Landships II

Date: May 29, 2006

28 cm Howitzer

Roger Todd · Legend

Hello Jens, and welcome to the forum!

This gun has always interested me, and I've been planning to make it in 1/72 scale, though I've not yet started drawing the plans. I have found a number of images from the internet, as well as some data.

First, you might have a quick look at my article over on the main Landships site:

http://www.landships.freeservers.com/jap28cmhowitzer_info.htm

I have accumulated more information and images since it was written. There is some useful data here:

http://www3.plala.or.jp/takihome/28cm.htm

Second, if you'd like to email me at the following address, I have more images that may be useful:

rogertodd1 AT hotmail.com

As usual, eliminate the spaces and replace AT with @ (down with spammers!).

EDIT: One point I really need to ask Peter to correct for me is that, in the article, I wrote:

It is said by some that the Japanese bought one gun from Krupp, then copied it. This is probably apocryphal. However, they did have 220 of the weapons, and they almost certainly did not buy them all from Krupp, though it is equally possible that they may have built them under license.

Really, a bit of thought on my part should have dismissed the story that the Japanese copied the gun, as their industry wasn't in a position to manufacture heavy artillery until not long before the Great War. It still doesn't answer the question definitively as to whether they purchased all the guns from Krupp, or whether someone else built them as well.

Also, the barrel length appears to have been 10-cal, not 12 as I stated in the article.

-- Edited by Roger Todd at 13:27, 2006-05-29

28juni14 · Hero

Excellent work, Roger! If I may add, there is some irony to this weapon system, and it's eventual use with the Russians in 1916. The Japanese did their part in propping up the Russian war machine in late 1915. In addition to the thousands of rifles, and cold-weather clothing supplied, this heavy weapon also came into Russian service. You can find several pics from the period showing soldiers of the Central Powers examining captured/abandoned examples of these heavy howitzers. The positions are shown complete with ammunition crates stenciled in Japanese lettering.

Roger Todd · Legend

Ah, thanks very much for that information, 28juni14! That explains this photo, which has baffled me for a while now:

http://www.landships.freeservers.com/jpegs/new_artypics_04/GermantroopssalvagecapturedJapanesegun.jpg

It is exactly as you describe, down to the crate with stencilled Japanese lettering! It comes from the Waffen Arsenal Special Band 31 'Dicke Berta' by Axel Turra, which I got around a year ago, and the caption says that it was captured at Fortress Grodno. As I said, it's always puzzled me - until now, cheers!

As you say, what a supreme irony that the Russians were using them...