Interwar Light Machinegun Development in Czechoslovakia History - Praga I - Praga IIA - Praga I-23 - M24 - ZB26 - ZB27 - ZB30 - ZB30J - Bren

History
World War One had ended.  The Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved.  In the midst of the chaos falling out of this situation, the newly created state of Czechoslovakia, whose existence had been guaranteed by the Treaty of Versailles, went about the onerous task of creating an army.

Initially, the only weapons available to the new state were those that had managed to survive the war.  Many Czechoslovak soldiers and Home Guardsmen bore the Austrian weapons that they had carried home from the battlefields.  Meanwhile, the former Austro-Hungarian arsenals situated on Czech territory were filled with captured Russian and Italian munitions.  To add to the confusion, the Russians, French and Italians had organized Czech prisoners of war into Legions to fight on the Allied side.  These various Czech Legions were armed and equipped by the host countries that had raised them.  As a result, the Russian Czech Legion came home from Siberia (after a harrowing part in the Russian Civil War and subsequent anabasis) armed partially with Russian weapons but mostly with Japanese arms, as well as a smattering of French Chauchat light machineguns.  So prevalent were the Japanese arms that Sellier & Bellot, renowned Czech ammunition manufacturers, tooled up to produce 6.5mm Arisaka ammunition for the over 40,000 rifles then in use by Czech forces.

The 47,000 men of the Russian Czech Legion were joined by the 45,000 men of the Italian Czech Legion, all armed with Italian weapons, and the 7,000 men of the French Czech Legion, who all carried French weapons.  To this amalgamation of weaponry was added the spoils from the Austrian arsenals on Czech soil as well as some 40,000 Mauser Gewehr 98's purchased from the Dutch government.  (The Dutch, neutral during the war, had interned the rifles from German troops who had elected to retreat through Holland in November 1918.)

As a result of the variegated sources by which the Czechs came by their arms, by 1921 the Czech Army was equipped with no fewer than 92 types of infantry weapons, most of which were very well used, including M1895 and earlier Mannlicher rifles and carbines, Gewehr 98 Mauser variants, Mosin-Nagant M91 rifles, Arisaka Type 30 and 38 (and older) rifles and carbines, Mannlicher-Carcano Model 1891 rifles, Lebel Model 1886 and Berthier Model 1907/15 rifles and carbines, Austrian Model 1907 and 1912 pistols, Hungarian Frommer pistols, Austrian, French, German, Russian and Spanish revolvers, Austrian M1907, M1907/12, and M1916 Schwarzlose machineguns, Vickers and Lewis machineguns, Hotchkiss M1914 and Chauchat M1915 machineguns, and Maxim MG08 and MG08/15 machineguns.  The result was that the Czech logistics system had to come up with at least a dozen different types of ammunition, ranging in caliber from 6.5mm to 9mm, and with countless dimensional variations, such as those between 9mm Parabellum, which uses a case that is 19mm long, and the 9mm Steyr, which uses a 23mm long case.

Not only were the Czechs awash in many different types of arms, but they found themselves at the cusp of a new tactical reality as well.  The deployment of large numbers of machineguns caused the traditional use of infantry as massed bodies of riflemen to cease.  The basic combat element shrank from the battalion to the company to the platoon to the squad and finally to what the French would call the groupe de combat, which was centered upon the automatic rifleman or light machinegunner, who was then surrounded by a group of riflemen, grenadiers, or storm troopers.  The postwar Czech Army subscribed wholly to this theory, and issued the "lightened" M1907/12 Austrian Schwarzlose machinegun to the Infantry on a variety of tripods in lieu of a proper automatic rifle or light machinegun, and the French Chauchat to their Cavalry.  Neither of these were very successful, as the Schwarzlose was described as "an unfortunate Austrian heritage which did not prove itself" and the Chauchat "The French fusil mitrailleur has so many defects that its introduction is certainly temporary."

Despite the limitations of the available weaponry, the Czechs evolved the "Combat Cluster," a body of 13 men centered on a light automatic weapon which was described as "the soul of the combat troops."  Indeed, as early as 1920, the Czech General Staff was insisting that all infantry squads be equipped with some form of light automatic weapon and that the Armament Department was urged to study all new concepts and ideas as none of the old weapons satisfied the needs of the new tactical concepts.  At the same time the Czechs were coming to the realization of the importance of building a national munitions industry.  No neighbor could be considered a source of munitions, as they either did not have the production capacity, or during wartime, that supply could be cut off.  As a result, the decision to build a domestic production base was "logical and inevitable."

Realizing that what was necessary was a new weapons system built around a light machinegun, the Czech Ministry of Defense sought out the latest designs from around the world.  Foreign competitors came to Czechoslovakia as fast as ships and trains would take them.  The French brought their new Darne light machinegun in 1920, the Danish Recoil Rifle Syndicate their Madsen in 1922, and in August, 1922, Vickers-Armstrong brought their new Vickers-Berthier.  French influence was very strong in the Czech military of the 1920's.  So much so, in fact, that the French Military Attaché, General Mittelhauser, was also the Chief of the Czech General Staff.  General Mittelhauser was not above using his position to promote French industry.  While urging a speedy choice of new light machinegun, General Mittelhauser strongly worked against the idea of domestic production in Czechoslovakia of native designs.  Not surprisingly, he judged the Madsen gun to be too expensive to produce and championed the Darne design.  After extensive testing of the Darne gun in both 8mm Mannlicher and 7.92mm Mauser, the Ministry of Defense wrote to the Darne company in France and indicated that after testing, they had discovered that the Darne gun "could be ruined in the field in one day."

