Chapter · 1:00:47-1:03:51

Japan's mortar-fired anti-aircraft mine ambush

Japan's anti-aircraft mine discharger used mortar rounds that released parachute-borne mines, making most sense as an ambush against a predictable low-level approach.

Notes

The mortar round climbed to roughly 600 meters before releasing seven parachute-borne mines that could explode on contact or after a timer. It was poorly suited to reacting instantly to a surprise raid. The weapon became more plausible when defenders could anticipate a low-level route through a valley or close to the ground, turning it into an ambush hazard. Because a standard 70 mm mortar could be adapted to fire it, the discharger also complicated an attacker's estimate of where air defences might appear. Its cluster effect offered a secondary ground-attack use. Modern automatic 120 mm mortars suggest a possible descendant for point or close-in counter-UAV defence rather than wide-area protection.