I was browsing the internet and I found this photo:
the caption says these are German troops digging out a captured Japanese gun used by the Russians. The gun looks like the Japanese 28cm Howitzer but why would it be in Russian hands? Although Japan was allied it would be unlikely that they would sell weaponry to Russia. . .
That photo (from another source, the quality of yours is better) appears in my Landships article on the 28cm howitzer. I scanned mine from Axel Turra's book on the Dicke Berta. The caption in Turra reads:
Hessische Landsturmsoldaten bergen in der Festung Grodno ein erbeutetes japanisches 28-cm geschuetz.
That gun, however, wasn't only used by the Japanese - the Italians used a large number in their fortresses, and I believe they were bought from Krupp originally anyway. However, the caption in Turra says it was a captured Japanese gun, which is lent credence by the packing case with (presumably) Japanese characters on it. I don't recall ever reading that any Japanese 28-cm howitzers were captured in 1904-05, surely the only time before the Great War that the Russians would have had an opportunity to capture any, so it's a mystery to me as much as to you.
Interesting. The Grodno fortress was built in the 1880s on the site of a more ancient fortification and updated at the begining of WW1. It was taken by storm by the Germans on 29th August 1915 but not long after recaptured by the Russians in a surprise attack. The Russians evacuated it on 15th Sept 1915 but not before blowing up everything they could. The operation in the photo is therefore presumably that of salvage. Grodno is one of those "its Monday so we must belong to the Tsar" places having been Polish, Russian, German (occupied territory),Lithuanian, Polish, Russian (Soviet) and finally Belarus. How this gun got there is anyones guess. I'm a mite suspicious of the oh so handy packing case with the Japanese? lettering - could be a (propaganda) photographer's prop? Can't see why it would be around if the gun was originally captured by the Russians in 1904/5. Here are some more guns at Grodno (sorry for the small size).
Centurion wrote: Interesting. The Grodno fortress was built in the 1880s on the site of a more ancient fortification and updated at the begining of WW1. It was taken by storm by the Germans on 29th August 1915 but not long after recaptured by the Russians in a surprise attack. The Russians evacuated it on 15th Sept 1915 but not before blowing up everything they could. The operation in the photo is therefore presumably that of salvage. Grodno is one of those "its Monday so we must belong to the Tsar" places having been Polish, Russian, German (occupied territory),Lithuanian, Polish, Russian (Soviet) and finally Belarus. How this gun got there is anyones guess. I'm a mite suspicious of the oh so handy packing case with the Japanese? lettering - could be a (propaganda) photographer's prop? Can't see why it would be around if the gun was originally captured by the Russians in 1904/5. Here are some more guns at Grodno (sorry for the small size).
I agree with you, if the gun was captured about 10 years before WWI the crate wouldn't be around, unless the gun was bought recently, but that raises the issue of did Japan sell Russia arms, they weren't on the best of terms to put it mildly
as a propaganda prop I am not sure how that would work out for the Germans, although the crate was most likely placed for the photo in that location.
Does anyone know enough Japanese to be able to make out what is written on the crate? There are two characters at the right of the top line which are 2 (far right of top line) and 8 (third from right of top line) which may fit in with it being a 28cm howitzer. Unfortunately I only recognise Japanese characters for numerals 1 - 9.
P.S.: A quick check on the net reveals that the character between the 2 and the 8 is a 10. So perhaps 2 x 10 and 8 cm?
In an action at a place called Lone Tree Hill on Oct 17-20 1904 the Russians captured at least 14 Japanese artillery pieces so its always possible that this gun was one of these. The Russians did have a few tactical succeses at the begining of the war.
Japanese aid to Russia was considerable; and commenced shortly after Japan's entry in the conflict. Photo evidence reveals large numbers of Japanese field howitzer pieces fell into German hands as well as examples of the siege weapon pictured. By 1916 Russian troops were using Ariska rifles by the thousands.
This might be a red herring, but L & F Funcken say that after the retreat to the Yser, during which they lost most of their Krupp 75s, the Belgians were re-equipped with a number of guns including German pieces captured in France and "even some captured in China by the Japanese". Of course it might mean just a few field pieces and have nothing to do with anything, but I wonder if that fits in somewhere.
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