the Japanese type 96 and 99 light machine guns these are some of the lesser known and
lesser shown firearms in the movies but two of the best light machine guns of world war II Japanese
industry and design was often underestimated during the war and these light machine guns were
a perfect example of this combined only 90 000 of these weapons were made with their production
ending at or before war's end however on film there are a few examples of these weapons so
let's take a look at the type 96 and 99 and some of the movies they've been featured in
before japan developed the type 96 their first decent light machine gun was the type 11
a truly rare machine gun to find on film but it was used in conjunction
with the type 99 and 96 throughout the war the weapon stands out with its hopper design
which could use the standard clips used with Japanese rifles making ammo logistics easier
the type 11 came into active service in 1922 and some 29 000 were produced by
the time production stopped in 1941. this was the primary Japanese light machine gun
through the Manchurian incident and in the early stages of the second sino-japanese war
many of the faults of this weapon would be fixed with the type 96
the hopper though a novel idea was far too exposed to dust and dirt
causing the weapon to frequently jam the 11 also saw limited use mounted in early Japanese tanks
the type 96 went into production in 1936 to replace the type 11. the 96 continued to use
standard rifle ammunition at the time the 6.5 by 50 millimeter semi-rim Japanese cartridge a
smaller round for a machine gun generally speaking while their weapons are extremely serviceable and
well made they lag far behind our own in design durability and effectiveness there has typically
been a bias against Japanese weapons some people when looking at a type 96 or 99 might assume it's
a knock off of another famous world war II light machine gun used by the British the Bren gun
what the [ __ ] is that it's me don't you think you could pop something a little bit
more practical though mechanically the bran and the 96 99 have similar origins
both using design elements from the Czech zb the brand and Japanese light machine
guns have different mechanics with only minor similarities such as the long-stroke gas piston
unlike the Bren gun for which the British army purchased the license for
the Japanese ended up capturing many Czech ZBs while fighting Chinese forces
thirty thousand zb's were exported to china starting in 1927. the Chinese also purchased
Canadian-made Bren guns during the war the weapon featured in death and glory in Chengdu may intend
to represent a ZB but it's a post-war Bren conversion fitted with an ak-47 magazine
ultimately Japanese weapon designer kanjiro nambu only used certain elements of the ZB in his design
primarily all his machine guns originate from the french hotchkiss machine gun
a license that was legitimately purchased by the japanese
the closest thing to a direct copy of the czech zb is the type 97 machine gun
primarily used in japanese tanks
the 96 and 99 did benefit from the same layout as the Bren and ZB particularly with the magazine
position they share in common which allows the assistant gunner to quickly reload from the top
without the gunner having to angle or move the machine gun the barrels could also be quickly
changed and the weapon reloaded from either side the type 96 weighed 9 kilograms or 20 pounds
only slightly more than the bar and a bit less than the Bren gun
magazines held 30 rounds and the rate of fire was 550 rounds a minute it was a poor anti-aircraft
gun but great at squad support accurate at long range and deadly when used in ambush tactics
any closer those guys will be using bayonets
the effective firing range for the 96 was 800 meters or 870 yards
it was considered accurate and fairly reliable the 96 had some minor problems with stoppages due to
tolerance issues between the bolt and barrel an oiler on the magazine loader was meant to
help prevent feeding issues but this was found to be ineffective and done away with in the 99
the type 99 remained relatively unchanged when production started in 1939
with the biggest change being the ammunition upgraded to a 7.7 millimeter round
a noteworthy Japanese film featuring the type 96 is japan's longest day
featuring the machine gun this time being used against Japanese forces
following the true events of the kyujo incident which involved elements of the Japanese army
attempting to stop the broadcasting of the emperor's surrender the movie captures both
the wariness and fanaticism of japan post Hiroshima and Nagasaki's nuclear bombing
the 99 was more reliable and easier to manufacture than the 96. 53 000 would be produced low for an
American or European standard but an improvement over the 96. the effective firing range also
increased significantly and many Japanese light machine gunners used this weapon in a sniper roll
much similar to British Bren gunners the gun could mount a 2.5 telescopic sight
the larger rounds also worked better in the pacific punching through thick jungle foliage
ladies and gentlemen this is a rifle called a bamboo
it's used by Japanese snipers in the southwest pacific it has long range and great accuracy
one very unique feature of the 99 and 96 compared to any other multi-purpose or light machine gun
was that a bayonet could be mounted to it this was largely useless due to the weight and size of the
weapon unless you were very strong the Japanese however trained more significantly with bayonets
compared to other armies believing they aided in an aggressive and defensive mindset for a soldier
tactically light machine guns were essential to the Japanese army
the Japanese lacked submachine guns or automatic rifles particularly compared
to the American army though a few type 100 machine guns work their way into service
typically a Japanese rifle squad could only count on one light machine gun for 12 men
all who are operating bolt action rifles luckily at least for the Japanese soldiers Japanese heavy
and light machine guns tended to be built well to dissipate heat have slow rates of fire and very
quick reload methods meaning that machine gunners were almost always able to continuously fire
to get a point of view of facing and using these machine guns watch flags of our fathers
and letters from Iwo Jima they tell virtually the same story one from a Japanese and the other from
an American perspective showing the true horrors of both operating and facing Japanese machine guns
nick look out
one interesting appearance of the type 99 is in the thin man goes home which was actually made
during world war II with a trophy captured type 99 oddly with a suppressor the production of this
film is insightful to america's industrial power in that america is making entertaining murder
mystery movies with capture japanese weapons as props while japan struggles to arm its front-line
troops you were always the smart boy nick you know all the answers you caught the big fish you beat
me at everything a must watch as hbo's the pacific with an incredible attention to historic detail
covering battles from Guadalcanal in 1942 to iwo jima in the last year of the war
the most notable Japanese film featuring a type 99 must be oba the last samurai based on a true
story following a handful of survivors fighting a guerrilla war with dwindling supplies and broken
equipment in saipan these were some of the last japanese forces fighting the second world war
all right i'm johnny thanks for sticking it out to the end as always feel free to
expand on the subject in the comment section i was a bit limited on movie footage for this
one but i hope you found some new movies to watch and we'll see in the next video