Japanese Army Handbook 1939–1945 by George Forty

Author:George Forty
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780750954136
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2013-09-01T16:00:00+00:00

Type 11

6.5mm

10.1kg

500rpm

30-round hopper taking five round clips

Type 96

6.5mm

9.07kg

550rpm

30-round box magazine

Type 3

6.5mm

28.1kg (with tripod 55.3kg)

400–500rpm

30-round metal strips

Type 92

7.7mm

as for Type 3

450–500rpm

as for Type 3

Type 99

7.7mm

10.4kg

850rpm

30-round box magazine

There were other machine-guns including another Type 92 7.7mm which had a round drum magazine and a 13mm Type 93 which was a copy of the French 13.2mm Mitrailleuse Hotchkiss, both of which were mainly used on AA mountings. The latter fired a useful little lethal projectile up to some 13,000ft, with a muzzle velocity of 2,250ft/sec.

Anti-tank Weapons

In addition to the two anti-tank guns covered in the next chapter and the anti-tank mines already mentioned, there are three other anti-tank weapons which must be covered.

(a) Type 97 20mm anti-tank rifle. This very heavy rifle weighed 51.75kg in action and even more in transit, so it needed a crew of 2 to 4 men just to carry it! Recoil was very heavy and penetration poor – just 2.95mm at about 250m, so it compared unfavourably even with the obsolescent British Boyes anti-tank rifle which only weighed a mere 16.56kg and could penetrate 21mm at 300m. It had a semi-automatic feed from a seven-round magazine, but firing it in this mode must have been suicidal!

(b) Anti-tank rifle grenades. There were two anti-tank grenades that could be fired from the same internally rifled launcher cup which would fit all IJA rifles: the Type 2 30mm and 40mm spin-stabilized grenades.

(c) ‘Lunge mine.’ This consisted of a hollow-charge head on the end of a 6ft 4in pole. The head had to be pushed against the side of the tank, so it was a highly dangerous weapon to use!

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