Minenwerfer
Minenwerfer ("mine launcher" or "mine thrower") is the German name for a class of short-range mine shell launching mortars used extensively during the First World War by the Imperial German Army. The weapons were intended to be used by engineers to clear obstacles, including bunkers and barbed wire, that longer range artillery would not be able to target accurately.
Also recorded as Mine Launcher
Minenwerfer

K.u.k. Kriegspressequartier, Lichtbildstelle - Wien · File:25cm_Minenwerfer_des_Infanterieregiments_40_(BildID_15693684).jpg · Public domain
- Field
- short-barreled mortar
- Region
- Germany
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Minenwerfer ("mine launcher" or "mine thrower") is the German name for a class of short-range mine shell launching mortars used extensively during the First World War by the Imperial German Army. The weapons were intended to be used by engineers to clear obstacles, including bunkers and barbed wire, that longer range artillery would not be able to target accurately.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
No house-authored Note is published until its assertions and sources pass the VALÉORINE evidence contract. The documentary article remains available in full while that enrichment is being consolidated.
Documentary enrichment in progress · no unsupported statement published
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Minenwerfer. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.

Broader Term · incoming
17 cm mittlerer Minenwerfer
Term
Own work

Broader Term · incoming
25 cm schwerer Minenwerfer
Term
Own work

Broader Term · incoming
26 cm Minenwerfer M 17
Term
Own work

Broader Term · incoming
7.58 cm Minenwerfer
Term
Own work

Broader Term · incoming
8 cm Luftminenwerfer M 15
Term
https://www.bildarchivaustria.at/Preview/15481156.jpg Catalog: https://www.bildarchivaustria.at/Pages/ImageDetail.aspx?p_iBildID=15481156

Broader Term · incoming
9 cm Minenwerfer M 14
Term
https://www.bildarchivaustria.at/Preview/15721349.jpg Catalog: https://www.bildarchivaustria.at/Pages/ImageDetail.aspx?p_iBildID=15721349
Broader Term · incoming
9 cm Minenwerfer M 17
Term
Own work
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
technical hold · checked 25 September 2026
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
gnd · 4278374-4 · wikidata · Q1639569 · wikipedia · Minenwerfer
In this article
Background
Background
The Germans studied the Siege of Port Arthur, where heavy artillery had been unable to destroy defensive structures like barbed wire and bunkers. The German Military Ingenieurkomitee ("Engineer committee") began working with Rheinmetall to study the problem in 1907. The solution they developed was a short-barrelled rifled muzzle-loading mortar for mine shell ammunition, built in three sizes. In 1910, the largest of these was introduced as the 25 cm schwerer Minenwerfer (abbreviated "sMW"; English: "25 cm (9.8 in) heavy mine launcher"). Despite weighing only 955 kg (2,105 lb), it had the same effect on targets as the 28 cm (11 in) and 30.5 cm (12.0 in) mortars, which weighed ten times as much.
Combat history
Combat history
At the outbreak of the First World War, the German army had 160 minenwerfers. They were used successfully in Belgium at Liège and Namur, and against the French fortress of Maubeuge. After a few months, when trench warfare started, the German infantry began calling for short-range weapons, and the minenwerfer entered the battle. Before long, Allied forces were demanding similar devices. A captured minenwerfer was taken to the Royal Artillery Woolwich establishment in London in November 1914 and 100 copies rushed to the front by Christmas. By mid-1916 there were 281 heavy, 640 medium, and 763 light minenwerfers in service, with 4,300 new weapons being produced every month. With this powerful armory of short-range artillery, the German forces were able to reach across No Man's Land and bring a punishing fire to bear on any target that presented itself. When chemical warfare arrived, the minenwerfer was a highly convenient method of delivering gas. The first German use of gas was in 1915 during the Battle of Bolimów in Poland on January 31. The German army shelled the Russian positions with xylyl bromide, the attack was relatively unsuccessful due to the low temperature, which prevented the gas from vaporizing and spreading.
Development
Development
The medium version, the 17 cm mittlerer Minenwerfer (mMW; "17 cm (6.7 in) mid-sized mine launcher"), was introduced in 1913. The model remained in reserve service until 1939–40. The light version of the weapon, the 7.58 cm leichter Minenwerfer (lMW; "light mine launcher"), was still at the prototype stage when the war started, but rapidly entered production. The weapon was far more efficient than its artillery counterpart: in comparison, the 7.7 cm (3.0 in) FK 96 n/A needed to be towed by a team of six horses, compared with a single horse for the lMW; additionally, the lMW could be moved around the battlefield by four men. The minenwerfer was cheaper, costing only one-seventh as much as the artillery gun, as did its ammunition. Since the muzzle velocity, and thus firing shock, of minenwerfers was low, a variety of explosives that would usually be unsuitable for use in artillery was used to fill the shells. In any case, TNT explosive was reserved for use in artillery shells. Typically, the explosives used in minenwerfer shells were ammonium nitrate-carbon explosives. However, the sensitivity of the explosives occasionally made them detonate in the tube. There were a large number of these incidents, one of which claimed the life of Karl Völler, head designer of Rheinmetall, in 1916. These problems, however, were eventually overcome. Recognizing the numerous advantages of the minenwerfer in trench warfare, production was stepped up and, by 1918, the numbers had increased dramatically to 1,234 heavy, 2,361 medium and 12,329 light minenwerfer. A 38 cm (15 in) calibre sehr schwerer Minenwerfer (ssMW; English: "very heavy mine launcher") was also developed.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- Germany
Named but not plotted · 1
Minenwerfer is associated with Germany.
Country
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1639569: Minenwerfer
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Minenwerfer”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 4278374-4, Minenwerfer.
Unverified · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Salmonsens konversationsleksikon / Anden Udgave / Bind XVII: Mielck—Nordland / 72 (1915-1930). runeberg.org.
- 2.Ian Hogg (1976). War Monthly - Issue 37: Minenwerfer, p. 4. .
- 3.Ian Hogg (1976). War Monthly - Issue 37: Minenwerfer, p. 4. .
- 4.Ian Hogg (1976). War Monthly - Issue 37: Minenwerfer, p. 6. .
- 5.Nick Cornish (2001). The Russian Army 1914-18, p. 6. Osprey Publishing. .
- 6.Ian Hogg (1976). War Monthly - Issue 37: Minenwerfer, p. 6. .
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
authority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 4278374-4, Minenwerfer.Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Militaria
6,095 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- mine-clearing line chargeTerminology
- Minebea P9Terminology
- Minebea PM-9Terminology
- MinengeschoßTerminology
- Mini-GradTerminology
- Minié ballTerminology
- Minié rifleTerminology
- MinimanTerminology
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own an object connected with Minenwerfer?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.