Original French WWII Brandt Mle 27/31 81mm Display Mortar System with Baseplate and Bipod – Italian & Cyrillic Markings Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. The Brandt modèle 27/31 mortar was a regulation weapon of the French army during the Second World War. Designed by Edgar Brandt, it was a refinement of the Stokes mortar, developed in WWI England. Brandt had developed his own pneumatic mortar during WWI, but the Stokes mortar’s propulsion system proved to be a better design. However Brandt was the one who perfect the design of the projectiles to be used, the classic “teardrop” shape with fin stabilizers at the back. Most importantly, Brandt introduced the use of the obturation grooves on a ring around the projectile, which served as both a forward-bearing surface and a gas check. The Stokes-Brandt mortar design was highly influential, being licensed built or copied by numerous countries, including the United States and others.

The 81mm mortar was the largest weapon in the arsenal of WWII infantry battalions. It provided the battalion commander with a powerful and flexible indirect fire capability. Sometimes called “infantry artillery,” or “hip pocket artillery,” mortars were capable of quickly laying down heavy barrages. These could stop enemy attacks under the worst conditions. Able to fire at high angles, mortars could fire at targets in defilade, either under direction of a forward observer, or firing off map coordinates. These weapons became an important part of the battalion’s firepower, especially since they could be man-packed into positions that were inaccessible to artillery.

We offer a genuine French Brandt Mle 27/3 81mm non-functional BATF complaint inert demilitarized display mortar as used by French and German forces in WWII. This mortar has some very interesting markings. particularly on the tube, and looks to have led quite the interesting life!

This display is composed of the following:

– Original WWII French Brandt Mle 27/31 Mortar Base Plate

– Original WWII Adjustable Bipod, marked BRANDT DE 81 MM / M / 965 (D) No 30275. Edgar Brandt was the designer of the French Mortar on which many mortars, including the U.S. M1, were based, and in some countries this became the generic term for a mortar, such as France. The bipod is complete, though there is a bit of the chain on the bottom missing, which can make it hard to secure the bipod legs to be base plate.

– Original French WWII Mortar Demilled barrel tube, which has been torch cut with a bore size hole and the interior of barrel, and previously had the entire base cup section removed, deactivated, and re-welded. One side is marked MORTAIO DA 81 / MATR 37313E, which is an Italian military marking. The other side is marked БАЦАЧ 81мм.М.31, (Thrower / Mortar 81mm M31) БP. 588, which looks to be possibly Serbian.

These weapons are most unusual for the collectors market, and this is the first example of a French WWII 81mm Mortar that we have had. They saw service long after WWII across the world, and most were used to the point of destruction or scrapped long ago. This is a genuine WWII mortar system and not a newer fabrication.

Comes more than ready to display!