What is the weapon that appears in this film clip at the :53 mark? The tag says it is a trigger mortar but I can't find any reference on it. It is reportedly from Peleliu. It shows being loaded from the muzzle like a mortar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHfy1PJqPxY

I can tell you without watching the video that it is most likely a 60 mm mortar. I've fired them both in drop fire and trigger fire mode. The last time was Easter over the Syrian border when we fired four illum rounds in a cross shape. Fun times.

It may be 60mm, but it's nothing you've ever fired. The M2 mortar of WW II didn't have a trigger, only a fixed firing pin. For that reason among others it couldn't be fired at low angles. There were several attempts at making a low angle mortar for thr Pacific, culminating in the T18. This one looks to be an earlier experiment.

KL

The mortar being shown in the video clip is probably the T18E6 60mm mortar which was the experimental replacement for the M2 60mm mortar. It's clearly neither the M2 nor the M19.

The T18E6 60mm became the M19 60mm, which according to some references was introduced before the end of WWII.

The M19 60mm was both trigger-fired or drop fired, and was in US service until the introduction of the M224 60mm mortar (which is also trigger-fired or drop fired).

I personally fired the M19 many times in the late '70s and into the early '80s.

(I first fired the M224 as a student at IMPOC in 1984, but already by then it had been fielded in the Ranger battalions and the 82nd.)

The M19 was also provided to numerous foreign armies under the MAP and other aid programs, so they are all over the world.

I don't think so, Mike. The T18E6 was essentially an M2 tube, trigger mechanism, and a small baseplate. This one is much longer and has a larger concentric cylinder at the rear of the barrel that looks like it is a recoil mechanism. It also has a short, simple bipod, more like a light MG. Given the jump on firing, you can see why it is an unknown weapon . . .

KL

Some stills :







I guess it could be this one (or something quite close to it )...



Related thread :

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/59099-mortar-60mm-shoulder-fired/

H.P.

It almost looks like a cut down 37mm infantry gun of World War One vintage or the Japanese Type 11 infantry gun development. Could be captured? Just throwing out ideas.

Could also be a one of a kind improvisation based on a 60 mortar. According to the Marine memoirs I've seen they got pretty innovative with methods to bust bunkers.

Thanks for the help. Frenchy, that looks like what they are using. Judging from the statement of heavy recoil, it makes sense that both Marines have chosen to remain off to the side and probably have the base resting against the ground.

Looks like Frenchy found it.

The note about "the heavy recoil... places a severe strain on the operator" has got to be something of an understatement!

To which Gunny replied: "Suck it up Marine; you're a big boy now."

Which is why as soon as Gunny turned his back, the Marines did exactly what you see them doing in the in the film...

They jammed the "shoulder stock" into the dirt and leaned over the mortar to fire it. No doubt muttering under their breath:

"Eff a bunch of Gunny and those REMF Poindexters who thought up this damned thing! Why don't they just add a trigger to the M2 mortar?"