28 cm howitzer L/10

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28 cm howitzer L/10
Breech
Interrupted Screw
CarriageBox trail
Elevation-10° to +68° (firing)
Traverse360°
Muzzle velocity314 m/s (1,030 ft/s)
Maximum firing range7,800 m (8,500 yd)

The 28 cm howitzer L/10 (二十八糎榴弾砲, nijūhachi-senchi ryūdanhō) was a Japanese coastal and siege howitzer. It was developed by Armstrong before 1892 and saw service in the Russo-Japanese War during the siege of Port Arthur and the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Design and description

The 28 cm Howitzer L/10 was designed in 1884 by the British

Sir W.G. Armstrong".[2] The Italians produced the design in a number of different lengths and they were designated by their diameter and length in calibers 280/9, 280/10, 280/11, and 280/16. Some 220 pieces were manufactured by the Osaka Artillery Arsenal for Japanese coastal defence.[3] It was mounted on a turntable which was fixed to a steel firing platform. It required two to four days to emplace for firing. An ammunition crane was fixed to the carriage for ease of loading. The howitzer entered service in 1892 and was installed in shore batteries in forts overlooking Tokyo Bay and Osaka Bay
, and had been intended for anti-ship operations. However it saw use as a siege gun during the Russo-Japanese War due to a lack of heavy siege guns.

Combat history

Russo-Japanese War

A shell, visible above the smoke, is fired on Port Arthur

During the Russo-Japanese War, the

Hitachi Maru, loaded with a battalion of the First Reserve Regiment of the Guards, was sunk by Russian cruisers in the Hitachi Maru Incident on June 15, 1904, the situation changed. The massive 11-inch howitzers could throw a 217 kilogram (478 pound) shell over 7.8 kilometers (4.8 miles),[4] and Nogi then had the firepower necessary to seriously damage the Russian fortifications. The huge shells were nicknamed "roaring trains" by the Russian troops (for the sound they made just before impact), and during their period at Port Arthur over 16,949 of these shells were fired.[5]

A 217 kilogram (478 pound) shell of the 28 cm Howitzer.
Port Arthur viewed from the top of a 203-meter hill, looking at the ships of the Russian Pacific Fleet

At 10:30 on December 5, following another massive artillery bombardment, the Japanese managed to overrun 203 Meter Hill overlooking the harbour of Port Arthur with the

Nikolai Essen of the Sevastopol had the crippled battleship scuttled in 30 fathoms (55 m
) of water by opening the sea cocks on one side, so that the ship would sink on its side and could not be raised and salvaged by the Japanese.

Second Sino-Japanese War

In November 1939 during the Second Sino-Japanese War, 28 cm howitzers were deployed at the Yellow River where they put a railway tunnel out of action for over three months.[6]

World War II

Due to a lack of alternatives, the Japanese reactivated the 28 cm howitzer for coastal defence in 1945, expecting the landing of the Allies. Thirteen guns were emplaced on Kyushu, six on Shikoku, 62 on Honshu and 10 on Hokkaido.[7] Also, two batteries of the 28 cm howitzers were used by 132nd Independent Mixed Brigade at Dongning, Heilongjiang, during the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in 1945.[8] Two batteries of 28 cm howitzers were emplaced with the Najin Fortress Garrison in Rason.

Notes

  1. ^ Kobayashi, Ushisaburō (1922). Military Industries of Japan. Oxford University Press. p. 43.
  2. ^ Brassey, Thomas (1892). The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J Griffin and Co. p. 292.
  3. ^ Website about IJA 28 cm Howitzer
  4. ^ Kowner, p. 151
  5. ^ Website about The History of Battles of Imperial Japanese Artillery Forces
  6. ^ "Website about IJA 28 cm howitzer in the Second Sino-Japanese War". Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-06-06.
  7. ^ Zaloga, p. 11
  8. ^ Record of Operations against Soviet Russia, Eastern Front (August 1945), p. 60

References

External links