
 
 
The Four Inch Mortar section of ten men may be carried in the Mule vehicle,with two mortars and their ammunition being towed in it's unprotected trailer.
 
A 120mm mortar of 2nd Battalion 503rd Infantry Regiment 173rd Airborne Brigade at Grafenwoehr in Germany on the 28th of January 2017
 
 
The Four Inch Mortar section of ten men may be carried in the Pony vehicle,with two mortars and their ammunition being towed in it's protected trailer.
 
A 4.2 inch mortar team of the 2nd Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment on field exercise in Palestine
 
 
The Four Inch Mortar section of ten men may be carried in the Matilda vehicle,with two mortars and their ammunition being carried in an armoured box above the rear door.
 
An Israeli Merkava Mark 4M of the 188th Armored Brigade during the Paratroopers Brigade Exercise on the 28th of January 2018
 
 
The Four Inch Mortar section of ten men may be carried in the Charger vehicle,with two mortars and their ammunition being carried in an armoured box above the rear door.