M19 Maschinengranatwerfer

[The Dane]

In May 2000, a rare German strongpoint weapon was uncovered in a bunker in Agger. It was the 5 cm M19 machine mortar that is on display to the left.

Twenty mortars of this type were set up in Denmark. Only three of these have been preserved, and this is the most intact of them. It is not known exactly how many mortars were built, but the total number could hardly have been much more than 100. The production number of the mortar at MuseumsCenter Hanstholm is 135.

It took more than a day to recover the mortar, and the work was carried out by the Society for the History of the German Occupation for Thy and Hanherred, with the assistance of the North Jutland Civil Defence Centre.

The extensive work required to restore and set up the mortar here at the museum was carried out by members of the Society for the History of the German Occupation for Thy and Hanherred.

[The Dane]

Velkommen
Link to the Museum

[Steve T]

What a truly awesome piece.

Many thanks for sharing. Very interesting indeed.

Steve T

[The Dane]

Glad You like..

Yes it's a very fine german piece of tekniqe..



The M19 was a very advanced fully-automatic 5cm mortar. Due to it`s size it was only used in bunkers, mainly in the Atlanticwall.



History

The production of the first M19 probably started in 1937-38. The first known examples were installed in the Westwall, in the so-called "B-werke". They were the German answer to the French automatic-mortar mle1935 on the Maginot-line. Only some 30 mortars were built for use in the Westwall. During the construction of the Alantikwall, the M19 were put back to production. Due to the high production cost and time, only the most important areas, like submarine bases and large coastal batteries were equipped with the M19. A very few examples were mounted in the Ostwall defenceline in Poland, 1944.

In the years between 1937 and 1945, only 98 of these incredible weapons were made.

I .. know there Still are a few out there...

[american1975]

Has it been made fully functional?

[ford369]

several of these weapons were mounted in Atlantik wall defences in the Channel Islands and an excellent restored example of the bunker in which one was housed can be seen at Corbiere in Jersey
Nigel

[DanTheMan]

several of these weapons were mounted in Atlantik wall defences in the Channel Islands and an excellent restored example of the bunker in which one was housed can be seen at Corbiere in Jersey
Nigel

Got a couple of pics from the Corbiere M19, very interesting to explore.



5cm Mortars - lots of them