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

 

 

Picture: Sergeant A.E.Lemon,Number Nine Army Film and Photo Section,Army Film and Photographic Unit,© IWM SE 4463

 

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.

 

 

Picture: Sergeant A.Stubbs,Number Nine Army Film and Photo Section,Army Film and Photographic Unit,© IWM SE 2143

 

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.

 

 

Picture: Corporal Gary Kendall,Royal Logistics Corps,Crown Copyright

 

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.

 

 

Picture: Unknown British Army official photographer,© IWM CT 1241

 

The Four Inch Mortar shall use the same indirect fire sight as the Three Eighths Inch Machine Gun.

 

 

Picture: Lieutenant Ernest Brooks,Ministry of Information First World War Official Collection photograph,© IWM Q 1375

 

The Four Inch Mortar shall fire a variety of bombs including,but not limited to,High Explosive,High Explosive Anti Tank,High Explosive Penetrating,Thermobaric,Flechette,Illuminating,Obscuring,Practice and a family of rocket assisted toffee apple bombs.

 

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,National Army Museum Study Collection photograph

 

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.

 

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,Number One Army Film and Photo Section,Army Film and Photographic Unit,© IWM E 127

 

The Four Inch Mortar may be carried by it's crew of five men when operating on foot.

 

 

Picture: L. (Phot.) Will Haigh,Crown Copyright

 

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.

 

 

Picture: Dan Davison

 

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.

 

 

Picture: Visual Information Specialist Markus Rauchenberger,United States' Army photograph

 

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.

 

 

Picture: Sergeant R.Gregory,Number One Army Film and Photo Section,Army Film and Photographic Unit,© IWM E 31736

 

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.

 

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,Israel Defense Forces' Spokesperson's Unit photograph

 

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.

 

Horses For Courses

  

 

Picture: Grand Logistics

 

The medium infantry and heavy cavalry formations of An Independent Army For An Independent Nation shall be well suited to offensive manoeuvring as all of their units shall be equipped with well protected tracked vehicles from the Matilda and Charger families.

 

 

Picture: Grand Logistics

 

Unlike the Future Soldier Armoured Brigade Combat Teams of the British Army,whose ability to manoeuvre shall be constrained by the high ground pressure and poor protection of the wheeled vehicles which shall equip their infantry and artillery units (contra to manoeuvrist doctrine).

 

The War In Ukraine: The Charlatans

 

 

Picture: Marcus Jacobs,Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land photograph

 

Ukrainian infantry ambush Russian medium tanks in confined spaces,where they are unable to compensate for their lack of situational awareness by operating en masse,which is one of the reasons why the heavy cavalry regiments of An Independent Army For An Independent Nation have close reconnaissance troops with Charlatan Cavalry Heavy Armoured Vehicles whose dummy turrets allow them to carry a greater weight of armour,sensors and countermeasures than standard Chargers,despite looking similar,making them particularly suited to finding targets for Four Inch Mortars and Chastisers (upgraded Challenger 2 Main Battle Tanks could be adapted to perform a similar role,were the Ajax fiasco to be cancelled).

 

The War In Ukraine: Never Send A Boy To Do The Work Of A Man

 

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine photograph

 

Never send a boy to do the work of a man,and never send medium armour to do the work of heavy armour.

 

The Five Reconnaissance Vehicles: Ox,Mule,Pony,Matilda And Charger

 

 

Picture: Richard Ellis,Ministry of Defence,Crown Copyright

 

Despite the predictable failure of the Tetrarch,Harry Hopkins,Alecto and Locust air mobile light tanks during the Second World War (bad ideas never die),and despite the fact that the then planned fleet of Hercules aircraft did not have the capacity to rapidly fly a significant armoured force to anywhere outside of Europe,and that there was little need to fly one to anywhere within Europe,shortly after the United States' Army had ordered the M551 Sheridan Armored Reconnaissance/Airborne Assault Vehicle,British generals decided that a new family of,highly fashionable,air mobile reconnaissance tanks called Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance Tracked (which was a remarkably good design considering the constraints placed on it's engineers,being far superior to it's American counterparts) would be absolutely transformational.

