The Type 89 grenade discharger, commonly known as the "knee mortar" was a Japanese light infantry weapon introduced in 1929 which blurs the lines between grenade launcher and mortar. Like a mortar, it fires propelled explosive bombs in a high-angle indirect fire role, but it has a rifled barrel and uses a range adjustment mechanism very different from most mortars.
The knee mortar proved to be a very capable and effective weapon in WWII against US forces. It was accurate, effective, and perhaps most importantly, light and very fast to put into action. The closest comparable US weapon was the 60mm light mortar, which had a more effective projectile but was significantly slower to use.
Of course, the "knee mortar" nickname was based on the theoretical belief that one was supposed to rest the curved baseplate of the weapon on a leg while firing, which would actually have resulted in a broken leg. The baseplate was curved to allow it to dig into soft soil and be used against objects like logs and roots.
VIDEO HERE (12:15 minutes)
Light and handy. Always wanted one except practice rounds are far harder to manufacture than the US 60.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most common souvenirs brought back from the Pacific theater. A lot of times Ordnance guys would “inert” them for guys by dumping out the filler explosives and GIs brought them home in their duffle bags. Ran lots of them and Type 97 grenades back in the eighties. The vets would pass away and the families would find them in trunks in the attic or out in the barn. We generally would blow them up, as towards the end of the war, the Japanese were filling them with picric acid and as that shit ages it crystallizes and doesn’t react very well to heat, shock or friction. Not conducive to becoming an old EOD guy. Eod1sg Ret
ReplyDeleteThe one flaw was the cast iron grenade, the fragments being too small. Those on the wrong end of it would see that as a small mercy.
ReplyDeleteStefan v.