J4 Japanese Hvy Weapons contents

[RedLeif]

The light artillery piece looks like the Type 92 70mm Battalion Gun.
What is the 'medium' piece supposed to represent. It looks like the Type 41 75mm Mountain Howitzer to me. It looks a little small to be the Type 38 75mm field gun. It's not the Type 91 100mm Howitzer.

Any help would be appreciated.

Red Leif

[Donald M. Scheef]

For what it's worth, I agree with both identifications; the smaller piece is the 70mm battalion gun Type 92 and the larger is the 75mm regimental gun (mountain howitzer) Type 41.
Since I do not have the model itself to look at now, this is based on the photographs (older black & white, newer color) in the GHQ online catalog. My reference is the WW2 Fact Files by Peter Chamberlain and Terry Gander. I searched through the volumes on 'Infantry, Mountain and Airborne Guns' and ' Light and Medium Field Artillery.'
The only other gun similar in appearance is the 75mm field gun Type 38 (Improved), but as mentioned, this is too big.

Perhaps GHQ could produce some larger pieces to boost the firepower available to Japanese forces. Some suggestions:
- 75 mm mountain gun Type 94: this was a significant improvement on the 75mm mountain howitzer Type 41 and its intended replacement
- 75mm field gun Type 38 (Improved): although elderly, this piece was available in large numbers and widely used
- 75mm field gun Type 90: this was a modern-looking gun, especially when fitted with pneumatic tires for tractor towing, apparently used more in China/Manchuria than in the Pacific Islands and south-east Asia
- 105mm howitzer Type 91: a relatively modern piece despite retention of wooden spoked wheels
- 10cm cannon (105mm gun) Type 92: another modern piece despite wooden spoked wheels and a few other outdated features

[RedLeif]

Thanks Don.

Those are all good suggestions. I still don't have enough reference works on hand. thanks for looking it up.
Personally I'd prefer GHQ make one gun and one howitzer of each of the three main sizes of weapon (75, 105,150) before they make multiple models of the same type and same size (eg an older and newer 105 'howitzer').

RedLeif

[Donald M. Scheef]

If you want to go up to 155mm pieces, the following were used by the Japanese in significant numbers:
- 150mm Howitzer Type 4: an elderly piece slated for replacement, but remaining in large numbers through the end of the war. The carriage was so light it had a tendency to break if moved in a single piece.
- 150mm Howitzer Type 96: the intended replacement for the Type 4 and much improved. Unfortunately for the Japanese, they could never produce as many as they needed
- 150mm gun Type 89: a relatively modern piece, roughly comparable to the French Canon de 155 GPF. After use in the capture of the Phillipines and Malaysia most were withdrawn to defensive positions in the home islands.

Since they were more available than the other two, I would select the 150mm howitzer Type 4 for GHQ to produce

Don S.

[RedLeif]

Thanks Don,
I put my 'japanese' request in on the 'WWII suggestions for 2012' post.

http://www.ghqmodels.com/forum/viewtopi ... c&start=15

But after your summary here I've edited my list on that post to request the Type 4 150mm, as you're spot on, it was much more widely available to the army than the Type 96. I liked the Type 89 as well for its similarity in looks and role with the French GPF. I didn't 'request' it as it would fill more of a corp/army role and thus be somewhat less popular with squad scale/1:1 scale collectors/gamers in my opinion. As it is I'd recommend GHQ first produce the 75mm Gun and 105mm howitzer, before they do the 105mm gun or 150mm howitzer.

Frankly I'd prefer GHQ made the Schneider 155 m.17 as so many countries used it and or copied it (Poles, Belgians, Finns, Italians,Americans and of course the French) . And I'd use it for the Japanese T4 without hesitation - looks close enough for me.

regards,
RedLeif