From a recent British source comes the following information under the
heading "Epitaph to a Secret Weapon."
The British Eighth Army has described the 150-mm smoke
mortar (Nebelwerfer 41*), in official reports, as
being "in effect noisy but negligible." In recent operations the Eighth Army
has encountered HE fire from this weapon and the reporting officers have
described it as:
(1) Not effective in blast;
(2) Not effective in fragmentation;
(3) Quite effective in noise.
One of the reports states that no effect was felt at a distance of 60 yards
from the burst. No reports of the ammunition, other than HE, used in this weapon
have been received. The Schwere Wurfgerät, having a higher charge/weight
ratio, should prove more effective. The latter is a heavy, rocket-bomb thrower (see
Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 8, p. 28) projecting
a 181-pound HE bomb.
*While referred to by the Germans as a "smoke mortar," this weapon is actually
the six-barreled rocket projector--see Tactical and Technical Trends,
No. 10, p. 23 and No. 17, p. 39.