The ZB-60 was a
heavy machine gun
A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require mounting onto a weapons platform to be operably stable or ...
designed by
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 c ...
in
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
during the 1930s.
History
Design efforts started in the early 1930's for a 20mm automatic gun for anti-tank service. In 1933, the design parameters were altered to the 15×104mm Škoda round as a large caliber heavy machine gun. As early as 1934 the ZB-60 was tested by the Czechoslovak military, which did not adopt it due to accuracy concerns and excessive recoil even with its weight. For several years it was planned as a fortification gun where the recoil could be easily managed by stronger mounts, until the heavy machine gun was dropped from the fortification concepts.
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
acquired a number of guns after the
occupation of Czechoslovakia
Occupation commonly refers to:
*Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment
*Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces
*Military occupation, th ...
in March 1939 were taken into
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
service as the 15 mm 39(t). Under German occupation, new guns were produced for the Wehrmacht and
Kriegsmarine
The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...
. After the
Invasion of Yugoslavia
The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, was a Nazi Germany, German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was put fo ...
, former Yugoslav guns were designated as the 15 mm 490(j). The Germans used them as
anti-aircraft gun
Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...
s during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
The British acquired a license, and later developed their
15 mm Besa machine gun from the ZB-60 for service on armored fighting vehicles.
Users
*
*
* — A batch was sold to Iran.
*
* — In 1937 the ZB-60 was adopted by Yugoslavia as the Mitraljez 15 mm M.38 and the UK acquired a license.
See also
*
Weapons of Czechoslovakia interwar period
This is a list of weapons used by Czechoslovakia during its interwar period (1918–1938). These include weapons that were designed and manufactured in Czechoslovakia and Czechoslovak modifications to existing weapons, like the Schwarzlose machine ...
Citations
Sources
* Gander, Terry and Chamberlain, Peter. ''Weapons of the Third Reich: An Encyclopedic Survey of All Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the German Land Forces 1939-1945''. New York: Doubleday, 1979
*
External links
*
{{Weapons of Czechoslovakia
Machine guns of Czechoslovakia
Heavy machine guns
Military equipment introduced in the 1930s