War Machine - N 16, 1983.pdf

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1983
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Volume
2
Issue
16
Managing Editor:
Stan Morse
Editorial
:
Trisha Palmer
Chris
Bishop
Chris Chant
CONTENTS
Machine-guns
of
World War
lehi<y
Kulomet
ZB
v2,26
and
v2,30
II
302
302
303
304
305
305
Design:
Rod Teasdale
ColourOrigination:
lmago Publishing Ltd,
Typesetting:
SX
Composinq
Ltd
Film
work:
Precise
Litho
Ltd
Artists:
Frank Kennard
Pierre
Turner
MACHINE
UK
&
Eire:
Send
a
cheou:
:' ::.::
irder
-.a
for $3.95
per binder (inc:
c &
: .....
Orbis
Publishing
Ltd
to
',r,::
'.'l:-
=
".:
Binders,
Orbis
House,
2G22
=-
.
.
.:
.-.
London
WC2N
4BT
How
to
obtain
binders
for
WAR
Thame,
Oxon
light
machine-Ens
Orbis House, 20-22
Bedfordbun,.
WC2N
4BT
Europe:Writewrthremitta^'.-
:'.
.
:;
binder (incl
p
&
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tc
:-: . :-:-
lishing
Ltd
to
WAR
MACHI\i
:
-:=--
,-l--
Bredamachine-grns
Type
I
I and
Type
Browning
M
Fusil
I9I
9
96
light machine-Ems
Browning Automatic
Rifl e
Malcolm McGregor
228312
Printed
in
Great Britain
by
The
Artisan
Press
Lld
machine-guu
1924/29
and
Browning
12,7-mm
(0,5-in) heavy
machine-gns
local Newsagent, price
f3.95.
ln
dase
:'
difficulty write
to
WAB
MACHINE Binders.
Miller iMalta)
Ltd. M.A. Vassalli Street.
Va.
letta,
Malta.
Australia:
Fordetails
of how to obtain
your
binders see
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rn
early issLes or
w.rle
to WAR MACHINE
Binders,
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Pty
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2065.
The
binders supplied are
those
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trated ln the
maoazine
throug
Malta:
Binders
are
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throuo.
,
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Mitrailleu
moddles
Mitrailleuse
1931
machine-guns
306
307
310
The Battle
forNormandy
work
Bren
light
machine-En
How
machine-guns
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rom
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machine-Eru
Maschinengewetu
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Maschinengewek
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machine-gn
Circulation Director:
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WAR MACHINE
Price UK
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e
1
.
Aus
$1
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SA
R
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Box
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.oion.
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l.ce's
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r.'.t: :c
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MACHINE
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3ir
57394, Springfield
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WAR
3r5
TheMG42inAction
TheBattleof
StahnEad
DSIIK
1938
utd
SG43
heavy
machine-gurs
3t6
318
320
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to
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Irom your
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[rom
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ing
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or
by
Armed
Forces
of
the
World
The
Netherlands (Part
I)
lu
Picture
acknowledgements
Cover Dhotognph: Orbis Publishing
301: Robert Hunt Library/T.J. 302: T.J./lmpelial
War MNeum. 3lX:
lmpernl War MNeum
305:
lmpedal War Musem.
30U:
Imperial
War Mweum
308: Impenal War
Mweun/T.J./T.J./SIPHO-Orbis Publishing. 309:
Impeial
War
Musem.
312: T
J
/lmpeial
War
Musew.
14:
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Hmt
Library.
315:
Imperial War
Mwem.
316:
Imperial
Wa
Museuntlmperial War Museun/
Imperral
War
Museum
3I7:
Imperial
Wil
Museur/Robert
Hut
Library.
3t8:
Novosti Press
Agency/
lmperial War
Museum,/lmpenal
War
Museum.
3lg:
Novostl Press
Agency
320:
TJ
We are
most
qrateful
to
the Weapons
Musem
School of
lnfantry
Warminster, lor
thef
ktnd
permlston
to
photoqraph weapons
from
thef
co]lechon.
".-*
D:c sr
-:
tl-c
MACHINF
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London WC2N
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at cover
price.
Australia:
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are
obtainable
from WAR
MACHINE Back Numbers.
