With the end of the Battle of France and the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from the port of Dunkirk between 26 May and 4 June 1940, a German invasion of Great Britain seemed likely.

[9] He had offered his Bombard to the War Office for two years without success but was introduced to the government department of Military Intelligence Research (MIRc)[10] later known as MD1, which had been given the task of developing and delivering weapons for use by guerilla and resistance groups in Occupied Europe.

General Alan Brooke, Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces, entertained doubts about the weapon's effectiveness, but believed that its simplicity would allow it to be used by younger soldiers.

When the bomb detonated, it was able to inflict significant damage on a tank, although it was unlikely to actually pierce the vehicle's armour as the projectile was not able to gain sufficient velocity.

[8] It seems that there was a preference for the Bombard to be used primarily in a static role, with extra mountings being built by the Royal Engineers to provide alternative positions from which the weapon could be fired.

[14] The entire Bombard - mortar, "pivot" (base), four legs, "pickets" (ground stakes), two sledgehammers and toolbox - could be transported as five man loads.

By November 1941, concerns were already being aired about the suitability of the weapon and it was unpopular with a number of units; some attempted to trade their Bombards for Thompson submachine guns or refused to use them at all.

Mackenzie also argues that the Bombard did have a positive side, because it equipped otherwise unarmed Home Guard personnel with a weapon, and was a "public relations" success.

[12] It would appear that a number of Bombards saw action with the British Army, being used in an anti-personnel role in the Western Desert Campaign, although their use may have been limited due to their weight.

The Defence of Britain Project, a late-1990s field survey of 20th century military landscape features by the Council for British Archaeology, recorded a total of 351 surviving pedestals.