service_retirement type 96 15 cm howitzer
The was a heavy howitzer used by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino - Japanese War and World War II . The Type 4 designation was given to this gun as it was accepted in the 4th year of Emperor Taish ' s reign ( ___MASK79___ ). The as part of the Supreme War Council was established in ___MASK36___ to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime . In terms of function , it was approximately equivalent to the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff and the British Chiefs of Staff Committee . Hiroshima is perhaps best known as the first city in history to be targeted by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces ( USAAF ) dropped an atomic bomb on the city ( and later on Nagasaki ) at 8 : 15 a . m . on August 6 , ___MASK40___ , near the end of World War II . World War II ( often abbreviated to WWII or WW2 ), also known as the Second World War , was a global war that lasted from ___MASK24___ to ___MASK40___ , although related conflicts began earlier . It involved the vast majority of the world ' s nations  including all of the great powers  eventually forming two opposing military alliances : the Allies and the Axis . It was the most widespread war in history , and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries . In a state of " total war ", the major participants threw their entire economic , industrial , and scientific capabilities behind the war effort , erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources . Marked by mass deaths of civilians , including the Holocaust ( in which approximately 11 million people were killed ) and the strategic bombing of industrial and population centres ( in which approximately one million were killed , and which included the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ), it resulted in an estimated 50 million to 85 million fatalities . These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history . The United States dropped nuclear weapons on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9 , ___MASK40___ , respectively , during the final stage of World War II . The United States had dropped the bombs with the consent of the United Kingdom as outlined in the Quebec Agreement . The two bombings , which killed at least 129 , 000 people , remain the only use of nuclear weapons for warfare in history . The Second Sino - Japanese War ( September 18 , ___MASK56___  September 9 , ___MASK40___ ) was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan from ___MASK56___ to ___MASK40___ . The First Sino - Japanese War happened in 1894  95 . In January 2017 , the Chinese Government extended their official definition of the Second Sino - Japanese War back to September 18 , ___MASK56___  the Invasion of Manchuria by Japan  as opposed to the traditional 1937 start date , defined by the Marco Polo Bridge Incident . China fought Japan , with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States . After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 , the war would merge into the greater conflict of World War II as a major front of what is broadly known as the Pacific War . One could call the Second Sino - Japanese War part of World War II , but the latter conflict is still mainly considered to have started in 1939 when France and the British Empire declared war on Nazi Germany following the invasion of Poland . The Second Sino - Japanese War was the largest Asian war in the 20th century . It accounted for the majority of civilian and military casualties in the Pacific War , with anywhere between 10 and 25 million Chinese civilians and over 4 million Chinese and Japanese military personnel dying from war - related violence , famine , and other causes . The , literally " Army of the Greater Japanese Empire ", was the official ground - based armed force of the Empire of Japan , from 1871 to ___MASK40___ . It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of War , both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor of Japan as supreme commander of the army and the navy . Later an Inspectorate General of Military ( Army ) Aviation became the third agency with oversight of the army . During wartime or national emergencies , the nominal command functions of the emperor would be centralized in an Imperial General Headquarters ( IGHQ ), an ad - hoc body consisting of the chief and vice chief of the Army General Staff , the minister of war , the chief and vice chief of the Naval General Staff , the inspector general of military aviation , and the inspector general of military training . The was the historical Japanese nation - state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the enactment of the ___MASK37___ constitution of modern Japan . The Emperor ' s personal name was . According to Japanese custom , during the reign the emperor is called " the ( present ) Emperor ". After death he is known by a posthumous name that , according to a practice dating to ___MASK62___ , is the name of the era coinciding with his reign . Having ruled during the Taish period , he is posthumously known as " The Taish Emperor " or simply " Emperor Taish ". The Emperor of Japan is the head of the Imperial Family and is the ceremonial head of state of Japan ' s system of constitutional monarchy . According to the ___MASK37___ constitution , he is " the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people ." Historically , he is also the highest authority of the Shinto religion as he and his family are said to be the direct descendants of the sun - goddess Amaterasu , and his importance also lies in dealing with heavenly affairs , including Shinto ritual and rites throughout the nation . The Type 96 15 cm howitzer (  Kyroku - shiki Jygo - senchi Rydanh ) was a 149 . 1 mm calibre howitzer used by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II . It was intended to replace the Type 4 15 cm howitzer in front line combat units from ___MASK45___ , although it fired the same ammunition . The Type 96 designation was given to this gun as it was accepted in the year 2596 of the Japanese calendar ( 1936 ) .