Japanese use of Anti Air Guns for AT purposes

IMG_7861

Say hello to the Type 88 75mm Anti Air Gun
You’ll also be familiar with this gun if you have the Ki-109 in War Thunder. It’s the same gun.


This was the M4A2 “Charlie” which was knocked out cold by the Japanese utilising the Anti Air Type 88 75mm in an anti tank role purpose.

IMG_7862
This is the M4A2 “Commando” which was also knocked out by the very same Type 88 75mm Anti Air Gun. The Japanese also made sure to follow up with other anti tank guns to make sure the job was done.

Both of these American Sherman losses occurred during the Battle of Tarawa (20-23rd November 1943) which was also the very first time that the Americans deployed the M4 Sherman against the Japanese. From December 1941-November 1943, not a single Sherman was deployed yet and the Marines had to rely on the M3 Stuarts.

:::

Type 88 75mm AA gun is actually compatible to shoot the same Armour Piercing rounds as the Type 90 75mm Field Gun or tanks such as the Chi-Nu and Chi-To.

However… whereas the Type 90 75mm gun would shoot the Type 95 APHE and Type 1 APHE at 668m/s…. The Type 88 75mm AA gun could shoot these rounds at 720m/s, making it more deadly anti tank gun than their actual field gun.

Type 88 75mm AA Gun
Type 95 APHE
Penetration:
98mm @ 0m at 0 ° — 720m/s
61mm @ 0m at 55 °
59mm @ 0m at 56 °
51mm @ 0m at 60 °

83mm @ 475m at 0 ° — 639m/s
51mm @ 475m at 56 °

Basically… Type 88 75mm using the weakest Type 95 APHE shell had the capability of defeating Sherman frontal armour up to 475 meters, at least the version with 50.8mm at 56 ° hull armour. The M4A2’s had 63.5mm at 47 ° hull armour.

When the Type 88 75mm used the Type 1 APHE, then it would be able to defeat 50.8mm at 56 ° hull armour of the Sherman up to 700 meters

If the Type 88 75mm AA gun was to use the Tungsten-Nickel-Chromium Tokko Kou AP shell;
Penetration:
131mm @ 0m at 0 ° — 737m/s
66mm @ 0m at 56 °
57mm @ 0m at 60 °

This shell would be able to penetrate the 50.8mm at 56 ° hull armour of an M4 Sherman up to roughly 800-850 meters away.

1 Like