Stokes Trench Mortar

The Stokes Trench Mortar was developed by an Englishman, Sir Wilfred Scott-Stokes who was the managing director of Ransome & Rapier of Ipswich, England a mechanical engineering firm. Although Stokes did not have a military background, he quickly grasped the need for a "portable gun" soon after war started in Europe. Stokes correctly reasoned that such a weapon would be valuable for reducing the deadly machine gun nests that were beginning to wreak much havoc on the Western Front. Stokes had a working prototype of his trench mortar ready for testing in December of 1914, barely four months after the war started. The 3 inch Stokes Trench Mortar appears in the following movies, TV shows, and video games:

Specifications

Stokes Trench Mortar - 3 inch

• Stokes Trench Mortar
• Caliber: 3 inch
• Barrel Length: 51 inches
• Weight:
• :Tube : 43 pounds
• :Base Plate : 28 pounds
• :Bipod : 37 pounds
• :Total : 108 pounds
• Effective Range: 750 yards
• Maximum Range: 800 yards

Film

• James Cagney as Private Jerry Plunkett and Alan Hale Sr. as Sergeant 'Big Mike' Wynn in The Fighting 69th (1940)
• Jack Hawkins as Major Warden in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
• Czech troops in Tobruk (2008)