Gor
sr
laiie.'s
i'i-
eic
)a.,
Machine-guns
of
lttb
d\hrll
The
machine-grun stood out antongst the new
weapons
iattoduced
on
a
large
scale
dwing
World
Wat
I.
Infixed
lnsitiotts,
providing direct
and
indirect
firc in
sup1nrt
of
aassed
infantry,
it
largely
dictated
infantry
tacties,
Towards
the
end
of
the
conllict,
however,
a
new, mote
mobile
kind
of
warfare
emerged. The
inttoduction
of
annoutedvehicles,
and the
German
futfiltration tactics,
meant
that
any
fittwe
httles
would be
very
differcnt.
--g ihe
influence
over
the
battlefield
that it managed
to
acquire
durrng
-'-,-:rld
War
I.
Generally
speaking tactics
were
more fluid and
mobitity
'.','as
the
key
concept, but
this
did
not mean that the
machine-gun
had no
on
tactics:
it
remained
a
dreadful man-killer,
it
could
still
---.iuence
:-nmand
ground, and
it
had been developed
to
still higher levels of
:chnical
perfection
than
the
equivalent weapons of
World
War
I.
The
machine-Qnrns
of
1939
to
I945
were
still similar
to those of
World
-,',-ar
i, but
among
the remaining
relics
of the
earlier
conflict there
were
:-any new designs, There
was
even
a
new type
of
machine-gun
that
had
=::cwn out
of the analysed results of
World War
L
in
that conflict there
:-ad
been two machine-gun types, the light machine-gun
and the
heavy
:.-achine
gun:
the
light
machine-gmn
could be carrred by one
man,
was
--cated
on
a
small
bipod
for arming and
firing,
and usually
carried
the
-nmunltion
in
some
form
of magazine;
the
heavy
machine-gnrn
was
a
:3am
or
squad
weapon capable of high and prolonged
fire
rates and
-ually
mounted
on
a
heavy
tripod;
it was
so
heavy
it was
virtually
static.
-
rom
these
two types
of
weapon
the
inter-war
designers
produced
the
A German MG
34
gunner in
the
USSR.TheMG
34was
the
first
succes sfu
I
gener
a
I
-
pu
r po
s
e
machine
-
gu n,
com
b
ining
the
direct firepower
of
the
heavy
machine-gun with
the
relative
ease
of
handling
of the
light
machine-gun.
-
:rrng
World
War
II the machine-gmn
never quite succeeded
in
regain-
general
purpose machine-gun,
a machine-gmn
iight
enouoh
to
be
car-
ried
by
one man and used
as
an assauit
weapon
but
still capable
of
being
mounted on a
tripod
and used to produce the
fire
power of a heary
machine-gun, The f,rst design
to
combine
these
two possibly opposine
requirements successfully
was the
German MG 34
but this was
only the
forerunner
of many designs
to
come.
Apart from the MG
34
there
were
many other superb
destgns of
machine-gun
in
use (and
some
very
poor
ones
to balance
them,
the
Breda
modelio
1930
perhaps being
one
of
the worst);
it
remains
as
ever
a
paradox that the
peak
of
human
ingenuity shculd
be
devoted to
the
mechanized destruction
of
fellow
humans, Thus
the
years
1g39
to
l94S
suJlered
from the excellence of
the
Bren
Gun,
the American ML9l9
series and the
power
of
the
12.7-mm (0.5-rn)
Browning.
But
from
the
design viewpoint perhaps
the best
design
of
all was the MG
34's
succes-
sor,
the
magnificent
MG
42
N
ovember
I
9 4
3,
near
R
ome.
A
typical
light
m
ac
hine
-
gan
pos
i
tion. N ote
the
s-pare
barrel
for
the Bren grun
kept
ready
to
hand
above
the
spotter;
prolonged
fire
heated
the
barrel
and affected
accuracy,
necessitating
a
quick
Change.
$$.,,:si.,l*,
:{i
&
*i
._....:.
$;
:r
!*"
i&
*s
1. ',S;i*.1
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Lehky Kulomet
ZB
v2.26
and
When
Czechoslovakia was
estab-
lished
as a
state
after
1919
it contained
within
its
borders
a
wide
rangre of
skills
and talents, and amonq them was
small
vz.
30
light
machine-guns
company was established
at
Brno
under
the
name
of
Ceskoslovenska
arms expertise,
ln
the early
1920s a
Zbrojovka for
the
desigin
and
produc-
tion
of
all types
of
small
arms.
