The Browning wz.1928 is a Polish version of the M1918 BAR. It was a

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 ...

used by the Poles in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

History

After Poland regained its independence in 1918, the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stre ...

was equipped with all sorts of machine guns inherited from the armed forces of the partitioners, along with equipment from the French and British armies that equipped the Polish Blue Army during the

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The large variety of light machine guns used, as well as the fact that each of them used a different caliber, made troop training and logistics a difficult task. Zdzisław de Ville

After the Polish-Bolshevik War, in 1923 a competition was opened for a new, standard light machine gun for the Polish army that was to replace all previously used types of LMG. The competition ended without a winner and the following year the Polish Ministry of War purchased 12 specimens of the

M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle The Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) is a family of American automatic rifles and machine guns used by the United States and numerous other countries during the 20th century. The primary variant of the BAR series was the M1918, chambered for the ...

, Lewis gun ("Lewis wz. 1923") and Hotchkiss M1909 Benét–Mercié each. Testing proved the superiority of the American construction, and during the 1925 competition, a Belgian FN-made Browning was chosen. Although extensive tests were continued, the Polish army ordered a series of Belgian-made BAR machine guns, modified to better suit the Polish needs. The modifications included changing the round from

.30-06 Springfield The .30-06 Springfield cartridge (pronounced "thirty- aught-six" ), 7.62×63mm in metric notation, and called the .30 Gov't '06 by Winchester, was introduced to the United States Army in 1906 and later standardized; it remained in military use ...

to standard Polish 7.92×57mm Mauser),Bishop, Chris (1998). ''The Encyclopedia: Weapons of World War II.'' New York: Barnes & Noble Inc. , p. 239 the construction of a bipod and mounting, and the iron sights (peephole changed to v-notch type). The barrel was lengthened for greater accuracy and a pistol grip was added for easier aiming. Apart from the 10,000 pieces ordered from

Fabrique Nationale Fabrique Nationale Herstal (), trading as FN Herstal and often referred to as Fabrique Nationale or simply FN, is a leading firearms manufacturer based in Herstal, Belgium. It is currently the largest exporter of military small arms in Europe. ...

, Poland also bought a license to producet the weapon domestically.Robert R. Hodges, Jr., ''The Browning Automatic Rifle''. Weapon Series. Osprey Publishing, 2012, 9781849087612. p. 18 The first wz.28 LMGs were officially commissioned in 1927 and were officially named ''7,92 mm rkm Browning wz. 1928'', which is Polish for "7.92 mm hand-held machine gun of Browning mark 1928". Rkm wz 28 stronsko (Bolas)

Due to serious flaws in license documentation purchased from Belgium, production in Poland was not started until 1930. Until 1939 approximately 14,000 pieces were built. Additional modifications were introduced during the production run. Among them was the replacement of the iron sights with a smaller version and reshaping the butt to a "fish tail" shape. There were also extensive works on spare, replaceable barrels for the weapon, which however were never completed due to the outbreak of World War II. During the German-Soviet

Invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

of 1939, the ''rkm wz. 1928'' was the standard LMG used by almost all Polish infantry and cavalry units. The

German armed forces The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

captured a number of Polish-made Browning guns and used them until the end of World War II under the designation of ''lMG 28 (p)''. A number were also seized by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

and used during the war.

Variants

The RKM wz.28 was a basis for development of an aerial, flexible machine gun, designated karabin maszynowy obserwatora wz.37, used mainly by the Polish PZL.37 Łoś bombers.

Users

*:Supplied in small quantities by the Soviet Union in 1940 * *: Captured in 1939 *: 126 Units * *: Captured in 1939 *: Bought for Spanish Civil War *: Captured from Republican side

Notes

References

* * * {{WWIIGermanInfWeapons 7.92×57mm Mauser machine guns 7.92×57mm Mauser battle rifles Light machine guns Machine guns of Poland Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1930 World War II infantry weapons of Poland World War II machine guns