Early Development

Praga I

Image Credit:  Dugelby, Thomas B, The Bren Gun Saga, Collector Grade Publications, Cobourg, Ontario, 1999  Page 9

During the testing of the foreign designs, the nascent Czech arms industry had not been sleeping.  In 1920, Vaclav Holek began to work on a light machinegun at the Praga Zbrojovka (Prague Armory) in Vrsovice.  Holek's design was based on

a proposal by Rudolf Jelan, another designer at Praga Zbrojovka.  This first Czech machinegun, known as the Praga I, was gas operated and air cooled.  It was belt fed and used the fabric belts of the Maxim MG08.  The new gun was tested and compared well to the foreign Madsen, Vickers, and Browning.  The Armament and Technical Commission, much to General Mittlehauser's consternation, made a decision to continue testing the Madsen gun, and to continue development of the Praga I, it being a domestic design.

Praga IIA

Further developments of the Praga I by Vaclav Holek led to the Praga IIA.  The Praga IIA was also belt fed, but had a modified gas system and was fitted with a modified gas system, a

Image Credit:  Dugelby, Thomas B, The Bren Gun Saga, Collector Grade Publications, Cobourg, Ontario, 1999  Page 10

folding monopod, and had a carrying handle above the perforated barrel jacket.  The Ministry of Defense ordered six Praga IIA's, all fitted with 29.1" barrels in June, 1922.  A few months after the testing of the Praga IIA began in earnest, in February 1923, the  Ministry of Defense issued a set of "general specifications for the testing of automatic rifles and light machine guns."  Based on these new specifications, the Praga IIA, chambered  for the German World War One "S-patrone," a 154 grain 7.92mm bullet, was tested again.  The gun performed well.  Despite this, and rather unsurprisingly, General Mittelhauser recommended that the Praga IIA be eliminated as there were a number of defects and the Praga factory had no capability for mass production.  Despite this recommendation, the Testing Department unanimously agreed that the Praga IIA, being the only promising domestic design made from domestic materials in a domestic factory, should continue to be tested and should continue to be supported.  When the testing was concluded in April 1923, the Madsen was in first place with the Praga IIA in second.  The Darne, in a move that must have given General Mittelhauser fits, was eliminated from the competition.

Praga I-23

Image Credit:  Dugelby, Thomas B, The Bren Gun Saga, Collector Grade Publications, Cobourg, Ontario, 1999  Page 13

Vaclav Holek, ever industrious, continued to improve his gun, and the next iteration was christened the Praga I-23.  This gun had a removable barrel, a bipod mount, and an adjustable collapsible butt.  The design was also belt fed, using

Schwarzlose cloth belts wound up in a drum which attached to the gun from underneath (the same arrangement the Soviets would use some 25 years later in the Degtyarev RPD).  New trials were conducted, where the I-23, with a shorter barrel, fired 7,500 rounds from two barrels, without a single stoppage, "far outperforming" the competing Berthier and Hotchkiss guns.  After the latest round of tests the Madsen was still in first place, followed by the I-23, then the Berthier, and finally the Hotchkiss in fourth place.  After these encouraging results, the Ministry of Defense invited Praga Zbrojovka to submit its latest models, as well as detailed technical documentation about the earlier guns.  It is worth noting that at this time, Praga Zbrojovka was nearly bankrupt, having funded the entire development of the guns itself.  Most of the company's 500 some odd employees had been laid off, machinery sold off to Ceska Zbrojovka, and most of the designers, including Karel Krnka, Frantisek Myska, and Vaclav, Emanuel, and Frantisek Holek, had left.  Interestingly, most of the guns had been hand tooled prototypes.  Despite this, and having no design drawings or tolerance specifications, a contract was let on June 8, 1923 for 40 I-23 guns with modifications requested in the latest series of trials.  Only one gun was immediately available, and by January 1924, this gun had fired over 35,000 rounds.

M24

The trials were not taking place in a vacuum.  Things were becoming tense within the Czech Army's Ordnance Corps.  Spares and replacements for the old Schwarzlose

Image Credit:  Dugelby, Thomas B, The Bren Gun Saga, Collector Grade Publications, Cobourg, Ontario, 1999  Page 15

guns were running out, and the search for a new machinegun reached frantic proportions.  The Italians entered the fray with their Brixia and the Belgians with the Lewis.  In the midst of this frenzy, Vaclav Holek set out about redesigning the the Praga I-23 to accept a 20 round detachable magazine.  The drawings for the new gun, christened the M24 "hand held machine gun," were released on September 16, 1924.  Initial tests of the new gun were very satisfactory, and Praga Zbrojovka was asked to provide another sample.  The second sample also performed excellently, forcing the acerbic General Mittelhauser to comment that "he did not suspect Czechs could work so fast."  The final die was cast in favor of the domestic design when the Ministry of Defense announced that the new light machinegun for the Czech Army was to be the Praga M24, to be produced at the Brno Armory, with Skoda engineers helping to complete the design for serial production.