An early
product
was
a
machine-gun known
as
the
Lehky
Kulomet
ZB
v2.24
using
a
box
magazine feed, but
rt
remained
a
pro-
totype only
for an
even better
desiqn
was on the stocks,
Usrnq
some details
fromthevz.Z4
the new design
was
de-
signated
the Lehky
Kulomet
ZB v2.26.
Thrs
light
machine-grun
was
an im-
mediate
success
and
has remained
one of the most
inspirational
of
all
such
weapons
ever
since, The
v2.26
was
a
qas-operated weapon
with
a
lonq
gas
prston
under
the
barrel
and fed from an
adjustable
qras
vent
about
half-way
down
the
finned
barrel.
Gas
operating
on
the piston
pushed
it to
the
rear
and
a
simple
arranqement
of a
hrnged
breech block
on
a
ramp formed
the
Jockrng
and
hring
basis
Ammunition
was
fed downwards from
a
simple
in-
cline box
maqazine,
and the
overall
desiqn emphasized
the
vrrtues
of easy
strjpping,
marntenance
and
use
rn
ac-
tion,
Barrel
coolingr
was assisted
by the
use
ofprominent
fins
all along
the
bar-
Above:TheCzechZB
v2.26,
one
ofthe
most
influential
designs of
its
day
and
the
forerunner
of the
British Bren
gun;
this
example
has
its
straight
20-
or 3O-round box
magazine missing.
Rig
ht
:
C
hine
s
e
N
ationalis
t
tr
oop
s
fighting under
General Chian
Kai
S
hek
training
with
a
ZB
vz.2
6
light
machine-gun.
rel
but a simple
and
rapid
barrel
change method was incorporated,
The
vz.26
was
adopted by
the
Czech
army and
soon
became
a
great
export
success,
being
used
by
a
whole strrng
ofnations
that
included
China,
Yugos-
lavia and
Sparn,
The
v2,26
was
fol-
lowed in production
by
a slightly
im-
proved
model, the
Lehky
Kulomet
ZB
12.30,
but
to
the
layman
the two
models
were identical,
the
v2.30
differing
only
in the way
rt
was manufactured and
in
some
of the rnternal details.
Lrke the
r,z 26,
the
v2.30
was also an
most lastlng rnfluence
the
v2.26 and
v2.30
had was on other
desietns; the
Japanese
copied
them and
so
dtd
the
Spanish
who produced
a
machine-gun
known
as
the FAO. As
is
related
else-
where
the
vz
26
was the
stafiing
point
for the British
Bren,
and the
Yuqroslavs
produced their own
varlants.
If
the Czech light machrne-guns had
any
faults it
was
not
in performance or
handling
but in
production,
for
they
were very
expensive
to
make
as
many
expofi
suc-
h-
iheir
own
production lines
under
cess,
being sold to such
countries
as
Itan and
Romanra.
Many
nations
ser
up
of the subassemb[es had vlrtua]ly
to
be
machrned
and milled from
solid
metal, But
this merely
made
them
more robust
and less
prone
to
damaqe,
Theywere,
andstillare
excellent
lght
machine-guns,
cence from
ZB,
and
by
1939
the
two
designs
were
among the
most
numer-
ous
itght
machine-gmn
types
in
the
world.
When Germany started to take
over
most
of
Europe, starting
with
Specification
7.8v2.26
Czechoslovakia,
the
v2.26
and
v2.30
became
German
rrueapons
(MG
26(t)
and MG
30(t))
and even remained
rn
production
at
Brno for
a
while
to
satlsfy
Calibre:
7.92
mm
(0.31
in)
Lengrth:
i
l6l
mm
(45,71
in)
Lengrthof
barrel:
672
mm(26,46 in)
Weiqht:
9.65
kq
(2
L3
lb)
Muzzle
velocity:
762
m
(2,500 ft)
per
second
Rate
the
demands
of
the
German
forces,
They
were
used all
over
the
world
and
'vere even
issued
as
standard German
cr"rl
and
military police
machine-gnrns.
offire,
cyclic:
500
rpm
Lengrthof
barrel:672
mm
(26.46
rn)
Feed:
20-
or 30-round
box
Cf all
the
nations
rnvolved
in
World
Specification
ZBvz.30
lVar
II none took
to
the
type more avid
li'than
China
where production facili
:.es
were
established, Perhaps
the
Calibre:7,92
mm
(0,31
in)
Lengrth:
I 161
mm
(45.71
in)
kq
(22, 13
lb)
Muzzle
velocity:
762
m
(2,500 ft)
per
second
Rate
offire,
cyclic:
500
rpm
Feed:30-rouncl
box
10.04
Weisht:
firing
a
C zech ZB
development
of
the ZB v2.26
;
the
Germans
knew
this
gun
as
the
MG 30(t)
and
used
it widely.
