{"product_id":"osprey-publishing-weapon-hotchkiss-machine-guns","title":"Osprey Publishing Weapon: Hotchkiss Machine Guns","description":"\u003cdiv align=\"justify\"\u003eCreated by a long-forgotten Austrian nobleman, Adolf Odkolek von Augezd, the air-cooled Hotchkiss machine gun was the first to function effectively by tapping propellant gas from the bore as the gun fired. Although the Hotchkiss would be overshadowed by the water-cooled Maxim and Vickers Guns, it proved its effectiveness during the Russo-Japanese War. The gun, quirky though it was, was successful enough to persuade Laurence Benét and Henri Mercié to develop the\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eModèle Portative: a man-portable version which, it was hoped, could move with infantrymen as they advanced. Later mounted on tanks and aircraft, it became the first automatic weapon to obtain a ‘kill' in aerial combat.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThough it served the French and US armies during World War I (and also the British in areas where French and British units fought alongside each other), the Odkolek-Hotchkiss system was to have its longest-term effect in Japan. Here, a succession of derivatives found favor in theatres of operations in which water-cooling could be more of a liability than an asset. When US forces landed on Saipan, Guam and Iwo Jima, battling their way from island to island across the Pacific, it was the ‘Woodpecker' - the Type 92 Hotchkiss, with its characteristically slow rate of fire - which cut swathes through their ranks. Supported by contemporary photographs and full-color illustrations, this title explores the exciting and eventful history of the first successful gas-operated machine gun.\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Osprey Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50214150209835,"sku":"OSP-WP71","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0696\/8980\/3051\/files\/osprey-publishing-hobby-books-osprey-publishing-weapon-hotchkiss-machine-guns-osp-wp71-1226533160.jpg?v=1775776617","url":"https:\/\/topspeedhobbies.com\/products\/osprey-publishing-weapon-hotchkiss-machine-guns","provider":"Top Speed Hobbies","version":"1.0","type":"link"}