This unusual weapon was adopted by the Red Army on September 3, 1941, under the index ‘BM-37’. The idea was that the handle of an ordinary sapper shovel could simultaneously be the barrel of a light 37-mm mortar, while its bayonet would serve as its base plate when firing the mortar.
Altoing (CC BY-SA)
It was supposed that, with the BM-37, soldiers could engage the enemy at a distance of several hundred meters, entrench themselves and defend themselves from bullets and shrapnel. The spade mortar could also be used in close combat.
In reality, everything turned out to be not so smooth. The 1.5 kg BM-37 was much longer and heavier than an ordinary sapper spade and, as a result – extremely inconvenient to use.
As a mortar, the BM-37 was also far from ideal. Shrapnel effect of the mines was weak and, due to the short range of fire, the enemy was harassing the Red Army soldiers with return fire from machine guns.
Due to the lack of aiming devices, the spade mortar lacked accuracy and its bayonet plate would get deformed from frequent use. As a result, the BM-37 was withdrawn from service already in February 1942.
The Soviet Army tried to revive the idea of the shovel mortar in the late 1970s, when the ‘Variant’ spade grenade launcher was developed. However, this project was not widely developed either.