 

 

Picture: Unknown British Army official photographer,© IWM CT 1204

 

In true British Army fashion,thousands of these,lightly armed and lightly armoured,air mobile vehicles were then issued to units which had no need for air mobility but which did need heavy armour and heavy armament,because they were sitting in West Germany waiting for the Soviet Army to roll over the Inner German Border,since then generations of British Army cavalry troopers have been taught that reconnaissance is all about sneaking around the battlefield like ninjas (because they were equipped with vehicles which lacked the protection and firepower needed for anything other than sneaking around the battlefield like ninjas),an approach which may be appropriate when screening a defending light infantry division but which is not viable when reconnoitering for an armoured division advancing in to enemy held territory at a rate of tens of miles per hour,in contrast,elements of the proposed An Independent Army For An Independent Nation may use any vehicle they have been trained on which is appropriate to the situation and herein we shall list the vehicles which they shall typically use for reconnaissance.

 

 

Picture: Unknown Second Commando Regiment Multimedia Technician,Australian Army,© Commonwealth of Australia

 

The Ox vehicle family shall not typically be used by any reconnaissance element but may be used all of them when operating in confined spaces.

 

 

Picture: L.A. (Photographer) Si Ethell,Crown Copyright

 

The Mule vehicle family shall typically be used (for sneaking around the battlefield like ninjas) by army reconnaissance regiments.

 

 

Picture: Corporal Ben Beale,Crown Copyright

 

The Pony vehicle family shall typically be used by army reconnaissance troops,corps reconnaissance regiments,light infantry division reconnaissance battalions and light infantry division reconnaissance platoons and troops.

 

 

Picture: Corporal Andy Benson,Royal Air Force,Crown Copyright

 

The Matilda vehicle family shall typically be used by infantry division reconnaissance regiments and infantry division reconnaissance platoons and troops.

 

 

Picture: Corporal Roei Fux,Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson's Unit,Israel Defense Forces photograph

 

The Charger vehicle family shall typically be used by cavalry division reconnaissance regiments and cavalry division reconnaissance troops.

 

The Seven Vehicles: Ox,Mule,Pony,Horse,Elephant,Matilda And Charger

 

 

Picture: Giles Penfound,British Army official photographer,© IWM OP-TELIC 03-010-18-081

 

Further to earlier pieces on rationalising the United Kingdom's naval and military aeroplane and helicopter fleets,herein we shall list the only families of field vehicles which the armed forces actually need (rather than have or want),these shall use common components wherever practical,shall be available in a variety of configurations such as four,six or eight wheeled,truck or tractor,wheeled,half tracked or full tracked and shall be adaptable to specific environments or roles by the addition of internal and external equipment.

  

 

Picture: Specialist Jesse LaMorte,Special Operations Task Force South,United States' Army photograph

 

The Ox family of Utility Vehicles shall be front engined,one cylinder (powered by the same diesel engine family as the Mule and Pony),four or six wheel,four wheel drive,typically four or six seat vehicles,able to operate on four foot wide foot paths,with a gross weight of around two long tons,gross payload (including the weight of the driver) of over sixteen hundred pounds,optional ballistic and mine protection to STANAG 4569 Level 1 and,by means of netting,protection against occasional Rocket Propelled Grenade hits in lieu of payload.

 

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,Supacat photograph

 

The Mule family of Field Cars shall be front engined,two or three cylinder (powered by the same diesel engine family as the Ox and Pony),four wheel or six wheel,all wheel drive,typically ten seat vehicles,with the same internal volume as the Pony,Matilda and Charger,able to operate on six foot wide roads,with gross weights of four or six long tons,gross payloads of over four thousand or fifty-two hundred pounds respectively,optional ballistic and mine protection to STANAG 4569 Level 2 and,by means of netting,protection against occasional Rocket Propelled Grenade hits in lieu of payload.

 

 

Picture: Lieutenant Narey,Crown Copyright

 

The Pony family of Light Protected Trucks shall be front engined,four or six cylinder (powered by the same diesel engine family as the Ox and Mule),four wheel or six wheel,all wheel drive,typically ten seat vehicles,with the same internal volume as the Mule,Matilda and Charger,able to operate on eight foot wide roads,with gross weights of eight or twelve long tons,gross payloads of over four thousand or ninety-two hundred pounds respectively with standard ballistic and mine protection to STANAG 4569 Level 3,optional protection to STANAG 4569 Level 4 and,by means of netting,protection against occasional Rocket Propelled Grenade hits in lieu of payload.

