{"product_id":"hotchkiss-machine-guns-from-verdun-to-iwo-jima","title":"Osprey: Hotchkiss Machine Guns [2019] paperback","description":"Created 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 Benet and Henri Mercie to develop the Modele 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 Though 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 favour 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-colour illustrations, this title explores the exciting and eventful history of the first successful gas-operated machine gun.","brand":"Osprey \u0026 Hook, Adam (Illustrator) \u0026 Gilliland, Alan (B.E.V. Illustrator)","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":44546800812322,"sku":"9781472836168","price":17.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0616\/4001\/6057\/files\/osprey-hook-adam-illustrator-gilliland-alan-b-e-v-illustrator-osprey-hotchkiss-machine-guns-2019-paperback-9781472836168-60409576948051.jpg?v=1734159898","url":"https:\/\/chaptersbookstore.com\/products\/hotchkiss-machine-guns-from-verdun-to-iwo-jima","provider":"Chapters Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}