, also known as the Taishō 14 machine gun, was a Japanese air-cooled

heavy machine gun A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require mounting onto a weapons platform to be operably stable or ...

. 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.

History

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

* : Chile bought several hundred Type 3 machine guns in

7×57mm Mauser The 7×57mm Mauser (designated as the 7 mm Mauser or 7×57mm by the SAAMI and 7 × 57 by the C.I.P.) is a first-generation smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It was developed by Paul Mauser of the Mauser company in ...

as ''Modelo 1920''. Barrels were manufactured in France by Hotchkiss but most of the weapon was made at the Koishikawa Arsenal. * : Purchased for Chang Tso-lin's Fengtian Army. Later used by the Collaborationist Chinese Army * * * : It was used by the

Korean People's Army The Korean People's Army (KPA; ) encompasses the combined military forces of North Korea and the armed wing of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). The KPA consists of five branches: the Korean People's Army Ground Force, Ground Force, the Ko ...

during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. *

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 The Manchukuo Imperial Army ( zh, s=滿洲國軍, p=Mǎnzhōuguó jūn) was the army of Manchukuo, a puppet state established by the Empire of Japan in Manchuria. Established in 1932, it was primarily involved in counterinsurgency operations agai ...

Notes

Bibliography

External links