Japanese 75mm Mountain Gun / Regimental Gun Type 41 (1908)
Technical Information

Background
Designed by Krupp as the 8cm Kanone C/80 model 1908 field gun. Japan purchased rights for the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) Osaka Arsenal to manufacture a license-built copy designated the 75mm mountain gun Type 41 (1908). In August 1939, each gun cost 8,400 Yen to produce. After 1934, redesignated as the 75mm Regimental Gun Type 41 (1908). Two gun shields were produced for the weapon, an early type (FM38), that folded into thirds and extended beyond the wheels. The later type (FM39) folded in half at the center with a cut out window for sighting the gun.

This gun required a crew of thirteen men, twelve gunners and a squad leader. When the weapon was being fired there would be one aimer, one loader, one firer, one person to swing the guns aim left or right, a man inserting the fuzes into rounds and handing them to the loader, two gunners lying in reserve to the left and right of the gun position, and the squad leader sitting a little distance to the rear of the weapon. The remaining five men would ferry ammunition in relays from the ammunition squad, which would typically be in cover a few hundred meters behind the gun's position. The gun could be transported by the thirteen man crew or could be broken down into parts and carried on six pack horses using special harnesses, a seventh horse carried the ammunition in boxes.

Two types of impact fuze were available for the Type 97 75 mm High Explosive round, one with a delay of 0.05 seconds, the second with a delay of 1 second. U.S. Army testing of the weapon at a range of 3,200 yards resulted in 75 percent of the rounds falling in a rectangle 20 by 30 yards. At maximum range (7,800 yards) 75 percent of the rounds fell within a rectangle 10 yards wide and 200 yards long.

Wartime History
Used by the Imperial Japanese Army as a mountain gun. In the middle 1930s, superseded by the Type 94 75mm mountain gun. Afterwards, redesignated as the 75mm Regimental Gun Type 41 (1908) with four assigned to every Infantry Regiment, known as rentai ho (regimental artillery). This gun was used by the Japanese Army in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and during World War II in the Pacific (1941–1945).

Technical Details
Caliber  75mm (2.95")
Muzzle Velocity  435 m/s (1,427 ft/s)
Horizontal Range  7,022 metres (7,679 yd)
Total Weight  544 kilograms (1,200 lb)
Ammunition  HE, AP, Shrapnel, Hollow Charge, Incendiary, Smoke, Illumination, Gas