thedrifter
05-24-06, 10:11 AM
May 29, 2006
The lore of the Corps: Japanese weapons were accurate, deadly
By Charles A. Jones
Special to the Times
During World War II, Marines quickly learned that stereotypes about their Japanese opponents — poor eyesight, inaccurate marksmanship and poor weaponry — were false.
While Japanese weapons generally did not match the quality or scope of German or American weapons, most were accurate and deadly, especially when used by disciplined, brave, tenacious men accustomed to hardship.
The basic Japanese revolver was the Type 26, which was adopted in 1893. Most Japanese handguns were semiautomatic pistols, including the Nambu Model 1904 and smaller “Baby Nambu.”
A modified Model 1904, the Type 14, became the standard service pistol in 1925. Special Type 14s had enlarged trigger guards to facilitate shooting with gloves.
The awkward, crude Type 94 pistol was inherently dangerous; its sear is exposed along its left outer side, and pressing it — without touching the trigger — can fire the pistol.
The two principal Japanese rifles were Arisaka bolt-action rifles. The 6.5mm Type 38 was patterned after the famous German 1898 Mauser and adopted in 1906; the 7.7mm Type 99 was adopted in 1939. Though more crude, Type 99s were similar to Type 38s.
Despite field requests for weapons countering American semiautomatic Garands, Japan didn’t produce any semiautomatic rifles, though many countries focused on submachine gun development.
The Japanese also used several light and heavy machine guns. The guns used lubricated cartridges, which resulted in design complexity and malfunctions due to dirt clinging to cartridges.
The Nambu Types 11 and 96 light machine guns fired 6.5mm rounds.
Type 99s, Japan’s best machine guns, fired the more powerful 7.7mm cartridge.
John George, an Army Pacific war veteran and small-arms expert, evaluated American and Japanese weapons in his book, “Shots Fired in Anger.” He noted the disadvantage of Nambu light machine gun magazines, which extended upward. That configuration increased reliability since cartridges fed downward with gravity, but it also revealed gun location in low grass or bare ground.
George noted, “[W]e generally needed to see [the enemy] ... to kill him with the rifle and know that we got him. Not so with the Nambu gunners — all we had to do ... was to use the prominent reference point [magazine], shoot and watch it fall down as the [enemy’s] shoulder gave way behind it.”
While British BREN guns also fed from the top, he noted that some BREN gunners painted or camouflaged their magazines. “The Japanese I saw were not that smart,” George wrote.
Magazines aside, George feared the deadly Nambus, which “may well have killed more of us than all of the other [Japanese] guns put together. It was easy to shoot, easy to carry for a weapon of its great firepower, and it was hellish hard on the people being shot at.”
Charles A. Jones is a lawyer, writer and colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve who lives in Norfolk, Va.
Ellie
The lore of the Corps: Japanese weapons were accurate, deadly
By Charles A. Jones
Special to the Times
During World War II, Marines quickly learned that stereotypes about their Japanese opponents — poor eyesight, inaccurate marksmanship and poor weaponry — were false.
While Japanese weapons generally did not match the quality or scope of German or American weapons, most were accurate and deadly, especially when used by disciplined, brave, tenacious men accustomed to hardship.
The basic Japanese revolver was the Type 26, which was adopted in 1893. Most Japanese handguns were semiautomatic pistols, including the Nambu Model 1904 and smaller “Baby Nambu.”
A modified Model 1904, the Type 14, became the standard service pistol in 1925. Special Type 14s had enlarged trigger guards to facilitate shooting with gloves.
The awkward, crude Type 94 pistol was inherently dangerous; its sear is exposed along its left outer side, and pressing it — without touching the trigger — can fire the pistol.
The two principal Japanese rifles were Arisaka bolt-action rifles. The 6.5mm Type 38 was patterned after the famous German 1898 Mauser and adopted in 1906; the 7.7mm Type 99 was adopted in 1939. Though more crude, Type 99s were similar to Type 38s.
Despite field requests for weapons countering American semiautomatic Garands, Japan didn’t produce any semiautomatic rifles, though many countries focused on submachine gun development.
The Japanese also used several light and heavy machine guns. The guns used lubricated cartridges, which resulted in design complexity and malfunctions due to dirt clinging to cartridges.
The Nambu Types 11 and 96 light machine guns fired 6.5mm rounds.
Type 99s, Japan’s best machine guns, fired the more powerful 7.7mm cartridge.
John George, an Army Pacific war veteran and small-arms expert, evaluated American and Japanese weapons in his book, “Shots Fired in Anger.” He noted the disadvantage of Nambu light machine gun magazines, which extended upward. That configuration increased reliability since cartridges fed downward with gravity, but it also revealed gun location in low grass or bare ground.
George noted, “[W]e generally needed to see [the enemy] ... to kill him with the rifle and know that we got him. Not so with the Nambu gunners — all we had to do ... was to use the prominent reference point [magazine], shoot and watch it fall down as the [enemy’s] shoulder gave way behind it.”
While British BREN guns also fed from the top, he noted that some BREN gunners painted or camouflaged their magazines. “The Japanese I saw were not that smart,” George wrote.
Magazines aside, George feared the deadly Nambus, which “may well have killed more of us than all of the other [Japanese] guns put together. It was easy to shoot, easy to carry for a weapon of its great firepower, and it was hellish hard on the people being shot at.”
Charles A. Jones is a lawyer, writer and colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve who lives in Norfolk, Va.
Ellie