The Maschinengewehr 08: Workhorse of the German Military

(Author's Collection)

     In 1887, Hiram Maxim demonstrated his machine-gun to the Germans and suitably impressed after a long period of trials with the Maxim, a limited number were purchased by the Deutsches Heer in 1895 and the Kaiserliche Marine in 1896. In service, these weapons were designated as the Maschinengewehr 99 (MG 99). Minor updates were made to the MG 99 which resulted in the Maschinengewehr 01 which was officially put into service in limited numbers in 1901 as the MG 01. The Deutsches Heer was still not completely satisfied with the MG 01 and so further refinements were developed by both Spandau Aresnal and Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken (DWM), mainly to lighten the weapon in action. The distinctive sled mount for the machine-gun was much the same as with the early MG 99 except that the ability to affix travel wheels to the sled which was introduced with the MG 01 was removed in order to save weight. The new machine-gun, the MG 08, went into production at Spandau in 1908 and entered service with the Deutsches Heer the same year. The MG 08, in action, was by no means a lightweight weapon. The entire apparatus for the MG 08, called the Maschinengewehr-Gerät 08, included the machine-gun (with 4 liters of water in the cooling jacket), the sled mount (called the Schlitten 08), two extra barrels, and two extra toggle locks added up to 137 pounds not including the ammunition. The MG 08 itself made up 58 pounds of the total weight. The MG 08 was 46 inches long with a 28 inch long barrel. The MG 08 had a rate of fire of 300 to 350 rounds per minute and ammunition was fed into the gun in 250-round cloth belts. To increase the rate of fire, muzzle boosters were fitted to some MG 08 weapons (which appeared as a reverse conical addition on the end of the muzzle) which increased the rate of fire by some 45%. Such guns were designated as the MG 08 mit Rilckstorsverstärker S. The effective range of the MG 08 was 2,000 meters though it had a maximum range of 3,500 meters thanks to its 2,838 feet per second muzzle velocity (with booster). By August 1914, the Deutsches Heer had 4,114 MG 08s, 398 MG 01s, and 18 MG 99s in service.

     The photograph, however, does not come from World War One. Instead, it likely comes from the early 1930s and the main clue to this is the gas masks this machine-gun crew is wearing. The gas mask appears to be the Gasmaske 30, also known as the S-Maske or “Schutzmaske“, as evidenced by the rubberized canvas and the shape of the metal snout. The Gasmaske 30 was introduced in 1930 and would remain the primary gas mask until the introduction of the Gasmaske 38 in 1938. The loader, and probably the gunner, don't appear to have the filter in place. Had they, it would have been screwed into the snout. The mounting, however, isn't the Schlitten 08, and instead, it is the lighter Dreifuss 16 tripod which was introduced in 1916. We can also tell this is a training exercise as a blank firing adapter has been fitted to the barrel. Around the loader's chest and back are the drag straps used to haul the weapon around and near his foot is a shovel that was carried in order to quickly improve their position.

     As for the unit, this might be told on the Dreifuss 16 where what appears to be 2/J.R.9 is painted in white on the tripod. Thus, if accurate, the men would be from the 2nd. Bataillon, Jäger-Regiment 9. This unit can be traced back to August 1916 when it was formed in Galicia under the original unit name of Regiment Veith. It was originally under Infanterie-Regiment 199 (I.R.199) commanded by Major von Notz of the XX. Armee Korps. Jäger units were considered light infantry whose primary missions were skirmishing, reconnaissance, and sharpshooting. However, most of the of the Jäger-Regiments that existed in World War One were disbanded with the onset of the post-WW1 German military, the Reichswehr, which was limited to only 100,000 men. Still, the traditions of the Jäger-Regiments carried on into the infantry regiments created under the Reichswehr and by 1933, the usage of the term “Jäger“ would again reappear as Germany expanded the military. That said, the men could be from a different unit all together only that their equipment, in this case the MG 08, was from the disbanded J.R.9. 

Primary Sources:

de Quesada, Alejandro M. Uniforms of the German Soldier (St. Paul: MBI Publishing Co., 2006)

Markham, George Guns of the Reich: Firearms of the German Forces, 1939-1945 (London: Arms and Armour Press, 1991)

The Type 92: The Japanese Lewis Machine Gun

A soldier of the 32nd. Infantry Division poses with a captured Type 92 near Buna, New Guinea. Photograph by Life Magazine.

      When the Japanese sought to modernize their military following World War One and into the 1920s and early 1930s, they looked to the French, U.S., and the British for assistance. This assistance took the form of hiring foreign designers and engineers to work at the fledgling Japanese aviation companies, studying abroad, and in many cases, obtaining examples of foreign equipment to study and test or outright purchase production rights. In regards to aviation, the British featured heavily in terms of assisting the Japanese advancing in their aircraft. A prime example was former Sopwith engineer Herbert Smith who was the designer for the Mitsubishi 1MT1N torpedo bomber, the Mitsubishi 1MF1 carrier fighter, and the Mitsubishi B1M attack aircraft. Other prominent British aviation firms which influenced the Japanese included Blackburn and Short. Included in the exchange of aircraft data and technology was some of the weapons used by British airplanes that were simply adopted by the Japanese and one such weapon is shown here, the Type 92 (or Model 92) light machine-gun. The photograph shows a soldier belonging to the 32nd. Infantry Division holding up a captured Type 92 for the camera among other captured arms. The photograph was taken in Buna, New Guinea either in November or December 1942 while the Battle of Buna-Gona was underway. This battle commenced on November 16, 1942 and ran through January 22, 1943 and ended in an Allied victory. The Type 92 actually began as the Type 91 which was, more or less, the Lewis light machine-gun built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). In 1932, production of the weapon commenced in Japan and was accepted into IJN service as the Type 92.