 

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,Mack Trucks photograph

 

The Horse family of Medium Protected Trucks and Tractors shall be front engined (powered by the same diesel engine family as the Elephant,Matilda and Charger),all wheel drive,typically three seat vehicles,able to operate on eight foot wide roads and to carry or tow loads of up to fifty long tons with standard ballistic and mine protection to STANAG 4569 Level 3,optional protection to STANAG 4569 Level 4 and,by means of netting,protection against occasional Rocket Propelled Grenade hits in lieu of payload.

 

  

Picture: Unknown photographer,Volat photograph

 

The Elephant family of Heavy Protected Trucks and Tractors shall be front engined (powered by the same diesel engine family as the Horse,Matilda and Charger),all wheel drive,typically three seat vehicles,able to operate on twelve foot wide roads and to carry or tow loads of up to one hundred long tons with standard ballistic and mine protection to STANAG 4569 Level 3,optional protection to STANAG 4569 Level 4 and,by means of netting,protection against occasional Rocket Propelled Grenade hits in lieu of payload.

  

  

Picture: Corporal Andy Benson,Royal Air Force,Crown Copyright

 

The Matilda family of Medium Armoured Tracked Infantry Armoured Personnel Carriers shall be front engined (powered by the same diesel engine family as the Horse,Elephant and Charger),tracked,typically ten seat vehicles,with the same internal volume as the Mule,Pony and Charger,able to operate on ten foot wide roads,with gross weights of up to fifty long tons,gross payloads of up to ninety-two hundred pounds with standard protection against mines,shoulder fired and crew served weapons and able to carry a remotely operated turret or other equipment in lieu of payload.

 

 

Picture: Yadi Cohen,Israel Defense Forces photograph

 

The Charger family of Cavalry Heavy ARmoured vehicles shall be front engined (powered by the same diesel engine family as the Horse,Elephant and Matilda),tracked,typically ten seat vehicles,with the same internal volume as the Mule,Pony and Matilda,able to operate on twelve foot wide roads,with gross weights of up to one hundred long tons,gross payloads of up to ninety-two hundred pounds with standard protection against mines,tank guns,shoulder fired and crew served weapons,with a standard Five And A Half Inch Tank Gun turret and able to carry a remotely operated turret or other equipment in lieu of payload or the gun turret.

 

Save The British Army!

  

  

Picture: Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Janiel Adames,United States' Navy photograph

  

The identity of the United Kingdom's next Chief of the Defence Staff has been revealed but General Strike Brigade shall not be succeeded by General Tribute Regiment as the post has instead gone to one of four outstanding candidates,Admiral Tony Radakin,and a Royal Navy officer shall now oversee the implementation of the nation's new navalist strategy,herein we shall discuss one of the most important challenges he shall face.

 

  

Picture: Mister Puttnam and Mister Malindine,War Office official photographers,© IWM H 1668

  

Aden,Boston,British Somaliland,Corunna,Crete,Dunkirk,Gallipoli,Greece,Norway,the Royal Navy has a long history of saving the British Army,in recent years much of the army has been rendered unfit for combat not by the enemy,nor by a lack of funding,but by the waste of around ten thousand million pounds on a series of ill conceived and poorly executed procurement projects,this was more than enough money to have designed and built an entire division's worth of our proposed Charger Cavalry Heavy ARmoured vehicles,one vehicle family with one design team,one manufacturing facility and one support infrastructure,but instead army officers embarked on a multiplicity of vehicle projects of dubious military and economic viability,destroying the United Kingdom's armoured vehicle industry in the process and leaving the impression that they know little about warfare and even less about the design and manufacture of military equipment,army officers have not fixed this problem because they are the problem,now the army needs the navy to save it,again.

  

  

Picture: Richard Watt,Crown Copyright

  

Supposedly in order to avoid the expense of a new design,at a time when the United Kingdom had agreed to eliminate sectors of it's defence industry in the name of European integration,and when senior officials appeared more interested in waging war on BAE Systems than the nation's enemies,the British Army chose an elderly,underweight and mediocre European Infantry Fighting Vehicle as the basis for it's Future Rapid Effects System Specialist Vehicle family (a third rate copy of what was then the latest in military fashion,the American Future Combat Systems),which was not needed in any case,then spent many years and thousands of millions of pounds turning it in to a reconnaissance vehicle,with a redesign so extensive that designing an all new vehicle would have taken less time and money,subsequently deciding,just after signing the production contract,to use it instead to perform the same combat role as hundreds of nearly new,combat proven,Challenger 2 tanks,costing over a thousand million pounds,which the fashionistas had recently retired because they were not transformational,the end result being the Ajax vehicle which does not work,fortunately,as it would have neither the protection nor the fire power needed to survive on the modern battlefield if it did.

