My Granatenwerfer 16 - "Belching Bertha"

This is perhaps my favorite in my WWI collection. It is a German Granatenwerfer 16 (Gr.W.16) named "Belching Bertha".

It was acquired through a trade I made with a gent who wanted a WWII German, single decal, Quist M1940 SS helmet (98% mint) I found. The gent traded me a bunch of WWI German items and a US trench for the helmet and tossed in the Gr.W.16 to sweeten the deal. I've attached a picture showing the other items I got with Belching Bertha.

In the picture of belching Bertha are some pictures of the most common rounds the Gr.W.16 fired, which are also in my collection.

And yes - I do take it out periodically and fire it - using dummy rounds.

The development of the Gr.W.16 was based on an Austro-Hungarian spigot mortar originally designed by a Hungarian priest, Fr. Vécer, nicknamed “Priesterwerfer”.

The German Gr.W.16 was introduced in 1916 and was manufactured under license by Stock & Co. in Berlin-Marienfelde. As a rule every infantry company would have two Granatenwerfer 16. It was a grenade thrower which bridged the gap between hand-thrown grenades, rifle grenades and the light minenwerfers. The Gr.W.16 was a classic example of the spigot mortar type weapon. Rather than having a hollow barrel into which the projectile fit, it had a simple rod with a firing pin built in. The grenade it fired had a hollow center shaft, which fit onto the firing rod. To fire, a gunner (a 2-man crew, in practice) would first adjust the spigot rod to the correct angle for the desired range, depress the cocking collar until the firing pin was cocked, rotate the safety lever to the “safe” position, insert a fuse into a grenade (they were fairly sensitive impact fuses), slide the grenade onto the launcher, remove the safety pin, and fire the grenade by means of a lanyard pull.

The Gr.W.16 threw a small grenade (Wurfgranate) that weighed 1.85kg (4.08 pounds rounded up), with a 400g (14oz) high explosive charge within its pre-fragmented head, to a maximum range of about 460 meters (503 yards). Inside the hollow center shaft a modified 7.92 mm blank cartridge was used as propellant and the Wurfgranate and it used a very simple and sensitive impact fuze with a small detonator. The detonator had to be placed in the fuze before firing, then the grenade was placed on the spigot of the Gr.W.16. The Gr.W.16, with a practiced crew, could maintain a rate of fire equivalent to 250-300 rounds per hour.

The Gr.W.16 was particularly portable because of its light weight – the launcher itself weighted weighs 24kg (52.91 pounds). The large base plate that was commonly used weighed an additional weighs 16kg (35.27 pounds rounded up). Both parts, and Wurfgranaten, could easily be carried across areas too confined, muddy, or otherwise impractical to drag a wheeled minenwerfer through and could therefore be used to make a quick strike and then rapidly moved.

The Gr.W.16s proved to be popular and very effective weapons for the Germans. They had a high rate of fire, useful range, and reasonable effective detonation. They could be used in either direct or indirect fire applications – direct fire was used to fire at things like sentry posts, gun loopholes, and the like. When fired this way, the grenade fragments would fill an area roughly 5m wide and 50m long, while a round fired in a high angle trajectory would have a bursting radius of about 30 meters. Minimum high-angle range was 50 meters, to avoid endangering the firing crew. The French claimed these weapons – that they nicknamed “tourterelle” (turtledove) because of the unique warbling sound made by the grenade on descent – wounded more than the light Minenwerfer. The reason was that, due to its low final velocity, the projectile hardly penetrated the ground before its sensitive fuze caused it to detonate on the surface, expending most fragments horizontally, instead of going into the ground in a crater, as many heavier grenades did.

In terms of manufacturing, the Gr.W.16 was a very simple device, and easy to produce, with only a few moving parts and noting requiring the level of precision that a conventional barrel would need. This made it idea for production by companies like toy manufacturers, who had experience with casting relatively small parts to relatively loose tolerances.

The Gr.W.16 was being evaluated and tested, after the war, by the US Dept. of Ordnance as a possible addition to our arsenal of toys.

As far as I’m aware every Gr.W.16 here in the US, which has its original transport case, was one of the samples brought back to the US for testing. Stenciled on the backs of the crates are the identification marks given to them by the US government. Those transport crates are usually in great condition.

Also, all of the Gr.W.16s I’m aware of here in the US got here by one of four methods – bring back by a unit; given by the Government as a “thank you” for money raised for the war effort (usually given to communities or organizations); brought here by the US Dept. of Ordnance; or through direct purchase from someone located outside the US.

The Gr.W.16s that are ‘complete’ – transfer case, tools, spare parts, etc. – are typically the ones brought here by the US Dept. of Ordnance and sold when no longer needed.

Most are ‘incomplete’ mortars, with or without firing pin and/or nose cap, and came from any combination of the above.

As for mine I know exactly where it came from; a VFW Post in the north eastern US that closed down. There were three WWI units associated with the VFW Post so I’m not 100% sure which one brought it back though. On a side note – along with the Gr.W.16 I received a camouflaged K.u.K. helmet that came from a K.u.K. unit shipped to the Western Front in the last months of the war (the middle helmet in the picture). This helmet was brought back by a member of the unit that brought back the Gr.W.16.