In the process of invading China, although Japan had an advantage in the equipment of the navy, air force, and army, it had an obvious weakness in the army's individual soldiers, that is, submachine guns and light machine guns. These two firearms have great power in close combat, but the technical level of these two Japanese firearms is far inferior to that of the squadron.
In the War of Resistance Against Japan, the squadron used a variety of submachine guns, some of which were imported from Western countries, and some of which were copied by themselves. For example, the Red Army's anti-Japanese advance team was armed with German MP-28 submachine guns and China's own imitation of Thompson submachine guns.
When the Japanese army was engaged with the squadron, they were often subjected to heavy fire from these submachine guns and felt their power. As a result, the Japanese army also began to attach importance to the role of submachine guns, purchased some submachine guns from Western countries, and asked their own military departments to develop their own submachine guns.
The submachine guns of the Japanese army were mainly designed by Nanbu Kirjiro, who was a well-known light ** designer in Japan.
Nanbu Kirjiro designed three different submachine guns, the "One", "Two" and "Three" types. Among them, the design of the Type 1 submachine gun is very peculiar, and interested readers can refer to another article of mine, "Fortunately it was not adopted, otherwise it would have been a legacy after its seizure in 1945: the strange Type 1 submachine gun".
The appearance of a submachine gun.
The appearance of a two-type submachine gun.
The appearance of a three-type submachine gun.
In 1939, the Japanese Army conducted tests on the Type 3 submachine gun and found that it had some flaws, so it was improved. In 1940, the improved "three" submachine gun was officially finalized, because that year was the 2600th anniversary of the Japanese Jimmu, so it was given a new name, called the "Hyak-style submachine gun". In February 1941, the Japanese Army began to be equipped with the "Hyak-style submachine gun".
The "Type 100 submachine gun" came in two different styles, one with a wooden butt, suitable for infantry, and the other with a folding butt made of metal, suitable for paratroopers.
In some Western sources, the "100-type submachine gun" is divided into three types:
1.the early type, that is, the 1940 type;
2.the late type, which is the 1944 type;
3.Paratrooper type.
However, in some Japanese sources, the prototype of the "Hyakka-type submachine gun" is also counted, so there are six types of "Hyak-style submachine guns":
1) Trial production of three types of machine guns (prototype);
2) Modification of the Type 3 A machine gun (initial type), which does not have a flame suppressor;
3) Renovation of Type 3 B machine gun (initial type);
4) 100-type machine short gun (early type);
5) 100-type machine gun (paratrooper type);
6) 100-type machine short gun (late type).
From 1940 to 1945, the Nanbu Company and the Nagoya and Kokura arsenals produced a total of about 24,000 Hyaku-style submachine guns. However, some researchers believe that this number is too high because:
First, after the entry into service of this gun, it did not receive a large number of orders.
Secondly, the Japanese Army at that time was more interested in the new type of 77 mm Type 99 light machine gun.
Thirdly, in the infantry tactics of the Japanese army at that time, there were no methods and guidelines for the use of "machine guns".
Therefore, the actual production volume may only be about 9,000 to 10,000 pieces.
From 1940 to 1943, the "Type 100 submachine gun" was produced only on a small scale. The version of this period, with a bipod, bayonet, muzzle brake and an adjustable 1500-meter sighting scale.
Around 1942-1943, about 200 early models of the "Baishi submachine gun" were converted into paratroopers with folding stocks, but this gun was still too long for paratroopers. During the battles on the islands of Luzon and Okinawa, the US military captured some of these guns.
In 1944, the war situation in Japan was already very unfavorable, and the front line was in dire straits. In particular, in the battle of seizing the island of the US army, the Japanese army deeply realized the firepower superiority of submachine guns, so the demand for submachine guns increased sharply.
In response to this situation, the "Type 100 submachine gun" was greatly simplified to facilitate rapid production. The bipod, bayonet, muzzle brake and aiming ruler were eliminated, and the quality standards of the entire gun were greatly reduced, resulting in a rough surface, and, due to the lack of high-quality steel, the weight of the entire gun was reduced from the original 384 kg increased to 439 kg.
The "Hyak-style submachine gun" uses Japanese-style 8x22 mm sub-pistol cartridges, and the advantage of this ammunition is that the recoil is small, which makes the gun relatively stable when firing in bursts. However, the disadvantage of this ammunition is that it is too powerful to compete with the American. 45 ACP or European 9x19 mm Parabellum shells.
Due to the limitations of ammunition, the performance of the "100-style submachine gun" on the battlefield was not ideal. A typical example of this is the Japanese raid on the U.S. airfield in Okinawa in 1945.
The background of this battle is this:
On the night of May 24, 1945, in order to prevent US bombers from taking off from Okinawa to bomb the Japanese mainland, the Japanese military headquarters secretly dispatched a "righteous air support team" to plan to parachute into the US airfield and destroy the runway and aircraft. There were 120 members of this "Righteous Air Force," which set off in four Type 97 bombers.
When these bombers flew over the US airfield, US fighter jets immediately took to the air to intercept them. In the heat of the air battle, most of the bombers were shot down, and only one bomber managed to land on the runway of Yomitan Airport.
Before the US ground crews and guards at the airport could react, more than 10 Japanese paratroopers jumped down from the bombers, armed with "100-style submachine guns" and grenades, strafing and throwing them everywhere, taking the US troops by surprise for a while. Later, the surviving paratroopers from the other 3 crash-landed bombers also joined the battle.
It is said that the leader of this group of paratroopers was Second Lieutenant Harada Xuanzhang (or Harada Xuanzhang). Under his command, the paratroopers stormed and burned 2 oil depots and destroyed 70,000 gallons of aviation kerosene (note: 1 gallon = 3.).785412 liters). However, they were not able to blow up the runway, nor were they able to destroy the B-29 bombers of the US military.
Soon, the U.S. military reacted and formed a dense network of fire against the Japanese paratroopers with various light and heavy **. However, due to the small number of Japanese paratroopers and the fact that they were hiding in the shadows, the American shooting did not hit many people, but injured some of them by mistake. For example, Lieutenant Maynard Kelly on the airport tower was shot 12The 7 mm bullet hit and died, which must have been the accidental wounding of the US military itself.
Later, a battalion of marines rushed to Yomitan airfield, and after a night of fighting, finally eliminated all the Japanese paratroopers and ended the farce.
As a result of the battle, a total of 9 US planes were destroyed and 29 aircraft were damaged. However, after inspection, it was found that most of the planes were damaged by ......the US military itselfThe Japanese paratroopers were all killed, some sources say there were 69 people, some sources say there were more than 50 people, anyway, there was not a single survivor. The U.S. military has only more than 20 people, of which only 3 ...... killedSuch an exchange ratio also shows that the power of the "100-type submachine gun" is not enough.
In short, the "100-style submachine gun" is a kind of submachine gun with backward design, complex technology, picky materials, limited production and insufficient power, which cannot be regarded as a successful submachine gun.
Moreover, even such submachine guns, which Japan was not able to equip its troops on a large scale, also reflected the weakness and incompetence of Japan's poor imperialism.