Tactical Employment of Mortars, FM 7-90, 1992, Military Manual

Tactical Employment of Mortars, FM 7-90, 1992

1-1. ROLE OF MORTARS
The primary role of mortars is to provide immediately available, responsive indirect fires that support the maneuver of the company or battalion, and that reinforce direct fires during close combat. In the attack, effective maneuver requires a base of fire, both direct and
indirect, to do the following:
• To establish the conditions for maneuver.
• To suppress the enemy.
• To fix him in place.
• To provide close supporting fires for the assault.
In the defense, this base of fire is used as follows:
To force armored vehicles to button up.
To breakup enemy troop concentrations.
To reduce the enemy’s mobility and canalize his assault forces into
engagement areas.
To deny him the advantage of defilade terrain and force him into
areas covered by direct fire weapons.
To break up the enemy combined arms team and destroy his
synchronization.
To protect the infantry against a close dismounted assault.

a. Mortar sections and platoons provide the commander with—
(1) An organic indirect fire capability that is always present and always
responsive to the maneuver commander regardless of the changing demands placed on any supporting field artillery.
(2) Supporting fire that is immediately at hand and close to the
company and battalion fight. The mortar section or platoon is aware of the local situation and ready to respond quickly without lengthy coordination.
(3) Unique plunging fires that complement, but do not replace, the
heavier fires of supporting field artillery, close air support, and naval
gunfire.
(4) Weapons whose high rate of fire and lethality fill the gap between
the time field artillery fires shift to deeper targets, and the assault elements close onto the objective.
(5) A solid base of fire upon which to anchor his maneuver to the
critical point of enemy weakness.