"Königsberg" displaced 3400 tons.--[Photos. by Symonds.]




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38--THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, NOV. 18, 1914.


[Illustration: THE GERMAN TRENCH-MORTAR JUST INTRODUCED TO THE BRITISH:
A WEAPON WHICH THROWS A 187-LB. MINE-SHELL.]

"In this quarter," says Eye-Witness of the fighting near Ypres on October
29, "we experienced ... the action of the 'minenwerfer,' or trench-mortar.
This piece, though light enough to be wheeled by two men, throws a shell
weighing 187 lbs. The spherical shell has a loose stem which is loaded
into the bore and drops out in flight. It ranges about 350 yards at 45
deg. elevation. The shell is a thin-walled mine-shell containing a large
charge and is intended to act with explosive effect, not splinter-effect."
The diagram on the left shows one of the shells and its stem in their most
up-to-date form; in the centre is the trench-mortar (its wheels off) with
a shell in place; below this are three shells without their stems; on the
right is a shell and its stem.




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THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, NOV. 18, 1914--39