| The trigger fired Type
89 50 mm mortar. Contemporary American accounts described the
weapon as being fired with the base plate braced against the leg. That
was unlikely.
The Type 89 cannot properly be
described as a mortar, as in the truest sense it was nothing more than a
grenade launcher. However, the rounds it fired were not the same as
those thrown by the infantryman.
The Type 89 was widely used down to
Platoon level where an entire Squad served usually three such
dischargers. Its weight meant it was usually carried against one leg or
the other. This is credited as the reason why the Americans
mistranslated the term 'leg mortar' to mean 'knee mortar'. This was
taken to be a reference to the firing procedure, not the carrying
method. Trying to fire the discharger braced against the leg, or any
other limb, resulted in a broken bone from the fierce recoil generated.
The long range and lightweight of the
discharger, combined with its issue at practically the rate of one per
Rifle Squad made it a useful local support weapon.
|