W
affen
SS
troops
v
z.
30,
a
&E
frt"4"
machine-guns
The
modello
30
was
one of
those
machine-qrun
designs that could
at
best
be
deemed
unsatisfactory.
In
appearance
rt
looked
to be all
odd
shapes and
projections
and this was no
doubt
a
hindrance
to anyone who had
lo
carry
it, for
theselrojectrons
snag-
Dlrrng
World War I the
standard lta-
i-an
machine-gun
was the
water-
:coled
Fiat
modello
1914
and
post-war
:1is was
modernized
as
the
air-cooled
\'iilriaglice
Fiat
modello
1914/35,
But
it
."'ls stril a
healry
weapon. even
rn
rts
:ew
air-cooled
form, and
a
newer de-
s-gm
of
liErht
machine-gmn was
initiated,
Tne
new desiqn
was
produced by
Bre-
ea who
Lrsed
the experience
qained
i:1.
the
production
of
earlier
models
in
'-J24,
l92B
and
1929
to
produce
the
Fucile
Mitriagliatori
Breda modello
30.
Thrs
became
the
standard ltalian army
i-ght
machine-gnrn
of
World War
IL
ged
on clothing and other equipment.
But
this was not all, for the Breda
desig-
ners had
tned to
rntroduce
a
novel
feed
system
usingT
2O-round
charqers
whrch were rather flimsy
and qave
fre-
quent trouble. These
chargrers
were
fed
into
a
folding
magazrne that had
a
delicate
hrnge. and
if
thts magazrne or
the fltting
was damaqred
the gun could
not
be
used, To compound this
prob
Iem,
the
extraction
of the
used
car-
tridge
cases was
the weakest part of
the whoie
gas-operated
mechanism,
and to make
the
gmn
work
an
rnternal
oil
pump was
used
to
lubricate
the
used
cases
and
thus assist
extra
ex-
traction. While
this system
worked in
theory the added
oil
soon
picked
up
was
rendered awkward
by
the
fact
that
there
was
no
barrel
handle
(and
thus
no
carrying
handle),
so
the
oper-
ator
had
to use qloves,
With
no
other
type in
production
the modello
30
had
to
be
tolerated, and there was even
a
later modello
38
version
in
7,35-mm
(0,29-in)
calibre.
dust
and other debris
to
clog
the
mechanism,
and in North Africa
sand
was an
ever-present
threat,
And
as rf
this
were
not
enouqh,
the
barrel-
changre
method, although operable,
The other
two
Breda
machine-en-ms
were
at least
better
than the modello
30,
One was the
Mitriqliera
Breda RM
modello
3I, produced
for mounting on
the
light
tanks
operated by the
ltalian
army, This had
a calibre
of
12,7
mm
(0.5-in) and
Lrsed
a
larqe
cuwed vertic-
.2,4t?,
!;eda
machine-gnms
(continued)
Machine-gruns
of
World
War
II
:,red
.
-ox
maqazine
that
must
have
res-
the
weapon's use
in
AFV
in-
-:.d
tray which worked its
way
:::cugh
the recelver to
accept
the
-1ent
cartrrdgre cases,
Exactly why
thts
:,:Irlplex
and quite
unnecessary
sys-
::in
was
adopted
is
now rmpossible
to
:-.certain,
for the
spent
cases had
to
be
::moved
from the
tray before it
could
:e
reloaded
with
fresh rounds.
The
the
Mitraqliace
Breda
nodello
37,
and
while
this
was overall
:
satisfactory
weapon
it
did
have
an
-:sual
feed
feature:
a flat
2O-round
:,-,y
produced
-:,s
a
healy
machrne-gn-rn
the
com-
:--pump
extraction method was
also
;-<ed,
,:
rendering
the
modello
37
prone
the
same
debris clogging
as
the
-grter
modello
30. Thus
the
modello
was no
more
than adequate, even
-:cugth
the
type became
the standard
-:alan
heavy
machine-gul.
