Weapons of WWI: Flamethrowers and Mortars

    There were many weapons used during WWI, but two of the not so commonly used weapons were the flamethrower and the mortar.

    The flamethrower was basically a gun that launches burning fuel at the enemy. The first model of the flamethrower, used by Germany but eventually adopted by both sides, was the Flammenwerfer. The handheld Flammenwerfer, called the Kleinflammenwerfer, could be used by a single man and used pressurized air and carbon dioxide or nitrogen to belch an 18-meter flame, burning the enemy. The second model of the Flamenwerfer, the Grossflammenwerfer, was a lot bigger and it required a few people to carry it, but it launched flames twice the distance as the Kleinflammerwerfer. Also, Grossflamenwefer used a lot more fuel because it could launch burning fuel for 40 second straight, so it was a lot more cost heavy.

    A mortar was another not so common weapon used in WWI, but it was basically a giant cannon. There are many different types of mortars that fire at different distances, but a mortar is basically a gun that shoots a bomb high into the air so that it comes down and explodes on top of the enemy. It was very effective in trench warfare because they could launch a bomb into the enemy trenches without having to risk getting mowed down by machine guns. The most common mortar during WWI, the Stokes mortar, could fire up to 22 bombs per minute with a maximum range of 1,200 yards.


    As you can see, there were many different weapons during WWI that each, in turn, killed large amounts of people. Usually, one side, the allies or the central powers, invented a new weapon that was very effective for a short period of time because the other side didn't have the weapon, but soon after the weapon was invented the other side got the same weapon. This just ended in lots of dead people and not much progress.