Design
The Type 94 75 mm mountain gun had a single piece gun barrel with sliding breechblock based on German Krupp designs and a long split-trail carriage with a hydro-pneumatic recoil mechanism based on French Schneider designs. The crew was partially protected by a gun shield made of 1/8-inch (3 mm) thick armor plate.
For so light a weapon, it embodies a remarkable number of modern construction features. It has a Schneider type, hydropneumatic independent recoil system, a Krupp type horizontal sliding-wedge breechblock, split trails with spade plates for stabilizers, pintle traverse, and an equalizing arrangement which gives it three-point suspension. Since it is trunnioned at the center of balance, it does not require equilibrators. It can be fired with trails closed or open.
The design was modular in construction, and the gun could be broken down into eleven modules within three to five minutes for transport by animals or men. The heaviest module weighed 210 pounds (95 kg), and the weapon was intended to be transported by six pack horses, or 18 men (although during the Bougainville campaign because of the tough terrain it was carried by 41 men doubtless because of the extremely-difficult terrain). The gun could be reassembled within ten minutes and disassembled in from 3 to 5 minutes. At night, after the parts are rubbed with luminous bark, the same operations can be performed, although 5 to 10 minutes longer are required.
It fires the same projectiles as other 75-mm pieces and has a cartridge case identical in length with that used in the Model 38. This case is longer than that used in the Model 41 mountain gun. This is necessary because the propelling charge used in Model 94 ammunition is less than that used in the ammunition for Model 38, and firing the latter ammunition from Model 94 would damage the gun. Lack of a howitzer trajectory and of varying charges increases the dead space for the Model 94 when it fires in mountainous terrain, and the counterrecoil is said to be so slow when the piece is fired at elevations above 30° that, rather than fire above that elevation, the battery displaces forward.
Read more about this topic: Type 94 75 Mm Mountain Gun
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