"Stokes and Brandt Mortars" Topic

I'm trying to figure out whether the Greeks used 3.2-inch Stokes mortars or 81mm Brandt mortars in World War II. I've found sources supporting both weapons. What are the visual differences between the two mortars? If I can find a picture of a Greek mortar in use, maybe I can identify it. Or maybe, since the Brandt was a development of the Stokes mortar, there aren't any differences visible on 28 mm models.

Grelber

Here is an image of Greeks with the 81mm.

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Stokes

I'm not sure there was a major difference of the two.

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The standard type for 1940-41 was the Brandt Mle 27/31, purchased from France. They later supplemented this with 45mm Brixia Modello 35 that they captured from the Italians. They did, however, still have 3.2" Stokes from WWI/Interwar. At what level/scale these were still in the field, I don't know. Greece had started a drastic modernization of its forces under Metaxas and made great strides in just a few years.

The guys at Studio Historia are very knowledgeable (and passionate!) about the subject and might be able to give you some more granular data.

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It sounds like the main difference between the two was that Brandt used fin stabilized rounds. The photo of the Greeks has a shell being loaded which narrows dramatically towards the base, which makes fins a definite possibility, though they seem to be in the barrel.

The Greeks started re-arming in 1936 (so based on that date, either mortar is possible) and had bought 315 mortars by the time the war started for them. They added 406 captured mortars (probably Italian 81 mm Brandt near copies captured by the Greeks or the British) to their inventory. Each regiment had a squadron of four mortars. There were 19 infantry regiments each with three regiments, so 228 mortars there, plus a cavalry division, and a motorized division (not sure, maybe 12 more mortars in each of these divisions). That's a total requirement for 252 mortars.

Thank you very much for the information.

Grelber

Thanks, enfant perdus!
Having both mortars makes sense. At a guess. the Stokes mortars were left over from WWI and the Fiasco in Asia Minor, and they held on to them because they had lost a lot of equipment in Asia Minor.

I have a sniper team from Studio Historia, but I had not thought of them being a source of information on the period. They also seem to have more artillery than they did when I bought the snipers.

Grelber