The weapons were intended to be used by engineers to clear obstacles, including bunkers and barbed wire, that longer range artillery would not be able to target accurately.
The Germans studied the Siege of Port Arthur, where heavy artillery had been unable to destroy defensive structures like barbed wire and bunkers.
After a few months when trench warfare started, the German infantry began calling for short-range weapons, and the minenwerfer entered the battle.
[4] With this powerful armory of short-range artillery, the German forces were able to reach across No Man's Land and bring a punishing fire to bear on any target which presented itself.
The German army shelled the Russian positions with xylyl bromide, the attack was relatively unsuccessful due to low temperature which prevented the gas from vaporizing and spreading.
Since the muzzle velocity, and thus firing shock, of minenwerfers was low, a variety of explosives that would usually be unsuitable for use in artillery was used to fill the shells.