RUSSIAN DEGTYAROV DP26 LIGHT MACHINE GUN in modification to accept the Japanese Type 11 Light Machine Gun, ammunition hopper feed system replacing the pan magazine. Accounts of the system function indicated some hazards thusly failure to adopt.
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JAPANESE IMPERIAL MARINES take barricade during their
street fighting and progression in Shanghai, China action, 1938. The marine
on the far right is armed with a Model M.P.28,II machine pistol utilizing a
32 round capacity magazine. The Japanese imported test samples of these
European weapons in the 1930’s for consideration of troop issuance and which
their navy adopted for the Special Forces.
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M.P. 34/I BERGMANN Machine Pistol in disassembled
view. The system has a floating firing pin feature that was also
designed into the Italian Beretta MP 1938A machine pistol. The weapon’s
main spring encompasses the rear portion of the firing pin that is
compressed between a collar and an end tube integrated with the bolt
retracting assembly.
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ITALIAN OFFICERS of Fabbrica Armi Regio Esercito [Royal Army Arms
Factory] of Terni and Sezione Fabbrica Armi Regio Esercito [Section
of the Royal Army Arms Factory] of Gardone Valtrompia, Italy entertain
Japanese military personnel poising for photos during the production of Type
"i" rifles through the 1938/39 contract period. The contract emanated from
agreements of the 1936 Anti Comintern Pact between the two countries and
Germany
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IMPERIAL
JAPANESE NAVY Special Landing Force personnel patrol Shanghai perimeter
gates in early 1932. The guard on the right is equipped with a Swiss
Model 1920 Brevet Bergman Machine Pistol. The Japanese later modified
them by adding a jacket collar for bayonet attachment.
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JAPANESE Special Naval Landing Forces cross the
Long River in Central China in fall of 1938. The soldier at near left is
shouldering a Type 11 Light Machine Gun. The soldier at right is
carrying a Bergmann Type BE Machine Pistol. The Navy purchased a small
amount of the European produced machine pistols in the early 1920’s for
combat testing purposes.
The top weapon is a
Japanese Type 92 heavy machine gun. The gun on the far left is a .303
caliber British Bren gun. The 4 center guns are Japanese Type 96 light
machine guns. [Note the barrel muzzle cover on the weapon second from
the left]. The weapon on the far right is a Madsen light machine gun.
NOTE: The
Browning and Thompson automatic weapons. The Thompson is a model 1921AC
originally purchased for the U.S. Post Office useage. The Chinese
Nationalist community considered the Thompson an excellent tool suited
for their urban street activities. Eventually the Chinese would
manufacture their own copies of the gun when U.S. and Great Britain
supplies were unavailable.
Bottom weapon is of
Chinese manufacture. In 1939, the Japanese’s first direct purchase was
for 2150 of the Czech weapons in 7.92mm for use in their war against the
Chinese. The Chinese had already been producing the weapon under license
for 10 years before in various arsenals and private industrial firms in
China and Manchuria.
Plan view of the main headquarters and manufacturing plants located at
15 Aza Funakata Chitose, Minami-ku, Nagoya. The machine gun
manufacturing plant is located at center right. Most were destroyed by
1945 bombing raids.
The machine gun is a Japanese manufactured Type 11 light machine gun.
NOTE insulated glove on the barrel for gun handling and box of spare
cartridge hopper magazines located just below the gun position.
The Japanese purchased commercial class F weapons from the British and
were used extensively on all types of surface vessels along with Type 92
Lewis guns where small caliber, [7.7 mm] arms were needed. Some were
used in Aichi aircraft under the control of the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal.
The guns were recorded as Vickers Type 92F machine guns.
This weapons system although considered by the French as their main
machine cannon in a large caliber, was not put into mass production
before the World War II German occupation. In 1927 the Japanese started
negotiations with the Hotchkiss firm to produce the weapons. With
approval of the French Government the Japanese would license and
manufacture the system in their configurations as the Type 93 Automatic
Cannon.
The first flag, [front] was raised at Mount Suribachi on 23 February
1945. It was replaced by a larger flag, originally from Pearl Harbor,
around noon of that day to provide greater visibility for all to see.
The raising of the second flag prompted the more popular Joe Rosenthal
photograph.
The Type 92 [Lewis] machine gun mounted on the cab of vehicle is
supported by a portable Hotchkiss style tripod. Note the absence of the
cartridge drum magazine.
A copy of the Army’s Type 98 it was adopted in 1940 for use as a fixed
and flexible weapon in various aircraft as the Nakajima C6N series
reconnaissance aircraft and Mitsubishi Ki –21 bomber series. Yokosuka
Naval Arsenal produced over 4000 through 1944. NOTE the forward pistol
grip, which is a common feature the Type 1.
