Type 92 Heavy Machine Gun

Type 92 Heavy Machine Gun. All blued metal construction except for the wooden downward hinging traverse handles. The receiver is stamped on the top with three Japanese characters indicating Type 92 and marked with the serial number, the Kokura arsenal triple ring trade mark and 10.5 (May 1935). The barrel has machined cooling fins for half its length towards the muzzle. The barrel jacket has larger cooling fins from the receiver to approximately half way along the barrel. It has a large rectangular cocking handle on the right side of the action. The weapon is fed by a Hotchkiss design 30 round ammunition strip which is lubricated by an oiler to assist with cartridge extraction.

This machine gun, commonly referred to as the woodpecker because of its distinct slow rate of fire, was captured at Wau, New Guinea on 6 February 1943 by Corporal Frank Hall and Corporal Harry Lang of the 2/7th Australian Infantry Battalion. Corporal Hall was awarded the Military Medal and Corporal Lang was Mentioned in Despatches for their bravery during the action.