Toby Mortars

[Rules Junkie Jim]

Whilst trying to find out when ACW era seacoast mortars went out of service I found a few references to Napoleonic period mortars pressed into service in 1914 by the British (and possibly French) armies on the Western Front:

http://www.1914-1918.net/trenchmortars.htm

Nicknamed Toby mortars they were “Forty ancient Coehorn mortars, firing spherical ammunition using black powder charges,were obtained from the French,and were actually fired at the battles at Neuve Chapelle and Aubers Ridge. ”

I’d never heard of them before and was pretty surprised the technology was still practicable. I read elsewhere these were museum pieces, rather than a stockpile the French military had stashed away. Has anyone read any accounts of their use, or could anyone point me in the direction of any good texts on the battles of Neuve Chapelle or Aubers Ridge?

[Author]

Posts