Japanese equipment in WWII

[Skoshi Tiger]

Just wondering if anyone has heard or read any accounts of Japanese ground forces using a tripod mounted 13mm (Around .50cal) machine gun in action in the Pacific theatre?

Their navy did have a type 93 13.2mm MG and I have seen a photo of one mounted on an "Army Tripod" but would it have been something the troops would have taken into battle?

The reason I'm asking is my Dad is putting together his memoirs from his time on the Kokoda Track and he remembers coming under fire by a large caliber MG that was cutting down saplings around them. We were trying to identify what it could be. The Japanese forces include army and marine forces.

From my quick look they should be using the type 92 heavy or 99 light MG both 7.7mm and the type 96 in 6.5mm.

Another posibility would be a gun scavenged from a downed aircraft??? On occasion the Australian forces took advantage of what they could find.

Anyone know any good links to look at? Any input welcome!

Cheers!

[He111]

I've watched a few docos on the PNG campaign, don't remember any heavy machine guns mentioned. They did have belt fed MG fired while lying down.

probably more deadly in the jungle would have been mortars, heavy ones, which the Japanese did have from memory.

.

[Skoshi Tiger]

Well that's what I sort of figured. I've only seen reference to the 7.7mm MG's

As far as the Kokoda campaign went, as well as mortars the Japanese also had their demountable Model 92 and 94 70mm Mountain guns which they dismantled and humped (and used) all the way to Ioribaiwa ridge!

Compared to the Japanese the Australians were woefully ill-equiped on the Kokoda Track. It wasn't until the Japanese were insight of Port Moresby that they encountered the Aussie 25 Pounders that had been moved on to Imita.

The most firepower Australians had was their Bren guns (The Vickers deemed too heavy) and they also had issues with their own mortar rounds. Several air-dropped rounds exploded in the tubes because the safety stage of the fuses had been set off during their rough landings.

From that point on the diggers could only use rounds that had been carried in by hand.

Cheers!

[swiss]

MG that was cutting down saplings around them.

A 7.x CAN do that.
If you have bushes in front your trench you have all the reason to be afraid - not because ricochets could hit you but of the wood debris are potentially lethal.
Source: swiss army trials, result: never have any wood in front or above your position.
Our tank crews were actually trained to pick such targets as barricades, in case they suspect enemy troops behind them.

[Al Schlageter]

Wood splinters on the old sailing ships killed and maimed more sailors than the cannon balls.

[major_setback]

Wood splinters on the old sailing ships killed and maimed more sailors than the cannon balls.

Didn't Nelson lose an eye that way?

...or was it Napoleon's arm? :-)

...or Hitler's **** :-)

[KG26_Alpha]

Just wondering if anyone has heard or read any accounts of Japanese ground forces using a tripod mounted 13mm (Around .50cal) machine gun in action in the Pacific theatre?

Their navy did have a type 93 13.2mm MG and I have seen a photo of one mounted on an "Army Tripod" but would it have been something the troops would have taken into battle?

The reason I'm asking is my Dad is putting together his memoirs from his time on the Kokoda Track and he remembers coming under fire by a large caliber MG that was cutting down saplings around them. We were trying to identify what it could be. The Japanese forces include army and marine forces.

From my quick look they should be using the type 92 heavy or 99 light MG both 7.7mm and the type 96 in 6.5mm.

Another posibility would be a gun scavenged from a downed aircraft??? On occasion the Australian forces took advantage of what they could find.

Anyone know any good links to look at? Any input welcome!

Cheers!

Possibly captured weapon being used ?

[Skoshi Tiger]

Well that would be one of the possibilities Swiss. I am sure any gun firing at someone sounds a lot bigger!

The use of captured weapons would be a possibility. I don't think Australians had that sort of gun in that area.

A Japanese weapon in the .50cal class would be theType 93 MG but How could I find out if they were actually being used in that area.

http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNJAP_13mm-76_mg_pic.jpg



Image from the AWM,

http://cas.awm.gov.au/screen_img/059582

Caption-
DescriptionFINSCHHAFEN AREA, NEW GUINEA, 1943-10-28. GUNNERS OF THE 2/2ND AUSTRALIAN MACHINE GUN BATTALION POSE WITH A JAPANESE .5 HEAVY MACHINE GUN WHICH THEY CAPTURED. THEY ARE, LEFT TO RIGHT:- QX8775 PRIVATE A.M. JOHNSTON (1); NX59266 PRIVATE J.A. BEAMAN (2); NX52519 CORPORAL A. ROWLEY (3); NX24045 LANCE CORPORAL P. MILLER (4); NX34475 SERGEANT S.E. MURRAY (5).

