Brandt Model 27/31

• Name — Brandt mle 27 • Origin — France • Type — Mortar • Is Ranged — yes • Is Artillery — yes • Used By — See Users • Wars — Second World War First Indochina War Algerian War Portuguese Colonial War Vietnam War • Designer — Edgar Brandt • Number — 8000 • Variants — L13.7 L/15.6 • Weight — 56 kg • Part Length — 1.11 m L/13.7 1.26 m L/15.6 • Crew — 3 • Cartridge Weight — Light: 3.25 kg Heavy: 6.5 kg • Caliber — 81 mm • Rate — 18 rounds per minute • Velocity — 174 m/s • Range — Light: 2.8 km Heavy: 1.2 km • Elevation — +45° to +85° • Traverse — 8° to 12° variable with elevation

• Illustration — Mk. II vaned HE bomb of Brandt's type for 3-inch Stokes mortar In 1915, about the same time when British civil engineer Wilfred Stokes turned to developing trench mortars for the troops, the French applied artist, silversmith and ironsmith Edgar Brandt did the same while serving in the French Army. He developed two pneumatic weapons, obusier pneumatique Brandt de 60 mm modèle 1915 on a tripod carriage and later also modèle 1916 on a cast aluminium baseplate. The first type of the shell (projectile type A) had an aerodynamic teardrop body with flat stabilizers (called vanes or fins) and an obturation groove around its widest part, both features that would define the design of mortar shells in decades to come. In September 1917, the under-secretary of state for inventions sent a circular letter requesting inventors to design a better projectile for the successful Stokes mortar, and Brandt scaled his 60 mm projectile up to 81 mm. Both the British and French militaries adopted the scaled-up design except for the grooves (apparently, their importance wasn't realized at the time) in 1918 as projectile BM (Brandt-Maurice) modèle 1918 (later simplified to FA (fonte aciérée) modèle 1921) and Mk. II HE bomb respectively. After several years of further development, Brandt applied for a patent in January 1925 on a mortar shell with several obturation grooves (of several types), a design which has not in principle changed in the century since. The French shell FA modèle 1924/27 was soon adopted in place of the BM Mle 1918, closely followed the drawing in the patent; the FA modèle 1932 offered even more improvement in range. It was this refined projectile design that made the Stokes-Brandt mortar so superior compared to the WWI Stokes: with Brandt-type WWII shells, the latter was able to reach 2,650 yards in range.

• Illustration — A Senegalese Tirailleurs crew with a Brandt Mle 1927/31 mortar, December 1939. Brandt's innovative projectile design along with the Stokes Mortar provided the pattern for most World War II era light mortars. In 1928, an unlicensed Polish copy was made as the Avia wz.28 but, due to French pressure, it was abandoned in 1931 because the French Brandt company held the patent for the ammunition. The Polish then produced a licensed copy as the wz.31 model (Polish: Moździerz piechoty 81 mm wz. 31 starting in 1935; 1,050 were made in Pruszków. By 1939, the Polish army was equipped with some 1,200 Stokes-Brandt mortars, most of them the newer 1931 model. Each Polish infantry battalion was intended to be equipped with four such mortars, but there were not enough available to fulfill this disposition. The upgraded 1931 version was used by the Polish Army during, amongst others, the Battle of Westerplatte in 1939. An unspecified amount, probably a few hundred, were sold to Republican Spain in 1936-1938. In Romania, the mortar was licence-produced at the Voina Works in Brașov, with a production rate of 30 pieces per month as of October 1942 (over 1,000 such mortars were built in Romania by mid-1943). 360 mortars captured by the Germans from the French were also received in 1942. • Country — Weapon name — German designation for captured mortars — Notes • 8 cm GrW 33(ö) • 81.4 mm minomet, — 8.14 cm GrW 278(t) — License-built variant • 8 cm minomet vz. 36 — 8 cm GrW M.36(t) — Modified variant • Republic of China (1912-1949) — - — French and Austrian versions • Type 20 mortar — - — Local copy produced from 1931 in Jinling Arsenal • 81.4 mm L/12 — 8.14 cm GrW 275(d) • 81 mm Tampella — - • 8.1 cm Bombekaster m/35 — - — License-built variant • Mortier Brandt de 81 mm mle 27/31 — 8.14 cm GrW 278(f) 8.14 cm GrW 278/1(f) • mle 44 ACC, mle 44 ATS, mle 44 ARE — - • Ireland — - • Kingdom of Italy — Mortaio da 81/14 Modello 35 — 8.1 cm GrW 276(i) — Slightly-modified copy • Empire of Japan — Type 3 81 mm mortar — Slightly-modified copy • Type 97 81 mm infantry mortar — Modified variant • Nazi Germany — 8 cm Granatwerfer 34, Kz 8 cm GrW 42 • Mortier van 8 Brandt (M.27/31) — 8.14 cm GrW 286(h) — Produced under license • Portugal — m/937 8 cm — French variant • Philippines • Moździerz piechoty 81 mm wz. 31 — 8 cm GrW 31(p) • Kingdom of Romania — - — License-built variant • Sweden — 8 cm GrK m/29 — - • 82-PM-36 — 8.2 cm GrW 274/1(r) — Modified copy • 82-PM-37 — 8.2 cm GrW 274/2(r) — Upgraded 82-PM-36 • 82-PM-41 — 8.2 cm GrW 274/3(r) — Upgraded 82-PM-37 • M1 mortar —? — Modified copy • Vietnam — - — French-made • Kingdom of Yugoslavia — 8.1 cm MWM 31/38 Kragujevac — 8.14 cm GrW 270(j)