This commercial model serial number A50961was used on a Japanese Navy
aircraft. The Yokosuka Naval Arsenal had basic control responsibility
for receiving, inspection and assignment of the guns.
They added their own inscription data for necessary identity. The
Japanese would eventually manufacture the weapons under license
agreement in 1931.
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A VERY RARE OCCASION
A Japanese soldier surrenders his Type 11 Light Machine Gun to U.S.
Marine Ordnance men attached to the Sixth Marine Division after the
Japanese surrender at Tsingtao, Shantung Province in Northern China on 6
October 1945.
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SUKA KAIGUN KOSHO, [Navy
Arsenal].
Manufactured this Vickers class E system fixed machine gun serial number
2167. Produced in 1939 in 7.7mm, the Arsenal’s logo appears as an anchor
on top of the receiver.
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Type 11 Nambu Light Machine Gun.
“The only advantage the hopper oiled arrangement gave was a vast amount
of metal in front of the gunner while he sighted the weapon. I know of
one case where a Japanese gunner…..was fighting a fifty yard head on
dual…..an inspection later showed that [he] would have [died] very early
in that ten minute affair if he had not had that heavy bullet deflecting
hopper and oil reservoir in front of him.” J.G.-SFIA
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TYPE 91 Tank Machine Gun fitted with a telescopic sight and bipod for
double duty as an infantry weapon.
Patterned after the Type 11 Light Machine Gun, this weapon was adopted
for tank and armored vehicle usage in 1931. Manufactured in 6.5mm it
fired full automatic only while cartridges were fed from a hopper
system, foreground, containing 5 round cartridge clips. The forward
telescope bracket is attached to the vehicle port mount.
It emanated from the Type II Model C [third style] weapon produced by K.
Nambu’s firm Nambu-Ju Seizosho K.K. A second style would appear in 1944
and adopted as Type 100/2. Although the army jealously guarded their
production, the navy’s marines had them in limited numbers during island
invasions. Less than 9000 total were produced.
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TYPE 92 Lewis Machine Gun ,
with a ball mount for duty in aircraft as the attack plane Mitsubishi KI
21, and Kawanishi H8K flying boat.
The barrel is an original, matched to the weapon serial number 7958
produced by the Aichi firm in 1943.
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TYPE 96 LIGHT MACHINE GUN as a standard in
caliber 6.5mm manufactured by two army arsenals and one civilian
contractor through August 1940.
TOP PHOTO shows the weapon in a canvas cover for early experiments in
paratroop operations. With some changes it would eventually be adopted
as the universal cover.
A direct copy of the German MG 15 produced by Rheinmetall-Borsig A.G. of
Derendorf, Germany in the 1930’s for the German Air Force. The Japanese
obtained a license agreement in 1937, officially adopted it in 1938 and
started production in 1940. Cartridges are fed from a 75 round ‘saddle
drum’ magazine.
This weapon was an adopted standard for the Japanese Navy in flexible
style. This photo shows the early pattern with the drum cartridge
magazine; later patterns featured a belt feed system. Long range bombers
as the Mitsubishi G4M3 utilized this flexible pattern mounted in dorsal
and tail turrets.
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TYPE II MODEL A, machine
pistol in 8mm pistol cartridge with patent issued to Kijiro Nambu in
1935.
Rejected for adoption by the Army it had limited use by the Imperial
Naval Marines during the Sino-Japanese War and the Shanghai invasion.
Note the 50 round cartridge magazine extending from the pistol grip. A
unique feature, which would not resurface in sub machine gun design for
nearly fifteen years in Czechoslovakia and Israel patterns.
JAPANESE TYPE 93 machine gun in caliber 13.2 mm shown on an emplacement
on Saipan.
The weapon mounted on a naval pedestal mount served as a dual-purpose
installation for anti-aircraft or ground action. The Japanese produced
this licensed copy series from the French Hotchkiss firm.
This 25 mm assemblage shown on the triple mount, one of several
configurations, was developed from the Hotchkiss system, licensed from
the French firm and adopted in 1936. Imported for the Imperial Japanese
Navy as early as1933, and with eventual homeland production, they were
used extensively throughout World War II for both surface vessel and
land installations. Over 32,300 were produced by war’s end in 1945. The
Hotchkiss weapon systems would be unique in some ten separate designs
adopted by the Japanese military.
Type 97, Vickers system belt feed, fixed pattern, with a metal loop
stock and wire sear release. A solenoid used in the original trigger
assembly is visible on top of the receiver above the cartridge feed
slot.
At times and according to dictates of conditions, aircraft weapons were
converted for ground defense usage. Most conversion materials were
secured from provisions at hand in the field as seen in the simplistic
tripod shown with this specimen.
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