[NZtyphoon]

I have a DVD of the Kokoda campaign so I'll see if I can find anything related to the Japanese using a heavy MG - my guess is that if it was possible to lug mountain guns through the jungle and up the extremely steep and muddy trails, lugging a heavy mg would be a possibility.

As others have mentioned there is the possibility of some improvisation at unit level, not forgetting that some types of JAAF aircraft (eg: Ki-43, Ki-48 ) were equipped with 12.7mm Type 1s (Ho 103), which were very similar to the .50 Browning, and were available on flexible, as well as fixed mountings.

[Viking]

Read a book about it years ago, might have been one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=the+kokoda+trail, and as far as I can remember one of the reasons the Japanese managed to push the Ausies in front of them while going uphill, in a single row, on a narrow trail, in mountainous jungle terrain, with supply lines getting longer and longer was the lack of heavy guns in the Ausie lines. The second reason is of course lack of coordination and planning.
viking

[WTE_Galway]

The Aussies also had the Owens but that isn't really a HMG.

The japanese did have the new lighter version of the Juki:

http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/japanese-heavy-machine-gun/japanese-heavy-machine-gun.jpg


Also don't forget the Japanese Mountain guns.


http://kokoda.commemoration.gov.au/jungle-warfare/japanese-artillery.php
The Australians along the Kokoda track did entirely without artillery except for a few days from 21 September 1942. When the Japanese were on Ioribaiwa Ridge, at the limit of their advance, two 25lb guns of 14th Field Regiment were dragged up to Owers' Corner from where they were able to fire on the enemy.

The Japanese experience of war in China in the 1930s had taught them that in remote road-less regions the only artillery they would have was what they carried with them. On first landing in Papua they had 17 artillery pieces. These were of three types; 75mm mountain guns, 70mm infantry guns and 37mm guns which could fire an anti-tank or an anti-personnel round. All three could be taken apart and carried by horse or man. When the Japanese advanced into the Owen Stanley Range the carrying of the guns and their ammunition had to be done by men alone. One fifth of their force was needed to shoulder the burden of the disassembled guns and several thousand rounds of ammunition.

Below ... 23 November 1942. Oivi. A captured Japanese 70mm howitzer and Juki medium machine gun.

http://kokoda.commemoration.gov.au/jungle-warfare/images/013644-740.jpg

[Skoshi Tiger]

Both fired and unfired rounds of the larger type 94 Howitzer (Mountain gun) were also found at Iorabawa Ridge (the furthest point of the Japanese advance)

http://cas.awm.gov.au/screen_img/069430


http://cas.awm.gov.au/screen_img/026832
[caption
An Australian soldier inspects Japanese artillery rounds abandoned at Ioribaiwa. These rounds had been carried the length of the track by Japanese soldiers.]

Notice the shorter round for the 92 gun standing in the forground

Considering the Type 94 weighed a total of 500kg, It was amazing that they managed to get it so far.

[Daniël]

Maybe this does help a little. http://gunsight.jp/b/ You can find Army and Navy aircraft weapons, both fixed and flexible. Also instruments and control panels of Japanese planes and gunsights of several countries.

[Skoshi Tiger]

Well I found the War Diaries from my dads Battalion on Australian War Memorial web site and found an interesting entry for the 29th August '42.

This date is fairly famous for the Battle of Isurava where the 39 Militia and 2/14 AIF Battalions made a stand against the Japanese and where Kingsbury won his VC. (The recent Aussie film Kokoda based on the 39th Milita covered events here.)

It's not very well know that at the same time accross the valley at Abuari the 53rd Militia and the 2/16th AIF Battalions were having a pitched battle with the second prong of the Japanese attack that was attempting to flank the Australians and cut off the track behind Isuarva (My Dads company was waiting in reserve at the junction of the two tracks at this point during the battle)

The last entry on the page (1245) mentions "at least two .5 HMGs dug in and well protected".

Hmmm! If it was missidentification I guess it was more widespread than just my dad. But this battle was the first time they had encountered the Japanese and their equipment.

http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/b423/Skoshi_Tiger/2_16diary29Aug1942.jpg

As an aside, just to get some indication of the conditions the battle was being fought in read the entry for 0900 hrs!


Crickey!


http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/b423/Skoshi_Tiger/Kokoda181.jpg
I took this photo in 2010 from Isurava looking accross the valley towards Abuari. We were going to do a side trip accross to Abuari but we were already a day behind our schedule and it was an eight hour walk. (supose it's a good excuse for a second trip! :) )