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The MG 13 (shortened from German Maschinengewehr 13) is a German
The MG 13 was introduced into service in 1930, where it served as the standard light machine gun until 1935. It was superseded by the
light machine gun
A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridges of the same caliber as the other riflemen of the sa ...
developed by converting the Dreyse Model 1918 heavy water-cooled machine gun into an air-cooled version.
History
Dreyse Model 1918 Machinegun: In 1907Louis Schmeisser
Louis Schmeisser (5 February 1848, Zöllnitz – 23 March 1917) was one of the best-known weapon technical designers of Europe. He is associated with the development and production of the Bergmann machine guns used during the First World War. ...
of Erfurt
Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...
patented a machine-gun named in honor of the inventor of the needle gun by the heads of the factory where it was made which was founded by Dreyse. The Dreyse machine-gun was a heavy, usually tripod mounted, belt-fed and water cooled machine-gun.
The 1907 model was succeeded by the 1912 and later 1918 models. It was ordered the Model 1918 to be modernized by the company Simson in Suhl. It became the MG13.
Usage
The MG 13 was introduced into service in 1930, where it served as the standard light machine gun until 1935. It was superseded by the MG 34
The MG 34 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr 34'', or "machine gun 34") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun, first tested in 1929, introduced in 1934, and issued to units in 1936. It introduced an entirely n ...
and then later the MG 42.
An unusual feature of the MG 13 was its double-crescent trigger, which provided select fire capability without the need for a fire mode selector switch. Pressing the upper segment of the trigger produced semi-automatic fire, while holding the lower segment of the trigger produced fully automatic
An automatic firearm is an auto-loading firearm that continuously chambers and fires rounds when the trigger mechanism is actuated. The action of an automatic firearm is capable of harvesting the excess energy released from a previous discha ...
fire. It also fired from a closed bolt
A semi or full-automatic firearm which is said to fire from a closed bolt is one where, when ready to fire, a round is in the chamber and the bolt and working parts are forward. When the trigger is pulled, the firing pin or striker fires th ...
.
MG 13s were sold to Spain where they retained the designation of MG13 and to Portugal which used them into the late 1940s as the Metralhadora 7,92 mm m/1938 Dreyse. Those MG 13's that were not sold but rather were placed into storage, and these later saw use in World War II by second line German units. As it was easy to handle and reload, many second line troops could use the MG 13 with efficiency.
On later examples a 75-round saddle drum was also used. It was equipped with a folding butt stock and a carrying handle. It was used in the turret of the Panzer I
The Panzer I was a light tank produced in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Its name is short for ( German for " armored fighting vehicle mark I"), abbreviated as . The tank's official German ordnance inventory designation was '' Sd.Kfz. 10 ...
tank.
The Chinese Nationalist Government also imported the MG 13 with the Panzer I Ausf A. tanks from Germany in 1936. The MG 13 was also used against the Japanese Imperial Army
The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor ...
during the Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
. Portugal used it as squad automatic weapon
A squad automatic weapon (SAW), also known as a section automatic weapon or light support weapon (LSW), is a man-portable automatic firearm attached to infantry squads or sections as a source of rapid direct firepower. Weapons fulfilling th ...
during Portuguese Colonial War
The Portuguese Colonial War ( pt, Guerra Colonial Portuguesa), also known in Portugal as the Overseas War () or in the former colonies as the War of Liberation (), and also known as the Angolan, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambican War of Independence, ...
, under the name ''m/938''.
Users
* * * : Norwegian Police received ex-German MG-13s after WWII and converted them to MG-13k. * * *References
External links
* (Manual for the MG 13) * (Photo gallery) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mg 13 Light machine guns World War II infantry weapons of Germany World War II machine guns Machine guns of Germany Military equipment introduced in the 1930s