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Type 90 75mm

1932 WORLD WAR 2

History

The Type 90 was designed to be the standard 75mm field gun of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) entering World War II (1939-1945). It was adopted in 1930 and commissioned in 1932, and about 786 units were built.

However, its numbers proved to be limited as the 75mm "Type 38" - the series the Type 90 was intended to replace - continued to serve until Japan surrendered in war in 1945 and no longer supported the Japanese army. According to the Japanese calendar, the Type 90 is named from the year of acceptance, showing 1930 as 2590.

Like other artillery of the time, the Type 90 had two modes - drive and fire. His trailer works on both, as it is split up for towing the gun (by moving the vehicle) or as two "legs" and digging into the ground to shoot. Two-wheeled trolley with solid rubber tires aids field transport and traverse adjustment.

Firefighters are behind a small armored shield to provide some protection against incoming fire and other battlefield hazards. A full gunner consists of six to eight people - from the gunner to the chief, from the gunner to the ammunition operator. The action of the weapon is manual, while the breech is of the horizontal slider type.

Recoil is controlled by a hydropneumatic system and assisted by a muzzle brake above the muzzle. The mount allowed an elevation range of -8 to +43 degrees, while traverse was limited to 25 degrees on either side - otherwise the entire mount had to be rotated by the crew.

Cruising weight is listed as 4,400 pounds, while the displacement of the system (in its launched form) is 3,080 pounds.

The ammunition for the weapon consists of a 14.5 lb 75 mm projectile. A well-trained rifle crew can fire up to 15 rounds in 2 minutes for powerful sustained fire support. Each projectile exits the muzzle at 2,240 feet per second and has a maximum range of 16,360 yards.

Aiming is achieved with an optical panorama device. The Type 90 was approved to fire high-explosive (HE), shrapnel (anti-personnel), armor-piercing (AP), smoke and flares as neededcomparable to other designs at the time.

Before the introduction of the Type 90, the Japanese Empire relied on several foreign types, first of all, artillery made by the German Krupp. After World War I (1914-1918), these weapons were no longer available in Germany, and Japanese industry lacked the ability to design, develop, and mass-produce similar domestic systems.

Artillery requirements were then met by purchasing French-origin field guns before indigenous designs surpassed them. A local design influenced by the French Schneider Type 1927 itself became IJA's "Type 90".

Overall, in the 1930s and 1940s, the Type 90 proved to be a formidable battlefield system for long-range operations. Therefore, it was used during the Soviet-Japanese border war before and during WWII and during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Its high-explosive rounds proved to be highly resistant to enemy infantry, while AP shells proved to be resistant to enemy armor. Other shells played a role in IJA's offensive and defensive exercises in the Pacific and Asia. Its success as a tank destroying weapon influenced the main gun chosen for the Type 3 "Chino" medium tank against the American M4 Sherman medium tank.

However, only 144 examples of this tank were delivered in 1945, and it was too late to be out of service in WWII.