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opportunity targets when asked to do so and reacting to
incidents to provide fire support for those forward troops.”
10.153.
Maj. Cobb-Smith disagreed with Maj. Dixon that he plotted and
ensured the accuracy of the mortar, plus or minus one metre, using a 1:50,000
map. He was of opinion that plus or minus 10 metres would be more accurate
“because it is impossible to read a 1:50,000 map down to ten figures”.
10.154.
On the matter of
bedding-in
, he said that, when a mortar is fired,
there is a certain amount of recoil and “the first two rounds that are fired will be
inaccurate”. In the act of bedding-in, the mortar tube makes “a slight jump”, i.e.
“it will elevate slightly as those first two rounds are fired”. Then he testified –
“But for those first two rounds it is very important to allow at
least an extra 200 metres drop in range when doing the
calculations. So if you have forward troops, you need to add
that extra 200 metres to your initial safety distance of 700
metres.”
10.155.
According to Maj. Cobb-Smith, one of the variables which may
affect the accuracy of a mortar is “the beaten zone”, the area where the mortar
will always fall. But accuracy can never be guaranteed “to more than 100
metres by 20 metres because there will always be inherent inaccuracies”. There
is a margin of error excluding the adjustment process. Other variables include
the mortar failing to exit the tube or landing without detonating.
10.156.
The infantry or operational commander usually dictates where he
wants the target of the mortar and gives orders to the MFC who sends the grid
references back to the team manning the mortars (the mortar line) to do the
necessary computations and preparations before firing the remote.
“It would be very unusual for the first round to fall exactly
on target.”
10.157.
With regard to injury by shrapnel from a mortar round, Maj. Cobb-
Smith’s evidence is that “the only distance at which one can say that someone