A mortar is a good light weapon that can be used by light infantry and can pack a tremendous punch. It was one of the Chinese main heavy weapons. The rifles used by the Chinese were often old weapons sold at great expense by their Uncle Stalin. The aircraft employed by the Chinese were for the most part manned by Russian pilots who used the event for some good training. At times, at night, a lone propeller plane would come by to just keep people up at night. One strafed our radio station at night but hit nothing. Unfortunately, I slept through it all and missed all the excitement much to the disgust of the others who spent a while out in the cold. A mortar tube is just a solid shaft and when the shell hits the bottom it sets off the expellant to send it on its way. In the extreme cold of North Korea the base of the mortar would sometimes crack when fired. 70% of their mortar shells did not detonate according to captured Chinese documents.