was a Japanese smoothbore, muzzle loaded weapon used during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. It first entered service in 1921. The Type 10 has a range of , greater than other
grenade
A grenade is a small explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a Shell (projectile), shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A mod ...
dischargers of that time. It had a range control device at the base of the barrel in the form of a graduated thimble by which a gas port at the base of the tube could be varied in size. For shorter ranges, part of the propellant gases escape to the side. Due to a translation error, the Type 10 was called the "knee mortar" by the Americans.
The manual for the mortar instructed the troops to carry the mortar on the upper thigh, with the base plate attached to the belt and the barrel running down the thigh. It was not strapped or secured directly to the thigh.
It was also carried strapped to the backpack. American troops on Guadalcanal became aware of the name "knee mortar" and thought the light design allowed it to be fired with the base plate resting on the thigh. If the Type 10 were fired in this manner, it would result in serious injury due to recoil.
However, once a few troops injured themselves, the mistranslation was discovered and further experimentation discouraged.
World War II era US intelligence thought that the weapon was primarily used to discharge signal flares, the larger and heavier
Type 89 grenade discharger
The , inaccurately and colloquially known as a knee mortar by Allied forces, is a Japanese grenade launcher or light mortar that was widely used in the Pacific Theater of World War II. It got the nickname the "knee mortar" because of an errone ...
being used to fire explosive rounds instead. This assessment was largely correct, although the Type 10 grenade discharger could fire and was issued with the Type 10 high-explosive shell.
[Ness, Leland. Rikugun: Volume 2 - Weapons of the Imperial Japanese Army & Navy Ground Forces (p. 29).]
Ammunition
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Type 91 grenade
The was an improved version of the Type 10 fragmentation hand grenade/rifle grenade of the Imperial Japanese Army. Although superseded as a hand-thrown weapon by the Type 97 by the start of World War II it was still used by units in the Second ...
* Type 11 smoke shell
* Type 10 HE (high explosive) shell
* Type 10 flare shell
* Type 10 signal shell
* Type 91 pyrotechnic grenade
* Type 10 blank
File:Japanese Type 91 50 mm grenade.gif, A Type 91 grenade.
File:Japanese Type 10 grenade discharger.gif, A Type 10 grenade discharger
See also
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Grenade launcher
A grenade launcher is a weapon that fires a specially designed, large caliber projectile, often with an explosive, Smoke screen, smoke, or tear gas, gas warhead. Today, the term generally refers to a class of dedicated firearms firing unitary gre ...
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Two-inch mortar
The Ordnance SBML two-inch mortar, or more commonly, just "two-inch mortar", was a British mortar issued to the British Army and the Commonwealth armies, that saw use during the Second World War and later.
It was more portable than larger mort ...
Notes
References
Taki (Type 10)Taki's Japanese Imperial Army website
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{{Japanese WWII infantry weapons
10
10
Grenade launchers of Manchukuo
Military equipment introduced in the 1920s