:l
A
version
of the
modello
37 for
designation
Mitriaglice
Breda
Weisht:
10.32
ks(22.75
lb)
Muzzlevelocity:629
m
(2,065 ft)
per
second
Rate
offire,
cyclic:450-500
rpm
Feed: 20-round
charqer
:::cunting
in tanks was
produced
under
modello
38.
::e
Length:
1270
mm
(50,0
in)
Lengrthof
barrel740
mm
(29.13
in)
Specification
modello30
Calibre:6.5
mm
(0,256
in)
l,ength:
1232
mm
(48,5
in)
lengrthof
barrel520
mm
(20,47
in)
Weisht:
i9.3 kq
(42,8
lb)
Weightof tripod:
18.7
kq(4l.2lb)
Muzzle
velocity:
790
m
(2,590 ft)
per
second
Rate
modello
30
6. 5
-mm
(0.25
6
-
in)
ligh
t
m
achine-gw n,
one
of
the
/east successfu I
machine-guns
ever
designed. For
all
its
faults
it
sewed
the
ltalians throughout thewar.
A
Breda
Specification
modello3T
Calibre:
B
offire,
cyclic:
450-500
rpm
Feed: 2O-round
tray
mm
(0.315
in)
q
'ilto"
1l
and
Type
g6ligrht
machine-guns
The
Japanese
heavy
machine-guns
used between
l94l
and
1945
were
both derrvations of
the French
Hotch-
kiss machine-gmn
with only
a
few local
changes.
When
it
came to
the lighter
machine-gnrns
the
Japanese
designed
ther
own,
the
first
of
which
was
based
on
the
same
operating prrnciples
as
the
Hotchkrss
but with the
usual local
variations,
fired by
the rest
of the Japanese
infan-
try
squad, The rounds
could be
fed
lnto
the
heavily
ribbed barrel
and
which entered service
in
1922
and
re-
mained
in
service
until
1945.
Its
Hotch-
kiss
origdns
were
readily apparent in
less
The flrst of
these was
the
6,5-mm
(0.256-in)
Light Machine-Gun
Type
ll,
clips,
thus
renderinq special
maga-
zines
or
ammunitron
belts
unneces-
sary,
But
rn practice this
advantage
was negated
by
the
fact
that the
inter-
nal
mechamsm
was
so delicate
and
complex that
firing
the standard rifle
round
caused endless
troubles.
Thus
specral
low-powered
rounds
had to
be
used and things
were
made
no
better
lubrrcation system that attracted
the
usual dust
and other
debris
to
clog the
works,
The
TYpe
11
was capable of
the
hopper
still
in
their
flve-round
Above
:
The
J
apanese 6.5-mm
(0.256-in)
IYpe
96
light
m
achine-
gru
n
w
as one
of
the
few
machine-gruns
ever
equippedwith
a
bayonet,
and
was
acombination
of
Czech
and
French designs.
by
having
to
use
a
cartridqe-
obviously in
the internal
mechamsms.
the name of 'Nambu'that the type was
The design was
credited to
one
Generai Kijrro Nambu and
it
was by
automatic
fire
only,
and when
the
weapon
was
fired
the
ammunition hop-
per tended
to
make the whole system
known
to
the
Allies.
It
was
in
its
ammunition feed system
that
the
TWe
system
employed
by
no
other
11
was unique,
for
it
used
a
hopper
machine-gun.
The
idea
was that
a
small
hopper
on
the
Ieft
of
the
receiver
could
be
kept filled with
the
rounds
unbalanced
and awkward
to
fire, A
special
version,
the Tank
Machine-
Gun
Type
91,
was
produced
for
use
in
tanks,
with
a
SO-round
hopper.
The bad
points
of the
Type
11
be-
came
very
apparent after early
com-
bat
experience
in
China
durinqr the
1930s,
and
in
1936
the
flrst examples
of
Right: Much
of
the
fighting
of
the
Pacific
island
war
was between
the
M
arines of
the
comba
tants.
This
Japanese
Leading.Seaman
is
a
Iight
machine-grun.
marine, andis carrying aTJtpe96

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