28 cm howitzer L / 10
| 28 cm howitzer L / 10 | |
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| General Information | |
| Military designation: | 二 十八 糎 榴 弾 砲 |
| Manufacturer country: |
 Japan
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| Developer / Manufacturer: | Armstrong , Osaka Arsenal |
| Start of production: | 1892 |
| Number of pieces: | 220 |
| Weapon Category: | Coastal and siege artillery |
| Technical specifications | |
| Pipe length: | 2,863 m |
| Caliber : |
280 mm |
| Caliber length : | L / 10 |
| Elevation range: | -10 to +68 degrees |
| Side straightening area: | 360 ° |
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The 28 cm howitzer L / 10 ( Japanese 二 十八 糎 榴 弾 砲 , nijūhachi-senchi ryūdanhō , also called 280 mm howitzer ) was a howitzer of the Imperial Japanese Army . Mainly used in coastal defense , it was also used as a siege gun during the 1904 siege of Port Arthur .
The 28 cm howitzer L / 10 should not be confused with the 28 cm howitzer L / 12 developed by the Krupp company .
history
development
In April 1884, the Italian major Pompeo Grillo was invited to Japan by the Japanese military command to help develop guns. As early as June of the same year, the Osaka Arsenal began developing a 28 cm howitzer, which was based on an Armstrong howitzer built under an Italian license . In 1892 the howitzer was introduced into the Imperial Japanese Army. The 220 guns produced were used specifically for coastal defense.
Russo-Japanese War
During the Russo-Japanese War , Port Arthur was besieged by the Japanese 3rd Army . While the Japanese were able to take Port Arthur by storm in the First Sino-Japanese War , this was no longer possible. The Imperial Russian Army had built Port Arthur with heavy fortifications according to plans by General von Totleben . The first Japanese attacks were repulsed with high losses for the attackers and as a result 18 28 cm howitzers were requested to destroy the fortifications. While the first 18 howitzers were sunk by sea by Russian cruisers during the Hitachi-Maru incident , replacements for the lost howitzers eventually reached the siege forces.
The preparation for the howitzer positions were cumbersome and lengthy. Each howitzer was on a heavy metal plate, which in turn rested on a concrete bed . Then the 10-ton howitzer had to be lifted onto the metal plate. The hit accuracy of the howitzer was moderate and the explosive power of the shells insufficient to guarantee the destruction of the fortifications with one shot. Therefore targets had to be shot at several times. The Japanese artillery fired 353,066 shells at Port Arthur, 16,949 of which were 28 cm shells. The Japanese motherland could not supply enough 28 cm grenades and so grenades had to be purchased from western countries.
After the third major attack on Port Arthur, the elevation 203 could be taken from which the Japanese had a direct view of the port of Port Arthur. The ships of the Russian Pacific Fleet were moored there . After the Japanese had sent forward observers to Height 203 , they were able to direct the fire of the 28 cm howitzers by telephone. The Poltava liner was sunk on December 5th and the Retwisan on December 7th . On December 9, 1904, Pobeda and Peresvet, as well as the cruisers Pallada and Bajan , sank . The ship of the line Sevastopol was able to be maneuvered out of the firing range of the Japanese, although it had already been hit five times by heavy shells. When Port Arthur finally surrendered on January 2, 1905 , the captain of the Sevastopol , Nikolai von Essen , had the heavily damaged ship sunk by his own crew by opening the bottom valves at about 55 m water depth.
Second Sino-Japanese War
In November 1939, 28 cm howitzers were used on the Yellow River during the Second Sino-Japanese War, putting a railway tunnel out of service for three months.
Due to a lack of alternatives, 28 cm howitzers were used until the end of the Second World War, especially on the Japanese mainland for coastal defense because of the expected landing of the Allies on Japan. In 1945 there were 13 howitzers on Kyūshū , 6 on Shikoku , 62 on Honshu and 10 on Hokkaidō .
Technical specifications
| 28 cm howitzer | |
|---|---|
| Carriage: | Frame mount |
| Construction time: | 24-72 hours |
| Caliber: | 28 cm |
| Pipe length: | 2,863 m (L10.2) |
| Muzzle velocity V 0 : | 142 m / s to 314 m / s |
| Firing range max .: | 7.8 km |
| Bullet weight: | 217 kg |
| Weight of the gun in firing position: | 10.758 t |
| Weight of the gun in driving position: | 33,600 t |
| Side straightening area: | 360 ° |
| Elevation range: | −10 ° to + 68 ° |
Web links
- Website about 28 cm Howitzer , English
- Website about 28 cm Howitzer in World War II , Japanese
- Pompeo Grillo. Meiji Portraits, accessed August 16, 2018 .
- 28 cm howitzer. The review, accessed on August 16, 2018 .
literature
- Kowner, Rotem (2006). Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War. Scarecrow, ISBN 0-8108-4927-5 .
- Zaloga, Steven (2010). Defense of Japan 1945. Osprey Publishing, ISBN 978-1-84603-687-3 .
- Kobayashi, Ushisaburō. Military Industries of Japan. Cernegie Endowment for International Peace, 1922
- Kimura, Ki. Pompeo Grillo, Father of the Japanese Bertha.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kobayashi, p. 43
- ↑ Website about 28 cm Howitzer
- ↑ Rotem Kowner, p. 151
- ^ Website about History of Imperial Japanese Artillery
- ↑ Website about 28 cm Howitzer in World War II ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Zaloga, p. 11
