Strangest Russian Weapon of WW2

since their Inception the use of mortars has become incredibly important especially in small combat units mortars traditionally allow men on the ground to provide quick and effective bombardment on close enemy targets without the need to rely on Heavy Artillery far away during the second world war this was no exception and mortars were used extensively for both the axis and allied powers for the Soviets though they wanted to go one step further and provide a mortar to every one of their soldiers on the battlefield what they eventually came up with was the Spade mortar this small and compact device could not only be used as a spade but with the addition of a bipod it transitioned into a mortar but what was it like well in today's video we look at the Soviet Spade mortar of World War II if you enjoy this video and want to see more hit that subscribe button it's free and really helps the Channel reach more history lovers like you the concept of combining two totally different items together to create a single functioning item wasn't new before the Spade mortar but outside the box thinking allowed Soviet designers to begin to create this strange invention which they hoped to give the individual Soldier an edge against their German Invaders in 1941 not long after operation barar Rosa began a prototype was thrown together in a matter of weeks designated the V M37 with the number donating its firing 37 mm mortar shells the mortar would have two main functions at first glance it appeared to be a regular Spade or shovel it featured a blade which could dig into the Earth and create foxholes or trenches it could be stowed with a soldier like their ordinary Spade but it was much heavier at around 1.5 kg or 3 lb it was also longer than its usual digging utensil at 650 mm or 2.1 ft the real difference came in the Spade's handle which was of course the mortar's barrel this was made of a steel pipe with a 37 mm diameter the muzzle was made in the form of a bell for easier loading with a breach placed at the other end and the firing pin pressed into its flat end the breach ended with a ball for connection to the base plate this was of course the Spade's blade and acted as a normal mortar base plate to protect the hands of the soldier a canvas tubular sleeve was put over the barrel a metal rod acted as a bipod which could be secured to the barrel the weapon featured no sights for adjustment the idea was for the soldier to just aim with their eyes and tilt the barrel accordingly the mortar projectiles themselves were torpedo shaped and carried in a Bandelier of of 15 shells to be slung over the shoulder of the soldier an initial order of 10,000 units was proposed this was eventually increased to over a quarter of a million but with these numbers it required roughly 7.5 million mortar rounds to follow the individual mortars by the end of 1941 further testing had identified several failures in deficiencies with a spade mortar when functioning as a shovel it was extremely Fragile with a a month setting in and the rock hard Frozen Russian ground hard enough to penetrate with a regular Spade the VM 37's blade would often break because it doubled as a base plate for the mortar the weapon was now rendered useless when using it as a mortar several more issues arose the accuracy of the weapon was poor at best citing it by ey was extremely difficult and meant accurate placement of rounds towards the enemy was rare the 37 mm mortar round itself also lacked a decent enough fragmentation effect missing the enemy with a regular mortar round could still generate enough blast or Shel to knock an enemy soldier over but the design of these rounds was short on those capabilities another issue came with the base plate which had a tendency to warp after being fired the connection with the barrel and the base plate would frequently slip and cause the soldier to continuously adjust the weapon by February in 1942 the manufacturing of the weapon was pulled due to these issues in the vicinity of 15,000 units would make it to the Frontline troops who of course found out about these failings in the field the use of the weapon is still cited in Battlefield reports as late as 1943 But ultimately most of them would simply be thrown away the concept of a multi-use weapon was certainly not ridiculous had solutions for these mentioned issues been found perhaps the Spade mortar could have had a devastating effect on German troops there's no question that providing extra Firepower to every soldier on the front is an advantage but in this case it was simply not thought through hard enough nonetheless it's yet another example of a lesser known weapon of the second world war had you ever heard of the Soviet Spade mortar prior to this video what did you think let us know your thoughts in the comments section down below as always guys thanks for watching be sure to hit that subscribe button if you want to expand your knowledge and join the growing Premier history community