Type 89 grenade discharger

Type 89 grenade discharger
Type 89 grenade discharger with various grenades, shells, and accessories
Type	Light mortar
Place of origin	Empire of Japan
Service history
In service	1929–1945 by Japan, indeterminate postwar usage by various forces.
Used by	See Users
Wars	Soviet–Japanese border conflicts Second Sino-Japanese War World War II Indonesian National Revolution Malayan Emergency Korean War First Indochina War Vietnam War
Production history
Manufacturer	Nagoya, Kokura, Osaka Army Arsenals
Produced	1932-1945[1]
No. built	89,377[2]
Specifications
Mass	4.7 kg (10 lb 6 oz)
Length	610 mm (24 in)
Barrel length	254 mm (10 in)
Cartridge	793 g (1 lb 12 oz)
Caliber	50 mm (1.97 in)
Rate of fire	25 rpm
Effective firing range	(Type 89 shell): 120 m (131 yd)
Maximum firing range	(Type 89 shell): 670 m (732 yd)

The Type 89 grenade discharger (八九式重擲弾筒, Hachikyū-shiki jū-tekidantō), inaccurately and colloquially known as a knee mortar by Allied forces, is a Japanese grenade launcher or light mortar that was widely used in the Pacific Theater of World War II. It got the nickname the "knee mortar" because of an erroneous Allied belief that these launchers could be fired by propping its plate against the leg. However, anyone trying to fire it this way would receive a severe bruise (or sometimes a broken femur) from its hefty recoil.^[3]

The Imperial Japanese Army considered the Type 89 grenade launcher to be an effective weapon, often employed in two to four pieces as part of a typical rifle platoon. The primary target during engagements was the enemies automatic weapons such as emplaced medium machine guns. Like its predecessor, the Type 10 grenade launcher, the Type 89 grenade launcher was also used as a signal flare device.^[4]