  

 

Picture: Sergeant (Photographer) Dan Bardsley,Royal Logistics Corps,Crown Copyright

  

Although the Warrior vehicle was only procured because Infantry Fighting Vehicles were fashionable at the time,and army officers are nothing if not fashion victims,it was a perfectly adequate example of it's breed,though extensive combat use had demonstrated a need for greater protection which could easily have been added by removing the turret to free up weight for more armour,instead the British Army embarked on an extensive redesign costing one thousand million pounds which was eventually cancelled after running years late and hundreds of millions of pounds over budget.

  

 

Picture: Jack Eckersley,Crown Copyright

 

Despite having been twice rejected by the British Army,the second time after losing to the Piranha in the "Trials of Truth",the Boxer vehicle was absurdly procured on the grounds that the Australians were buying it (eight wheeled armoured vehicles are highly fashionable),due in part to it's unneccessary modularity,it is big,heavy and expensive for it's type but still a perfectly adequate armoured truck for the lorried infantry role,unfortunately this is not how army officers intend to use it,despite it lacking the mobility,protection and firepower needed to keep up with Main Battle Tanks in combat,they appear intent on using it as an Infantry Fighting Vehicle,a role for which it is entirely inadequate.

  

  

Picture: Sergeant Gustavo Olgiati,United States' Army photograph

  

In order to improve effectiveness against Main Battle Tanks (which are rarely engaged as they make up only a very small percentage of battlefield targets,more common targets such as Kornet missile teams being best engaged by a large calibre rifled gun),and despite limited remaining service life,uneconomic production quantities and peripheral benefits,in yet another extensive redesign of an existing vehicle known as Challenger 3 the remaining hulls of Challenger 2 tanks are to be fitted with a new turret and a more fashionable German smoothbore gun which is already considered inadequate,by the Germans,and may be obsolete before full operating capability is reached a decade from now,the potential combination of the Challenger 3 and Boxer vehicles suggests that the British Army has learnt nothing from the Battle of Arras eight decades ago.

  

 

Picture: Private First Class Rhonda J. Roth-Cameron,United States' Army photograph

  

Steadfastly ignoring the outstanding example of procurement practice which gave it the successful AS90 Self Propelled Gun in the first place,the British Army has recently embarked upon the Mobile Fires Platform project to find it's replacement,in time honoured fashion,initial requirements set for rate of fire and range exceeded the state of the art and production quantities are likely to be uneconomic (often procurement projects also have unrealistically low budgets and frequent changes to specifications,quantities and production schedules which suggests that officers would not know how to procure a good time in a house of ill repute),potential candidates all appear to be foreign and,like the army's new air defence systems,are too heavy to support airborne and air mobile light formations whilst also lacking the protection and mobility needed to keep up with an armoured force advancing hundreds of miles through hostile territory each day,which is after all the raison d'etre of an armoured force,none of which is likely to be seen as important by senior officers because wheeled artillery guns are highly fashionable at the moment.

 

  

Picture: Unknown United States Army Signal Corps photographer,unknown copyright

 

Winston Churchill saved the country by adopting a policy of sacking generals until he found a good one,we suggest Admiral Radakin saves the British Army by doing the same,while some senior army officers sound like teenage management trainees there are generals who are capable of communicating without buzzwords or acronyms and also talking sense,rare qualities in today's army,but ending the lack of accountability is only half of the army's problem,the other half is an organisation which allows senior decision makers to interfere in areas where they lack sufficient expertise,the army needs an independent Ordnance Office with a Secretary of State for Ordnance,advised by a Board of Ordnance led by a Master-General of the Ordnance and made up of professional Ordnance Corps officers,to act as an institutional repository of knowledge relating to design,manufacture,construction,maintenance and storage,infantry officers are not allowed to dabble in brain surgery,nor should they be allowed to meddle in the infinitely more complex business of defence procurement.