Thompson Sounds Like Taisho?

[TNGO]

The .45 caliber Thompson submachine gun, while efficient, sounded too much like Japanese .25 caliber weapons, and could not be safely employed at the front.

_

Found this interesting comment in Guadalcanal: The First Offensive, a volume in the official U.S. Army history of WWII. The context is combat in the dense jungle of Guadalcanal.

I've not heard a Japanese 6.5mm machine gun being fired in the jungle, or anywhere else for that matter.

Is there anyone with first-hand aural experience of these two weapons who can confirm or deny this statement?

 

[dfariswheel]

I'm sure that the "fact" that the Thompson "could not be employed at the front" will be big news to the many Marine and Army troops who used every Thompson they could get their hands on at Guadalcanal.

As I recall, both Marine and Army Machine gunners were armed with the Thompson to aid in protecting the gun in the close quarters of jungle warfare.

Another fact is, due to the shortage of Thompson guns, the "hand-me-down" Marines had to use the Reising SMG.

The Reising was also a full-auto .45ACP SMG, and it was also used on the canal, in the front lines.

This sounds very much like something written by somebody who misunderstood or mis-quoted somebody else.

The Thompson makes a deep "thumping" sound.

The Japanese machine guns were widely reported as having a rapid "crackling" sound.

A number of books written by Marine "canal" veterans speak about the sharp "crack" of the 6.5 Japanese round, and the "crackle" of the Nambu machine gun.

One in particular described listening to the heavy fire fight on Edson's Ridge, and hearing "The "chugging sound of the BAR, the "POW" of the 1903 Springfield, the "thumping" roar of the Thompson, the "crack" of the Arisaka rifle, and the "crackling" Nambu machine gun".

Many also wrote about the use of Reising and Thompson gun in the front lines on the canal.

 

[MrMurphy]

I think that was written by a desk weenie.

I've shot a semiauto Thompson and been around full autos being fired. They THUMPTHUMPTHUMP.

I've shot 6.5mm Mannlicher Carcanos and Swedish Mausers, which are very similar in caliber to the Type 38 Arisaka and they have a high pitched crack, in no way mistakeable for a Thompson.


I remember one guy from the European front who had a Thompson and he said the Germans always knew when a Thompson was being fired just by the distinctive sound and they didn't want to be around it!



U.S weapons of WW2 have a very distinctive sound and rate of fire, they sound nothing like enemy weapons. You can't mistake an M1 for a Mauser or a M1919 for a Nambu LMG, or a Baby Nambu pistol for a 1911, or a Thompson for a MP40 or Beretta 38/42. You definitely can't mistake the BAR for anything but a BAR.

I've walked down a firing line and been able to locate an M1, M1 carbine, and a Mauser just by sound despite the 20 deerwhackers zeroing their rifles.