The , known by the nickname "Ghost rockets", was an

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during si ...

weapon used by the Japanese military during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, especially during the

Battle of Iwo Jima The Battle of Iwo Jima (19 February – 26 March 1945) was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and United States Navy (USN) landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA ...

.CLOSING IN: Marines in the Seizure of Iwo Jima

Specifications

The mortar consists of a steel tube closed at one end by a steel base-plate, which rests on a wooden platform. The , , shells fit around and on top of the tube, instead of being dropped inside, making this a

spigot mortar A mortar is usually a simple, lightweight, man-portable, muzzle-loaded weapon, consisting of a smooth-bore (although some models use a rifled barrel) metal tube fixed to a base plate (to spread out the recoil) with a lightweight bipod mount and ...

. The range of each shot was adjusted by adding different size powder charges at the base of the round. The barrels could handle only five or six shots apiece before becoming damaged and unusable. When used in large groups, as was often done, it produced a fearsome effect known as the "screaming missile" to U.S. Marines. To absorb the massive recoil caused by firing their projectiles, the mortar tubes were almost always placed up against a mound of dirt.Journal of the United States Artillery (1919:148)

Use

During World War II, the

Japanese Imperial Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor ...

deployed somewhere between one and two dozen 320 mm mortars on

Iwo Jima Iwo Jima (, also ), known in Japan as , is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands and lies south of the Bonin Islands. Together with other islands, they form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at high. ...

, as well as two dozen on

Bataan Bataan (), officially the Province of Bataan ( fil, Lalawigan ng Bataan ), is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Its capital is the city of Balanga while Mariveles is the largest town in the province. Occupying the enti ...

.The High Cost of Faulty IntelChapter IV: Where Is The Enemy The weapon was also used on

Okinawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 Square kilometre, km2 (880 sq mi). ...

.Japanese Antitank Tactics

Iwo Jima

Japanese officers believed the 320 mm spigot mortar's most effective method of employment was to inflict psychological damage on the American troops instead of inflicting casualties.HyperWar: Iwo Jima: Amphibious Epic hapter 4/ref> The shells left craters deep and wide, but caused relatively few casualties due to minimal fragmentation. The mortars were operated mainly by the 20th Independent Mortar Battalion. During the Iwo Jima campaign, many of the 12 to 24 launchers were placed inside the mouths of caves to protect them from American artillery bombardment, requiring the gun crews to live in the caves that housed their guns, like the infantry. Due to the relative difficulty involved in moving such a massive weapon system, their locations usually remained fixed during battles.

Photo Gallery

File:Type98 320mm mortar IJA.jpg, Japanese Type 98 mortar base-plate and 320 mm mortar shell (minus warhead) captured during the

. File:Type 98 320 mm mortar projectile.png, A complete 320 mm mortar shell captured during the Battle of Iwo Jima.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Spigot mortars World War II field artillery 9 320 mm artillery Military equipment introduced in the 1930s