OF TRIUMPHS AND TROPHIES
- The weapon being presented to the camera is the Japanese Type 98
machine gun, fitted with a 75 round double drum (also called a "saddle
drum") magazine. The 75 rounds of ammunition
evenly
distributed in each side of the spring-forced magazine with a central
feed "tower" where the ammunition is fed to the bolt. The weapon was
originally produced in Germany as the MG 15, with a 7.92mm round.
The Japanese acquired a license in
1937, and started producing them in 1940, using them with a flexible
mount as a defensive aerial MG. It was one of the few aerial guns used
by both the Army and the Navy. With the destruction of many Japanese
aircraft on the ground, or with them being grounded for lack of spare
parts,
there was rarely any shortage of fully automatic weapons to equip the
defending Japanese units. Due to the wide ranges of Japanese weapons of
different caliber, rim and rimless, with ammunition that was not interchangeable,
local shortages of ammunition often resulted. On Negros, though, there
seemed no shortage of either. |