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Schwarzlose Machine Gun Model 07/12
The Schwarzlose machine gun was a water-cooled, belt-fed machine gun designed by Andreas Wilhelm Schwarzlose for the Austro-Hungarian Army in 1907. While after the establishment of the Maxim construction many states of the world placed orders with the large manufacturers Vickers or DWM or applied for their own production, the K.u.K. monarchy Austria-Hungary took other paths. Around 1902, the Berlin engineer Andreas Schwarzlose had applied for a patent for his own construction of a machine gun. The Steyr-Werke acquired the license in 1905, 1907 it was introduced in the Austrian armed forces as M.07 in the caliber 8X50R. The model of 1907 has a gap between the top cover and the water jacket. This has been changed at the MG M. 7/12. Some improvements led from 1912 to the version M.07 / 12. Schwarzlose, who had previously attracted attention through technically highly interesting constructions in the field of weapons technology, took a completely new approach. Its MG had a fixed barrel and was based essentially on the functioning of a delayed spring-mass closure. During the shooting process, the system is locked at any time form-fitting. By contrast, a relatively strong closing spring, few but solid and thus robust closure parts and retarding leverage forces along with a short run (rapid pressure drop) Ensure the recharging cycle. A small shadow on this ingenious design raises the need for sleeve oiling, which was considered necessary to reduce pull-out resistance, thus minimizing the risk of sleeve tearing. An oil filling of five liters was enough for about 4,500 cartridges. The Austrian air force was equipped with M.07/12/R16 which was an air-cooled version of the M. 7/12. During World War I Austria-Hungary imported the MG M. 7/12 to Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire.
The nature of the construction initially suggests that the Schwarzlose MG relies too heavily on given functional parameters such as caliber, laboratory and, in particular, run length, to be easily adapted to other charges of the same caliber or other calibers. Interestingly enough, however, it has succeeded in adapting the MG to such different caliber as the improved cartridge M.31 (Austria, Hungary after 1931), 6.5 mm Mannlicher-Schönauer, 6.5 mm Swedish or even 8X57IS.
It was used in the two world wars and then on many fronts, from Scandinavia to North Africa.
Manufacturers were from 1905 to 1918 the OeWG in Steyr and from 1914 to 1918 FGGY in Budapest. Another manufacturer was in Holland based on the M.07 under the names M.07, M08/13, M08/15 chambered in 6.5×53mmR (Artillery Inrichtingen, M08, about 2000 pieces). As Kulspruta M/1914 (which looks exactly the same like the M. 7/12, but on the water cooling jacket is the Swedish national coat of arms.), it was used for decades in the Swedish army and built by Carl Gustav It adorns to this day the medal of the Swedish MG gunners.
Specifications
Schwarzlose Machine Gun Model 07/12
- County of Origin: Austria
- Type: Machine Gun
- Calibers: 8mm Mannlicher, 7.92mm Mauser, 6.5mm Mauser
- Capacity: 250 round fabric belt
- Cyclic Rate: 400 rds/min
- Length: 42.00in(1066mm)
- Barrel Length: 20.75in(526mm)
- Weight: (unloaded) 44lbs (19.9kg)
The Schwarzlose Machine Gun Model 07/12 and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:
Film
| Title | Actor | Character | Note | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mountains on Fire | Austrian soldiers | M. 7/12 | 1931 | |
| If War Comes Tomorrow (Esli zavtra voyna) | Seen in documentary footage | 1938 | ||
| Operation Amsterdam | Dutch M. 08/15 (anti-aircraft version) | 1959 | ||
| Hell Is for Heroes | German soldiers | Stock footage | 1962 | |
| The Four Days of Naples | Italian Resistance fighters | 1962 | ||
| The Shortest Day (Il giorno più corto) | Italian solders | M. 7/12 | 1963 | |
| The Desert of the Tartars (Il deserto dei Tartari) | Austro-Hungarian soldiers | 1976 | ||
| From Hell to Victory | British soldiers | Standing for Vickers | 1979 | |
| The Roses of the Desert | Italian soldiers | mock-up | 2006 |
Video Game
| Game Title | Appears as | Note | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Battlefield: 1918 | 2004 | ||
| Battle of Empires : 1914-1918 | 2014 | ||
| Tannenberg | "Schwarzlose MG" | 2019 |
Schwarzlose M1907/24
Czechoslovakia took over a larger number of these machine guns in the inventory of their forces. In 1924 these weapons have been converted to the caliber 7.92 × 57 mm and designated as M. 07/24; note that it has longer barrel and jacket. After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, the M. 07/24 was used by the Wehrmacht.
Film
| Title | Actor | Character | Notation | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Stolen Border (Uloupená hranice) | Czechoslovak troops | 1947 | ||
| Wolves' Lairs (Vlcie diery) | Slovak insurgents | 1948 | ||
| Captain Dabac | Slovak soldiers | 1959 | ||
| Forty-Four Mutineers | Dusan Blaskovic | Tono Mikles | standing for M. 7/12 | 1964 |
| Austro-Hungarian soldiers | ||||
| A Star Called Wormwood (Hvezda zvaná Pelynek) | Rudolf Deyl | Pvt. František Noha | standing for M. 7/12 | 1959 |
| Bosnian guards | ||||
| Von Ryan's Express | German guards | 1965 | ||
| The Day That Shook the World | Austro-Hungarian soldiers | standing for M. 7/12 | 1975 | |
| The World Knows Nothing (Svet nic neví) | Czechoslovak troops | 1987 | ||
| Capitaine Conan | Philippe Torreton | Captain Conan | standing for M. 7/12 | 1996 |
| Bulgarian and French soldiers , Bolsheviks | ||||
| Company of Heroes | German soldiers | 2013 |