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MG34
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 new concept in automatic firepower – the ''Einheitsmaschinengewehr'' (Universal machine gun) – and is generally considered the world's first general-purpose machine gun (GPMG). Both the MG 34 and MG 42 were erroneously nicknamed "Spandau" by Allied troops, a carryover from the World War I nickname for the MG 08, which was produced at the Spandau Arsenal. The versatile MG 34 was chambered for the fully-powered 7.92×57mm Mauser rifle cartridge and was arguably the most advanced machine gun in the world at the time of its deployment. The MG 34 was envisaged and well-developed to provide portable light and medium machine gun infantry cover, anti-aircraft coverage, and even sniping ability. Its combination of exceptional mobility – ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Open Bolt
A firearm is said to fire from an open bolt or open breech if, when ready to fire, the bolt and working parts are held to the rear of the receiver, with no round in the chamber. When the trigger is actuated, the bolt travels forward, feeds a cartridge from the magazine or belt into the chamber, and fires that cartridge in the same movement. Like any other self-loading design, the action is cycled by the energy released from the propellant, which sends the bolt back to the rear, compressing the mainspring in readiness for firing the next round. In an open-bolt gun firing semi-automatically, the bolt is caught and held at this point by the sear after each shot; and in automatic open-bolt fire, it's caught and held in this manner whenever the trigger is released. In contrast to this, in closed-bolt guns, the trigger and sear do not affect the movement of the bolt directly. Generally, an open-bolt firing cycle is used for fully automatic weapons and not for semi-automatic weapons ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General-purpose Machine Gun
A general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) is an air-cooled, usually belt-fed machine gun that can be adapted flexibly to various tactical roles for light and medium machine guns. A GPMG typically features a quick-change barrel design calibered for various fully powered cartridges such as the 7.62×51mm NATO, 7.62×54mmR, 7.5×54mm French, 7.5×55mm Swiss and 7.92×57mm Mauser, and be configured for mounting to different stabilizing platforms from bipods and tripods to vehicles, aircraft, boats and fortifications, usually as an infantry support weapon or squad automatic weapon. History The general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) originated with the MG 34, designed in 1934 by Heinrich Vollmer of Mauser on the commission of Nazi Germany to circumvent the restrictions on machine guns imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. It was introduced into the Wehrmacht as an entirely new concept in automatic firepower, dubbed the ''Einheitsmaschinengewehr'', meaning "universal machine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biafran War
The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Biafran War, Nigeria-Biafra War, or Biafra War, was fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence from Nigeria in 1967. Nigeria was led by General Yakubu Gowon, and Biafra by Lieutenant Colonel Chukwuemeka "Emeka" Odumegwu Ojukwu. The conflict resulted from political, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions which preceded the United Kingdom's formal decolonisation of Nigeria from 1960 to 1963. Immediate causes of the war in 1966 included a military coup, a counter-coup, and anti-Igbo pogroms in the Northern Region. The pogroms and the exodus of surviving Igbos from the Northern Region to the Igbo homelands in the Eastern Region led the leadership of the Eastern Region (whose population was two-thirds Igbo) to conclude that the Nigerian federal government would not protect them and that they must protect themselves in an independent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Recoil-operated
Recoil operation is an operating mechanism used to implement locked-breech autoloading firearms. Recoil operated firearms use the energy of recoil to cycle the action, as opposed to gas operation or blowback operation using the pressure of the propellant gas. History The earliest mention of recoil used to assist the loading of firearms is sometimes claimed to be in 1663 when an Englishman called Palmer proposed to employ either it or gases tapped along a barrel to do so. However no one has been able to verify this claim in recent times, although there is another automatic gun that dates from the same year, but its type and method of operation are unknown. Recoil-operation, if it was invented in 1663, would then lie dormant until the 19th century, when a number of inventors started to patent designs featuring recoil operation; this was due to the fact that the integrated disposable cartridge (both bullet and propellant in one easily interchangeable unit) made these designs vi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zbrojovka Brno
Zbrojovka Brno, s.r.o is a maker of small arms in Brno, Brno, Czech Republic, wholly owned by Colt CZ Group, Colt-CZ Group. In the past it also made light artillery, cars, motorcycles, tractors and various tools, such as typewriters and early computers. In 1946, Zbrojovka started manufacturing tractors under the brand Zetor (a combination of the letter "Zet" and the word "tractor"). Zetor continues to make tractors as a separate company. History The company was founded in 1918 as a state-owned factory known as the State Armament and Engineering Works. The factory assembled German Gewehr 98 and Austrian Mannlicher M1895 rifles, but later began producing their own. In 1924–1925 a new factory was built, where cars, engines and other machines were produced in addition to rifles and machine guns. In the 1930s, the factory also produced Remington licensed typewriters and Skoda tractors. During the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, Zbrojovka Brno was renamed to Waffenwerke Brunn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steyr-Daimler-Puch
