German 50mm Mortar

[Ratzki]

There has been enough unfavorable discussions involving the German 50mm mortar. "It has poor firepower","It has poor range","It does not have enough ammunition". The list is long. I am not saying that it is a great weapon, but used within the squad's best range to engage the enemy, it will hold it's own compared to other mortars of similar bore.
In order to make a case for the lowly 50mm mortar, one has to start with the platoons that it is assigned to. In early '41, the German infantry squad is out-gunned by it's Russian counterpart; checking the editor, it shows that a typical regular quality Russian Infantry squad has 11 men and an approximate firepower rating of 172 @ 40m, 92 @ 100m, and 43 @ 250m. A similar German squad is 10 men strong and has a rating of 124 @ 40m, 85 @ 100m, and 48 @ 250m. So if all things are equal in the field, the German squad will lose the vast majority of the time in a 1 on 1 fight at 40m or less. At 100m, the German squad is still at a disadvantage, even with an equal trade off of 1 man for 1 man. The Russian squads have 1 extra man per squad that the German side must overcome.
Somewhere between 100m and 250m, German infantry firepower gets the edge, but not by much. It is about an 11% advantage over the Russian side. Here is where the little 50mm fits in. With a range of between 60m and 500m, you should be engaging the Russian side well within the maximum distance that the 50mm can shoot. The German 50mm out-guns it's Russian counterpart as well. The Russian 50mm mortar is manned by 4 crewmen and has a blast rating of 5 with 65 rounds of HE. The German 50mm mortar is manned by 3 crewman and has a blast rating of 6 with 30 rounds of HE. That works out to be a 17% advantage in firepower over the Russian mortar, with equal rounds being fired. I know that the blast rating is rather vague in its effect, but I am looking at it as a larger blast rating would translate to a larger diametre area affected as well as causing more potential damage to anything within that diametre. Keeping on the underpowered side should be fine, but I expect that the 17% quoted should in fact be more.
So with a 11% advantage in the squads firepower and a 17% advantage with the 50mm mortar at 150m to 250m or so, the German squads can come out looking pretty good. Throw in a 24% firepower advantage that the German mg34 has over the Russian maxim at these ranges, and things start to look even better. I know that the Russian mortars have more rounds available, but therein lies the key, if the enemy does not get to fire the rounds off, it does not matter how many extra rounds it has, unfired rounds are a waste of points.
Is it a big power weapon?... no. But it is an advantage within the limits faced by a platoon of men. Maybe just enough of an advantage to swing the battle your way. The infantry and the armour get all the glory, but the little 50mm mortar can play a roll.