Type 89 mortar

fat tony

fat tony

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Nambu World: Type 89 “Knee Mortar” (Heavy Grenade Discharger)

One of the most feared weapons in the Japanese arsenal was the Type 89 Heavy Grenade Discharger (hachi-kyu-shiki ju-tekidanto, or more commonly just tekidanto). This weapon received the dangerously unfortunate English nickname of “knee mortar”; the curved base plate was meant to be braced against a solid foundation (the ground, a log, etc.), NOT one’s knee, as the recoil would result in broken bones or worse. The Type 89 covered the gap between the range a hand grenade could be thrown and the range of a true mortar. Because of its small size (less than 60cm, or 24” long) and light weight (about 4.7 kg, or 10.5 lbs.), it was easily portable. In a standard Japanese infantry division, a regiment of 3,843 men had about 108 of these, or one per 36 men, according to the US Army Handbook on Japanese Military Forces, October 1, 1944, p. 22. By comparison, the regiment would have had 112 light machine guns and 36 heavy machine guns. The Type 89 was extremely accurate in the hands of a skilled operator. The Japanese made about 120,000 of them. The “89” in Type 89 refers to their introduction in the Japanese year 2589, i.e. 1929.
Click to expand...

http://members.shaw.ca/nambuworld/t89pix.htm

t89front.jpg


t89xround.jpg
 
I've heard about these and always loved the idea.

Although: is there any sort of sighting system? Or is it just a ballpark

I feel bad for the poor American who tried to use a captured one from his knee though. I'm sure someone did, and got pretty roughed up by it.
 
Looks like there is not much to them. They got fancy with the striker, which seems to be something picked up on the post WWII 60mm Canadian mortars (don't know if this was copied from the Japanese mortar or someplace else) - like the rifled barrel too. It would be a beyotch to get ambushed, raked with machine gun fire & these god damn mortar rounds dropping on your head in the jungle in Burma! :eek:
 
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^I love the way they rigged up the driving band.

t89xrbase.jpg


The lady who owns that website seems to be a very nice and cultured fellow Canadian gun-nut. Welcome if you are lurking on the forums professor! :)

Detailed pics of a complete round for the Knee mortar from Inert ord

THE PICS ARE COPYWRIGHTED

http://www.inert-ord.net/jap02h/knee/index.html
 
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