The Johnson Light Machine Gun

Guns Magazine, Dec, 2000 by Robert Bruce

From the Pacific islands to the deserts of Israel, this innovative rifle was the predecessor of today's high-tech combat weaponry.

Nearly 60 years ago American military special operations units were armed with a 15 lb. squad automatic weapon, firing full powered rifle ammunition at 600 rpm and featuring a quick-change barrel. It was also a highly accurate semiautomatic battle rifle with an effective range of nearly 1,000 meters.

The gun was the Johnson M1941 Light Machine Gun, used successfully during World War II by U.S. Marine Raiders against the Japanese and by American Army commando troops against the Germans. In many ways it compares favorably to modern infantry weaponry, but it was never officially adopted by the U.S. military. Was it only "marginally effective", as official accounts of the time reported? Or, was it a revolution in the basic concepts of rifles and machine guns?

Between The World Wars

Building on lessons learned the hard way in the trenches of World War I, the U.S. Army spent a leisurely 20 years experimenting before settling on three maln types of weapons in the infantry company. These were the M1 Garand semiauto rifle, M1918 Browning automatic rifle and the M1919 air cooled medium machine gun.

Then, small unit tactics were built around the most effective ways to utilize this firepower in both defensive and offensive operations. History shows this was a damned good combination -- we won World War II with them -- but few would say that it was ideal.

Around 1935, a young, handsome and wealthy Boston lawyer named Melvin Johnson Jr., who had a passion for military weaponry and also happened to be a Captain in the Marine Corps Reserve, began a self-appointed quest to build both a rifle and a light machine gun that would do the job better than what the Army had in mind. Taking on the Ordnance Corps establishment was a formidable task, but by all accounts Johnson had not only the technical and political skills needed, but was also able to secure substantial financial backing for his newly formed Johnson Automatics Company.

By late 1937 he had designed, built and successfully tested both a semiauto rifle and a prototype light machine gun. Each shared a significant number of physical characteristics and common parts, and both operated on the principle of short recoil. Johnson contended that his guns offered significant improvements over the Garand and the BAR and, with the help of some influential friends, began to exert pressure on the Army to conduct official tests.

Although understandably reluctant to sanction any challenge to its soon-to-be-fielded M1 Garand, the Army agreed to a test at Fort Benning, Ga., in 1938. Not surprisingly, the subsequent test report stated in part. that "in its present state of development the Johnson semiautomatic rifle is definitely inferior to the U.S. rifle, M1 ... ."

Not the kind of guy to accept this as a definite "no," Johnson and his team took the rifle and machine gun back to the shop for debugging. They also stepped up their efforts at trying to interest both the U.S. Marines and the British War Office.

By this time it seemed certain that another World War was about to break out and Johnson was determined to convince the good guys to buy his innovative weapons. Production went into full swing at Cranston Arms Company in Providence, R.I., in 1941.

Action In The Pacific

Despite his best sales efforts and an aggressive and sometimes caustic public relations campaign aided by sensationalistic press coverage, Johnson tasted only small success. His own Marine Corps bought only enough M1941 rifles and light machine guns to equip the small experimental parachute unit and a battalion of Marine Raiders headed for the Pacific. August 7, 1942 was the first reported combat use of M1941 Johnsons by American forces by the 1st Parachute Battalion on Gavutu in the Solomon Islands.

The Army bought some for issue to the 1st Special Service Force, forerunners of today's Green Berets. Photographic evidence exists of at least one Johnson Light Machine Gun in combat in the Anzio area of Italy in April 1944. Interestingly, the Netherlands Indies Army and Navy bought several thousand for use against the Japanese who were threatening to overrun Dutch colonies. In all, only about 70,000 rifles and 10,000 innovative and handy light machine guns were made.

Melvin Johnson continued with both technical development and marketing efforts during the war. Based on combat lessons and manufacturing considerations, he discontinued the M1941 and began work that culminated in delivery of 10 test model M1944 guns in June 1945. This upgraded version featured a faster barrel change, a simple monopod, tubular stock with cleaning equipment storage and a single aperture rear sight. The Army tested these, along with a belt-fed modification called the T20, but to no avail.

The Post-War World

In the aftermath of World War II the newly created nation of Israel needed infantry weaponry to defend itself against its many Arab enemies. Although the world was awash in efficient and cheap surplus small arms it wasn't easy for the tiny Jewish state to import them, so it became necessary to quickly develop a domestic arms industry.