Although the majority of combatants had heavy field artillery prior to the outbreak of the First World War, none had adequate numbers in service, nor had they foreseen the growing importance of heavy artillery once the Western Front stagnated and trench warfare set in.

[2] Besides land mines, machine guns and trenches, barbed wire was a persistent threat to attacking infantry.

[3] What was needed to overcome the deadlock and give attackers an advantage was light, portable, simple, and inexpensive heavy firepower.

A way to provide this was by designing a series of heavy trench mortars which could be brought to forward area trenches to launch heavy, short ranged preparatory bombardments to clear obstacles and neutralize enemy defenses.

They consisted of a muzzle loaded smooth bore barrel built from wooden staves and wound with galvanized wire for reinforcement.