It was a modification of an original French design, the Mortier de 240 mm developed by Batignolles Company of Paris and introduced in 1915.

[7] The mortar was operated by crews of the Royal Garrison Artillery which was the part of the British Army that operated the heaviest artillery weapons, formed into batteries of four mortars attached to each division, designated "V/nn" where nn was the division number.

In action, a heavy timber platform was constructed embedded in the ground, on which the mortar base was immovably secured.

They were used in the "siege warfare" on the Western Front to destroy enemy strongpoints, bunkers and similar "hard" targets which were invulnerable to lighter mortars and field guns.

The US Army handbook described it : "... the use for which it is primarily adapted is in the bombardment of strongly protected targets - dwellings, covered shelters, command posts, entrances to galleries, etc - or in the destruction of sectors of trenches, salients and the like.".