In 1915, roughly 200 Stokes mortars went to training organizations while only about 100 went to the front. That allocation prepared crews for the expansion to follow. Subcontracted manufacture supplied enough weapons for infantry brigades to control their own light mortars by March 1916. Battalion control developed as numbers increased, giving smaller formations access to fire support without calling on another organization. Production exceeded eleven thousand around 1918-1919. The endpoint is uncertain because some British official accounting continued into the intervention in Russia. The Stokes remained in British service into the Second World War and continued with New Zealand forces after it.
Notable Point · 1:13:14-1:15:19
Mass production made mortar fire organic to infantry
Training allocations and subcontracted production allowed Stokes mortars to become an infantry-controlled source of fire support.