Type 92 Heavy Machine Gun

Type 92 Heavy Machine Gun. All blued metal construction except for the wooden downward hinging traverse handles. The receiver has Japanese characters on the top indicating the Type 92 with the serial number, the Kokura arsenal triple ring trade mark and 18.2 (February 1943) on the left side. 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. A cone shape flash hider is fitted to the muzzle and it has a large cocking handle on the right side of the action. It is fed by a Hotchkiss design 30 round ammunition strip which is lubricated by an oiler to assist with cartridge extraction.

This weapon was commonly referred to as the 'woodpecker' due to the noise it made when fired. It was recovered by Malay fishermen from the bed of a river near Rangau, a small fishing village at the mouth of the Pandaruan river which flows into the southern waters of Brunei Bay in New Borneo. The fishermen at the time were dragging with their nets for a wireless set which had been swept overboard by low overhanging foliage off an LCM (Landing Craft Medium) carrying a 2/15 Battalion patrol who were searching the river area for enemy.