Got it! Confirmation on the armament used on the captured Chinese Pzkw I's. See the thread at:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/449919/thread/1245763891/Captured+Chinese+PzKw+I+in+IJA+Service
An associate of mine in Japan with access to achives at Yasukuni and a few other places (and who reads Japanese MUCH better than I do) dug up a reference from a report to the Imperial Army General Staff. I had asked him to keep an eye out for any documents making reference to captured foreign vehicles. Miracle of miracles he found one. According to the report...
When the captured Chinese Pzkw Ia was sent to Japan (there is reference of only ONE vehicle being sent to Japan in this document - the others might have stayed China) it was handed over to the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technology Division for evaluation. They were mostly interested in the engine and drive train and tested those pretty extensively. When when they were done with that they placed it on public display (didn't say where) for an unspecified period of time after which they handed the vehicle back over to the Army. Sadly, it doesn't say what the Army did with the vehicle. The document inventories all the items that came with the vehicle (radio, tools etc.) including, you guessed it, two GERMAN machine guns and thirty magazines. It doesn't say MG13 but it's a pretty safe bet. While the document doesn't unequivocally prove that no Chinese Pzkw I was ever armed with a DP28 at any time, between this and photographic evidence it's a pretty safe bet they were all armed with MG13s. Period.
I love it when theories are proved, or in this case disproved. Glad I didn't put DP28s in the turret of the Ia I'm working on like I was going to! Thanks to all who contributed to the earlier thread. What a cool hobby we've got!
Cheers.
Pat
