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Japanese weapons of WW2 |
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personal and section weapons
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Samurai Katanas. Many Japanese swords were brought to Australia during and after WWII. The majority of these swords were machine made military weapons made for use in the field and they were of little commercial value; a few were older or well-made hand forged swords of great value. A Samurai warrior had two sets of blades. Each was a sword and dagger combination. One set was ceremonial. The other set was what he carried into battle. The sword designed for military service use was called a Katana. In WWII most Officers carried Katanas that were factory mass produced and were really only cheap imitations of the originals. |
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Type 14 (Nambu) Pistol |
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The Type 14 carried the Nambu title
over from its predecessor, of 1909 vintage. The same 8 mm round was used
by both models, and while the Type 14 was more reliable neither weapon
was of much use in the field. As Japanese Officers preferred the Samurai
style sword, even those flying in aircraft or cramped in tanks, it
was probably of little import to the user. More
pistols
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The Arisaka was named after the Colonel who oversaw its adoption in 1897. The 38th Year designation referred to the uniquely Imperial Japanese practice of basing a calendar on the length of time a particular Emperor had ruled. When the original model was amended in 1905, the Emperor Meiji had been on the throne for thirty eight years. The Arisaka was a reliable and popular weapon in the East, its low recoil 6.5 mm round being appreciated for its ease of handling. It was, however, also its greatest weakness. The 6.5 mm round was known to be less effective than the 7.62 mm or higher rounds used elsewhere, especially by Japan's foes. A revised model, the Type 99 was produced in 1939. It fired the 7.7 mm round used in the Japanese heavy machine gun. It supplemented the earlier version in service, but production was too limited to replace it. Its statistics were roughly similar to the Type 38 given above. Both models came in a shortened carbine form, the Type 38 at around 87 cm in length and 3.3 kg in weight, while the Type 99 was 112 cm and 3.9 kg. Ammunition was carried in two pouches, each holding a half dozen five rounds clips for a total of sixty rounds for the average soldier. |
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Type
97 Hand Grenade
This was the standard grenade for the Japanese armed forces. Construction consisted of grooved iron casing. The top unscrewed to expose the firing mechanism and explosive charge.
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Papua, New Guinea. 1942-09-07. A Type-89 Japanese grenade thrower, or discharger, for two-inch grenades. As shown in the photograph it has to be held by the left hand and pressed firmly into the ground. Weighing about 12 pounds its range is marked up to 650 metres, and is aimed solely by personal judgment. |
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The Type 99, light machine gun, the final entry in the
series. It is identical in appearance to the Type 96, but fired the larger
7.7 mm round.
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Type 96 was preceded in service by the Type 11 which was responsible for a
great many of the problems in the Type 96.The Type 11 used the five round
rifle clip as the basis for its feed system. Six clips were placed on a
side mounted 'hopper' and fed into the chamber minus the metal strip. This
approach was supposed the make the weapon easier to maintain by its
attendant rifleman, but it caused no end of problems. Chief among these
was the need to oil each round against the effects of dust and dirt from
the exposed mechanism. In fact, the debris simply mixed with the oil to
create an even worse gunge. This flaw was only eliminated by using an even
less powerful 6.5 mm round, which negated the envisioned co-operation with
the rifleman who used the standard munitions.
The Type 96 appeared in 1936. It abandoned the hopper for a straightforward thirty round box magazine and introduced a barrel change. However, it retained the low powered 6.5 mm round and the oiling mechanism, but this latter device was at least improved upon. It overtook but never replaced the Type 11 in service. As with the Arisaka Bolt Action Rifles a revised version of the Type 96 appeared to fire the 7.7 mm round. The Type 99 needed no lubrication device and was statistically similar to the Type 96, though probably a little heavier. All these weapons could fit the standard infantry bayonet for 'close assault' use. |
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Type 92 and Type 99 Heavy machine gun.
This image is actually the later Type 99. The two were mostly similar, except for the grip which was a pistol version on the Type 92. The cooling fins were also more pronounced around the barrel. The Type 92 was a modified version of the Taisho 14, itself a version of the (French) Hotchkiss machine gun of World War One fame. The Type 92 was re-barrelled to accommodate the heavier 7.7 mm round and added a flash hider. It retained the unusual feed system, which substituted the more common belt for a metal strip. Each strip held thirty rounds and was fed independently into the gun. This must have reduced the rate of sustained fire possible, but as the gun had no facility to change an overheated barrel perhaps it was no great disadvantage. The tripod mount had a hole at the base of each leg. This was to enable poles to be fitted to allow the whole mass to be picked up and carried by three or four men without need for disassembly. |
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| Papua, New Guinea. 1942-09-07. A Japanese type 94, 37 millimetre anti-tank gun, captured at Milne Bay, which weighs approximately 800 pounds and fires armour-piercing and high-explosive shells. It is collapsible and can be quickly taken to pieces and was possibly intended for use as a mountain gun. |