Steyr-Daimler-Puch () was a large manufacturing conglomerate based in Steyr, Austria, which was broken up in stages between 1987 and 2001. The component parts and operations continued to exist under separate ownership and new names. History The company, initially known as Josef und Franz Werndl and Company was founded in 1864 as a rifle manufacturer. The company began producing bicycles in 1894. It grew rapidly during the First World War, by the end of which it employed 14,000 people. Steyr automobiles were made after 1918. In September 1917 Steyr recruited Hans Ledwinka, now remembered as one of the great automobile engineers of the twentieth century, but then relatively unknown, to the position of "Chefkonstrukteur", to lead the creation of their automobile manufacturing business. The first Steyr car, the six cylinder Type II "12/40" appeared in 1920. It was heavy and well-built, if a little cumbersome. It spawned sports versions with an impressive list of international achie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mauser
Mauser, originally the Königlich Württembergische Gewehrfabrik, was a German arms manufacturer. Their line of bolt-action rifles and semi-automatic pistols was produced beginning in the 1870s for the German armed forces. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Mauser designs were also exported and licensed to many countries, which adopted them as military and civilian sporting firearms. The Gewehr 98 in particular was widely adopted and copied, becoming one of the most copied firearms designs and it is the foundation of many of today's sporting bolt-action rifles. Around 10 million Gewehr 98 style rifles were produced. History King Frederick I of Württemberg founded the enterprise as Königliche Waffen Schmieden (literally: Royal Weapons Forges) on 31 July 1811. Originally located partly at Ludwigsburg and partly at Christophsthal, the factory was transferred to the former Augustine Cloister in Oberndorf am Neckar, where Andreas Mauser worked as the master gunsmith. Of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rheinmetall
Rheinmetall AG () is a German automotive and arms manufacturer, headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was promoted to the DAX, Germany's leading stock market index, in March 2023. It is the largest German and fifth largest European arms manufacturer, and produces a variety of armored fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, in both wheeled and tracked versions. Its name is derived from the German-language words ''Rhein'' and ''Metall'', translating to "Rhine-metal" when combined. History Founding and early growth In April 1889, the Hörder Bergwerks- und Hütten-Verein founded the Rheinische Metallwaren- und Maschinenfabrik Aktiengesellschaft under General Director Josef Massenez, to produce ammunition for the German Empire. The Thuringian engineer Heinrich Ehrhardt (1840-1928) oversaw the construction of the Rheinmetall plant in Düsseldorf and managed it until 1920. He made many of his patents and inventions available to the company and contributed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heinrich Vollmer
Heinrich Vollmer (1885 in Altdorf, Esslingen–1961 in Tübingen) was a German small-arms designer. Vollmer began his manufacturing career by making parts for the German copies of the Maxim gun during the First World War. His first innovation was a beltless feed for the MG08/15. It was followed by a somewhat similar device for the MP/18/I submachine gun—this consisted of a 60-round circular, spool magazine that was carried by the soldier on loop on his hip and it was connected to the gun by a flexible hose. (The latter can be seen at the Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung Koblenz (WTS) as item #50008).G. de Vries, B.J. Martens: The MP 38, 40, 40/1 and 41 Submachine gun, Propaganda Photos Series, Volume 2, Special Interest Publicaties BV, Arnhem, The Netherlands.First Edition 2001, pages 8-13 In the early 1920s, Vollmer started to develop his own sub-machineguns. His early models, named VPG, VPGa, VPF and VMP1925 were fairly similar to the MP18. The VMP1925 had a wooden handgr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yugoslav Wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFR Yugoslavia). The conflicts both led up to and resulted from the breakup of Yugoslavia, which began in mid-1991, into six independent countries matching the six Republics of Yugoslavia, entities known as republics that had previously constituted Yugoslavia: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and North Macedonia, Macedonia (now Macedonia naming dispute, called North Macedonia). SFR Yugoslavia's constituent republics declared independence due to rising nationalism. Unresolved tensions between ethnic minorities in the new countries led to the wars. While most of the conflicts ended through peace accords that involved full international recognition of new states, they resulted in a massive number of d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Troubles
The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed to have ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Although the Troubles mostly took place in Northern Ireland, at times violence spilled over into parts of the Republic of Ireland, England, and mainland Europe. Sometimes described as an Asymmetric warfare, asymmetric or Irregular warfare, irregular war or a low-intensity conflict, the Troubles were a political and nationalistic struggle fueled by historical events, with a strong Ethnic conflict, ethnic and sectarian dimension, fought over the Partition of Ireland, status of Northern Ireland. Unionism in Ireland, Unionists and Ulster loyalism, loyalists, who for Plantation of Ulster, historical reasons were mostly Ulster Protestants, wanted Northern Ireland to remain within the United Ki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
