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Japanese Machine Gun

From the collection of the Bronbeek Museum, Arnhem

h 41 cm x b 140 cm
1943

It was a quiet, breezy night with a full-moon as marine H. Kooi of the Koninklijk Nederlandsch-Indisch Leger, KNIL (Royal Netherlands East Indies Army) left the city of Surabaya to go into battle. Two months earlier, at the beginning of 1942, Japan had attacked the Dutch East Indies and it now threatened to occupy Java as well. Suddenly we find ourselves in the middle of a fight against the Japanese...

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A Japanese soldier looking at the oil refinery fire caused by the KNIL on 14 February 1942 (Source: Image Bank WW2 – NIOD)
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We are surrounded by the peel of machine guns, the bursting sounds of mortars and the thunder of artillery. Now and then there’s the sharp crack of a pistol being shot nearby or the hiss of a hand grenade. With these words, Marine Corporal H. Kooi described the situation on Java. This type of machine gun, made in Tokyo, was used by the Japanese Imperial Army fighting in the Dutch East Indies. After the war, the KNIL seized this machine gun as war booty. The special feature of this Japanese weapon is that it is equipped with a bayonet, making it a rather unique machine gun in military history.