     Construction of the Type 92 was aimed more at usage on IJN aircraft and as such, it was typically devoid of the barrel shroud and utilized a spade grip rather than a buttstock. Also, the Type 92 had an enlarged trigger guard, necessary to allow for the gunner wearing thick flight gloves. The main reason for the lack of the barrel shroud was that airflow across the weapon from the slipstream was more than adequate for cooling plus it lessened the weight. A 96-round circular pan magazine was the usual load but it could also use a smaller, 47-round pan magazine as well. For ammunition, the Japanese copied the original British .303 inch (7.7mm) rimmed round. This was because the standard Japanese 7.7mm rounds already in use were either semi-rimless or rimless which meant they could not be used in the Type 92 since they would simply fall out of the magazine. The Type 92 as fitted to aircraft was 3.25 feet long and weighed 19 pounds. The weapon was gas operated and had a rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute with a muzzle velocity of 2,440 feet per second. Regular iron sights were used and every fifth round in the magazine was a tracer.

     The Type 92 was also utilized on ships for anti-aircraft defense. For this purpose, the Type 92 was fitted to a tripod which allowed for 85 degrees of elevation and 80 degrees of depression when the legs of the tripod were fully extended. If need be, a crew could shift the Type 92 on the tripod from vertical firing to horizontal firing in under 15 seconds. Finally, the Type 92 was also utilized by naval ground forces and the example shown here is typical of those used by naval infantry. When utilized on ships as well as the ground, the barrel shroud was usually fitted. The purpose of the shroud was to channel air that was drawn across the barrel by the muzzle blast. In addition, heat sinks were fitted to the front and rear of the shroud to aid in cooling. The front heat sink is underneath the shroud but the rear heat sink is visible in the photograph. For ground use, the enlarged trigger guard was not fitted as evidenced here. In addition, some Type 92 weapons deployed on ships and the ground had either the spade grip or the buttstock. It is believed this Type 92 was part of the arsenal of the 5th. Yokosuka Special Landing Party (SLP), a part of the IJN's Kaigun Tokubetsu Rikusentai (Special Naval Landing Forces). These were not marines (as, say, the U.S. Marine Corps which was part of the U.S. Navy) but were simply regular sailors who received additional basic training in infantry tactics and weapons, were grouped together into battalions, and were deployed as landing forces. The 5th. Yokosuka SLP was a part of the Japanese defenders at Buna. Since the Type 92 here was used by infantry, it was fitted with a buttstock and has a bipod fitted over the barrel shroud. In this guise, the Type 92 was longer, measuring 4.7 feet long and was heavier at 26 pounds. It had the same rate of fire and muzzle velocity as the Type 92 used in aircraft and it also utilized both types of pan magazines (not seen here). It also used a blade-type front sight with a folding leaf peep-sight in the rear that was graduated from 0 to 1,700 meters.

     By 1940 and 1941, the Type 92 as used in aircraft was obsolete and the 7.7mm caliber was underpowered with an effective range of 1,970 feet. Despite this, it remained in service until the end of the war in August 1945 though it was partially replaced in later IJN aircraft by the heavier 13mm Type 2 machine-gun and the 20mm Type 99 cannon. Despite being outclassed in the air, as a ground weapon, the Type 92 retained a level of effectiveness and was also utilized until the war's end.

The Lahti-Saloranta M/26: Finland's Machine Gun Miscalculation

 

     A view from a Finnish machine gun position somewhere in a forest in Finland. To the right of the photograph are two M32 varsikäsikranaatti (stick grenades) and to the left is a Lahti-Saloranta M/26 light machine gun. The M/26 was first developed in 1925 and after being successfully tested before the Finnish Army, production commenced at the Valtion Kivääritehdas (State Rifle Factory) in 1927 with the weapon entering service soon after. Chambered for the Finnish 7.62×53mm round, the M/26 used a 20-round magazine or could be fitted with a 75-round drum for anti-aircraft use. The M/26 fired from an open bolt, was short-recoil operated, and had a cyclic rate of fire of up to 550 rounds per minute though the weapon could also fire single shots. 

     In action, the M/26 was found wanting by many soldiers who used it. As was typical for many machine guns, changing barrels was a means to lower the rate of wear by allowing it to cool after a certain number of rounds were fired. With the M/26, the bolt came out with the barrel which meant it took longer to change the barrel (about 30 seconds) and this was not always a desired thing when under fire. Also, the M/26 was made up of 188 parts which meant cleaning the weapon was not an easy task. It was also found that dirt and extreme temperatures tended to foul the M/26 but this was attributed to improper cleaning of the packing grease applied at the factory. Finally, the M/26 was picky about the ammunition it used, requiring more powerful firing caps in order to operate reliably. This earned the M/26 the nickname “Kootut Virheet” which meant “Assorted Mistakes”. The M/26 remained in production until 1942 but in the field, troops much preferred captured Russian Degtyaryov DP-27 light machine guns over the M/26. Nevertheless, the M/26, in the right hands, proved reliable and robust and so it saw action throughout World War Two and a small number remained in service until 1985 as training weapons. 

     The M/26 was served by two men, a gunner and assistant. Typical equipment used included special canvas ammunition pouches for the magazines, a spare barrel with carrier, and a canvas pouch containing tools, gun oil, and spare parts to service the weapon. It was intended to offer the M/26 for export sale but large scale sales never came. China was the only customer, ordering 30,000 M/26 weapons chambered in 7.92×57mm Mauser in 1937 but only 1,200 of them ever arrived in China before Japanese diplomatic pressure on the Finns stopped further shipments.