Type 3 heavy machine gun

{{Infobox weapon

| is_ranged = yes|

| image = 300px|

| caption = Type 3 (Taishō 14) heavy machine gun. Musée de l'Armée, Paris

| name = Type 3 machine gun

| type = Heavy machine gun

| origin = Empire of Japan

| era =

| designer = Kijiro Nambu

| design_date = 1914

| prod_design_date =

| serv_design_date =

| service = 1914–1945

| used_by = See Users

| wars = World War I
Warlord Era
Second Sino-Japanese War
Soviet–Japanese border conflicts
World War II
First Indochina War
Korean War
Vietnam War

| spec_type =

| caliber =

| part_length = {{convert|737|mm|ftin|0|abbr=on}}

| cartridge = 6.5x50mm Arisaka
7×57mm Mauser

| feed = 30 round Hotchkiss-style feed strip

| action =

| rate = 400–450 rounds per minute

| velocity = 740 m/s (2,400 ft/s)

| weight = {{convert|55|kg|lboz|abbr=on}}

| length = {{convert|119.8|cm|ftin|abbr=on}}

| production_date = 1914–1932

| variants = Modelo 1920

| number =

| max_range = {{convert|4|km|mi|abbr=on}}

}}

{{nihongo|The Type 3 heavy machine gun|三年式重機関銃|San-nen-shiki juu-kikanjuu}}, also known as the Taishō 14 machine gun,[https://books.google.com/books?id=d9AftMZgOOkC&pg=PA478&lpg=PA478 Illustrated Directory of 20th Century Guns David Miller p.478] was a Japanese air-cooled heavy machine gun. The Type 3 heavy machine gun was in a long-line of Japanese Hotchkiss machine gun variants that the Imperial Japanese Army would utilize from 1901 to 1945.{{cite web | url=https://takihomepage.web.fc2.com/mg.htm | title=MG |work=Taki's Japanese Imperial Army website }}

History

File:Type3hmg.jpg

Starting in 1901, Japan began importing Hotchkiss MLE 1897 heavy machine guns that were compatible with belt fed 6.5mm Arisaka cartridges. Japan eventually bought a license for domestic production, with the type seeing notable service during the Russo-Japanese War.

Japanese gun designer Kijirō Nambu would later modify the domestic Hotchkiss MLE 1897 heavy machine gun to better meet Japanese requirements, to include lessons learned following the conclusion of the Russo-Japanese War. This effort would result in the adoption of the domestic Type 38 heavy machine gun in 1907. The Type 38 heavy machine gun would first see action in Qingdao, China during World War I. The Type 38 heavy machine gun was still in service at the time of the 1937 Marco Polo Bridge Incident.

Kijirō Nambu would further modify the Type 38 heavy machine gun in 1909, focusing on improving dissipation and durability. This would result in the Type 3 heavy machine gun, entering service in 1914 and first seeing action in the 1919 Japanese intervention in Siberia. During the 1930s the Type 3 heavy machine gun would see wide-scale use in Manchuria and China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Type 3 tripod could be used as an anti-aircraft mounting, and special anti-aircraft sights were provided.

Users

{{flag|Chile}}: Chile bought several hundred Type 3 machine guns in 7×57mm Mauser as Modelo 1920. Barrels were manufactured in France by Hotchkiss but most of the weapon was made at the Koishikawa Arsenal arsenal.{{cite magazine|first= Jean-François|last= Legendre|title=Feed Strips for Japanese MGs|url=http://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=1175|journal=Small Arms Review|volume=12|number=10|date= July 2009}}
{{flagcountry|Republic of China (1912-1949)|1912}}: Purchased for Chang Tso-lin's Fengtian Army.Chinese Warlord Armies 1911-30 by Philip Jowett, page 22. Later used by the Collaborationist Chinese Army{{sfn|Jowett|2004|p=86}}
{{flag|Empire of Japan}}{{Cite web | url=http://modernfirearms.net/machine/jap/type-03-type-92-e.html | title=Type 3 Type 92 Heavy Machine Guns - Japan| date=2010-10-27}}
{{flag|Manchukuo}}{{cite book|last=Jowett|first=Philip S.|title=Rays of the rising sun : armed forces of Japan's Asian allies, 1931-45|publisher=Helion|year=2004|isbn=9781906033781|volume=1, China & Manchukuo|page=15}}
{{flag|North Korea}}: It was used by the Korean People's Army during the Korean War.{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ZNxDwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA535|title=The Encyclopedia of the Korean War: A Political, Social, and Military History|edition=2nd|editor-first1=Spencer C.|editor-last1=Tucker|editor-first2=Paul G. Jr.|editor-last2=Pierpaoli|page=535|volume=1. A-L|chapter=Machine guns|isbn=978-1-85109-849-1|publisher=ABC-CLIO|url=https://www.abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOCorporate/product.aspx?pc=A1645C|first=Jeff|last=Kinard|year=2010|access-date=2018-11-15|archive-date=2018-11-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116043249/https://www.abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOCorporate/product.aspx?pc=A1645C|url-status=dead}}
{{flag|North Vietnam}}{{Cite web|title=Vũ khí Việt Nam trong hai cuộc kháng chiến.|url=https://www.quansuvn.net/index.php/topic,41.170.html|access-date=2020-07-12|website=www.quansuvn.net}}

Gallery

Japanese Type 92 Heavy Machine Gun (9885155276).jpg|A Type 3 and Type 92 next to each other at a Beijing museum, showing the similarity

Chilean Type 3 (M1920) machine gun.jpg|A 7-mm export gun in a Chilean museum

Chilean contract Type 3 (M1920) machine gun.jpg|Ditto

Military exercise of Manchukuo Imperial Army.JPG|In service with the Manchukuo Imperial Army

Notes

Bibliography

{{cite book|last=McNab|first=Chris|title=Twentieth-century Small Arms|publisher=Grange Books|year=2004|page=186|isbn=1-84013-381-3}}

External links

[https://takihomepage.web.fc2.com/mg.htm#1H Japanese machineguns of WW2]
[http://www.lonesentry.com/ordnance/6-5mm-heavy-machine-gun-model3-1914.html Catalog of Enemy Ordnance] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110401174351/http://www.lonesentry.com/ordnance/6-5mm-heavy-machine-gun-model3-1914.html |date=2011-04-01 }}

Category:Heavy machine guns

Category:Machine guns of Japan

Category:World War I machine guns

Category:World War I Japanese infantry weapons

Category:World War II infantry weapons of Japan

Category:World War II machine guns

Category:Machine guns of Manchukuo

Category:Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1914