[Would you like to see this in-game?]
- Yes
- No
0 voters
TL;DR: A Type 94 truck with a 75mm Type 41 gun on the back. That’s it.
History:
Getting cannons from point A to point B in a timely manner is important when fighting a war. The end of WW1 made it clear that the use of horses to transport artillery was quickly becoming outdated as motorizing them showed more and more potential. This would eventually lead to the advent of motorized artillery of which two distinct types emerged. Towed artillery and self-propelled artillery. Towed artillery was cheaper and could be performed by just about any relatively capable truck or tractor, however, artillery transported in this way required lengthy setup times, which could cost lives in an ambush. Self-propelled, on the other hand, generally greatly reduced or even eliminated setup time with the caveat of generally being more expensive as specially designed vehicles were usually required. Shortly after the start of WW2, a strange hybrid of these two types began to emerge known as Portée, which effectively turned towed pieces into self-propelled ones by simply putting them on the beds of robust trucks. The British are the most famous user of this technique, however, several other countries did similar things, one of them being Japan. In the 1930s, the Kwantung Army Auto Corps conducted an experiment that involved a 75mm Type 41 mountain gun being mounted on the bed of a Type 94 truck. The gun would be pointed off the back of the truck with the recoil stabilizer being sat on top of a few sandbags, which were intended to absorb recoil. Comparative firing tests against a grounded Type 41 would be carried out soon after. These trials revealed that the hit rate of the Type 41 was not negatively impacted when fired from the truck. The truck also did not suffer any structural damage, however, the recoil did still roll the truck forward. As such, it was recommended that the driver keep their foot on the brake when firing. These results were satisfactory, however, the history of Japanese portée vehicles is murky beyond these tests.
Place In War Thunder:
Now, before you say anything, yes. This vehicle would be pretty bad if introduced into the game, however, it won’t be nearly as bad as you might think. Firstly, the Type 94 is decently mobile, even when not on paved roads. Secondly, the Type 94 has a decent reverse speed of 17~kph. Thirdly, since the Type 41 is a mountain gun meant to be used on uneven terrain, it has a respectable -8 degrees of gun depression, which, combined with how the cannon is placed, can easily allow you to camp ridgelines. Staying out of sight is your best bet when it comes to this vehicle and only praying will be able to save you from an aircraft or artillery. Luckily, you do have a rather large crew count, upping your survivability by that little bit. Placement for this vehicle would obviously see it at 1.0 as, while it does have its strong suits, it is still incredibly vulnerable and situational. Despite that, it could still work in the tech tree as a funny meme vehicle.
Specifications:
Armament: 75mm Type 41 Mountain Gun
Dimensions: 5.40m 1.90m 2.70m (L,W,H)
Weight: 5344kg
Armor: None
Crew: 6-7
Ammunition: HE, APHE, HEAT, Smoke, Shrapnel, Incendiary, and Liquid Incendiary
Speed: 60~kph
Horsepower: 68hp
Picture:
Side View:
Sources:
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/貨車山砲#概要
Type 41 75 mm mountain gun - Wikipedia
TM 9-1985-5; Type 2 7-cm (75-mm) Hollow-Charge Projectile
Japanese Field Artillery by Military Intelligence Divisions, War Department, Washington D.C.
The Imperial Japanese Tanks, Gun Tanks & Self-Propelled Guns (Pacific War №34) by Bunzo Furumine and Masao Fujita
