Japanese Knee Mortars

[MGH]

I'm working on a scenario or two for WW2 Pacific theatre - Brits v.s Japanese in early war like Malaya/Burma campaigns.

Curious - how effective were the Japanese knee mortars?  What would be their range v.s a regular mortar?

 Thanks for any advice you guys can give me.

[Dubar]

A quick Google search came up with the following:

Type 89 Grenade Discharger - effective range - 120 meters, maximum range - 670 meters

Fired a 50mm HE shell

It got the nickname the "knee mortar" because of an erroneous Allied belief that these launchers could be fired by propping its plate against the leg. However, anyone trying to fire it this way would receive a severe bruise (or sometimes a broken thigh bone) from its hefty recoil.

Seems like the correct firing method was to place the base plate on the ground.

[fred]

It was pretty similar to the British 2” mortar, and in game terms I’m sure not that different from German 5cm or American 60mm mortars.

[dadlamassu]

Unlike most mortars the Type 89 Grenade Discharger and the British 2 inch mortars were trigger fired and could be fired horizontally through windows, doors, against light AFVs, trucks etc.

[Harry Faversham]

The 2" Mortar was more useful to the Infantry than many realise. They were still kicking about in the early 70s, as were No.4 Mk.I T Sniper Rifles. Well remember a great range afternoon playing with a 2" mortar. Made even better by finding a couple of Sniper Rifle chests in the butts, no rifle in 'em, but there were the Scout Regiment 'scopes. Me and my mate nicked one each, still got mine!

[CapnJim]

Well, the Japanese "Ni" mortar was actually a glorified grenade launcher.  It's relatively short effective range of about 120 meters has already been mentioned.  As I understand it, the British 2" and German 5cm mortars had ranges of out to about 500 meters, while the US M2 60mm mortar could reach out to a about a mile with all 4 charge increments.

 

[Fitz]

Ian McCallum of Forgotten Weapons on Youtube has a useful video on them at