ZB26

Image Credit:  Dugelby, Thomas B, The Bren Gun Saga, Collector Grade Publications, Cobourg, Ontario, 1999  Page 22

A license agreement was signed between Zbrojovka Brno (ZB) and Praga Zbrojovka in November 1925, which gave the Brno plant the rights to manufacture and sell the M24.  The Holek brothers then moved to Brno, and for the first time accurate

 drawings and tolerances were created.  The first 20 M24 guns were available in June 1925, but these were rejected for metallurgical faults.  Engineers from the Skoda works solved the metallurgy issue and the gun went into production at ZB, designated the Lekhy kulomet Praga vzor 26 (Light machinegun, Praga type 26), or ZB26 which indicated that there were modifications that had turned the M24 into a new model.

The ZB26's barrel was originally made from Poldi W02 steel from the Poldi steel plant in Kadno, giving a barrel life of some 12,000 rounds.  This was later changed to Poldi CKV steel, which raised the barrel life to 14,000 rounds.  The receiver and breech were made of Poldi ZTEM chromium nickel steel, giving a life of 250,000 rounds for the receiver and 60,000 rounds for the breech mechanism.  Later addition of tungsten to the alloys gave a minimum life of 20,000 rounds for all parts, with the barrel lasting up to 50,000 rounds, and the receiver up to 5,000,000.  The first large order for ZB26's came in November 1925 for 4,000 guns, and was completed in 1928.  The summer of 1928 saw a second order for 6,600 guns placed.  By 1929, the definitive ZB26 had replaced the older types in Czech service and was standard issue in Czech Infantry and Cavalry formations. By 1932 there were some 18,323 ZB26's in service with the Czech Army.

In July, 1936 the Ministry of Defense ordered 10,000 more complete ZB26's, and another 2,600 guns with no mounts for the Directorate of Fortifications.  The 1936 order was gradually expanded until it totaled 15,000 ZB26's by 1938.  In the spring of 1938 an additional 10,020 ZB26's were ordered, as well as an additional 1,400 guns with no mounts for the Directorate of Fortifications.

By October 1, 1937, Brno had signed contracts with foreign countries which obligated them to deliver some 26,000 ZB26's, ZB30's, ZB30J's, as well as Bren guns for export, with delivery schedules extending into March, 1939.  The Ministry of Defense agreed to extend the deadline for delivery of the 1936 order so that exports to China could be accelerated.  Exclusive of the export orders, Brno still had to deliver some 22,000 ZB26's to the Czech Army plus another 20,000 for export.  Difficulty ensued when the Ministry of Defense finally refused to approve further exports until domestic orders were filled.  Brno requested permission to export 15,000 guns held in its own warehouses and all the guns produced in excess of domestic needs in 1939, promising delivery of all outstanding government orders by October 1939.  One last government order was placed on October 30, 1938 for 7,025 ZB26's and another 1,000 to be assembled from stockpiled parts.  Delivery deadlines were set for late 1939.

The World Market
The ZB26 and later derivations enjoyed wide popularity on the world market, and in fact, Brno exported many more light machineguns that were supplied to  the Czech Army.  The ZB26 was first exported to Lithuania and Yugoslavia in 1927 (2,000 guns each), with the first of many shipments to go to China delivered in 1928.  Between 1929 and 1932, ZB26's in a variety of calibers were exported to Brazil, Ecuador, Persia and Siam.

ZB27

The ZB26 was also the subject of continual development.  Improvements in the design of the locking and the unlocking cams on the bolt and piston post resulted in the ZB27.  The ZB26 and ZB27 were tested in Romania in 1929, and

Image Credit:  Dugelby, Thomas B, The Bren Gun Saga, Collector Grade Publications, Cobourg, Ontario, 1999  Page 26

experiences with these tests resulted in design insights that led to the development of the ZB30.  In one instance, the gunner had failed to lock the barrel nut completely, and when the gun was fired, the barrel was launched some 20 feet downrange.  As a result, Vaclav Holek designed a cam on the barrel nut which engaged the piston slide extension, preventing it from going forward with the bolt to fire the gun unless the barrel nut was rotated to the fully locked position.

ZB30

Image Credit:  Dugelby, Thomas B, The Bren Gun Saga, Collector Grade Publications, Cobourg, Ontario, 1999  Page 28

As the ZB26/27 was destined for the world market, so events and developments in the world's munitions market had an effect on the continued development of the Czech gun.  Toward the end of  World War One,

the Germans had fielded the 198 grain schweres Spitzgeschoss (sS) bullet for machine gun usage, while continuing to use the S-patrone in rifles.  Through the 1920's, the German military progressed towards standardizing the sS cartridge for both rifles and machineguns, with production of the S-patrone ceasing in 1934.  Many potential purchasers of the ZB26 had expressed an interest in a model chambered for the sS cartridge.  Modifications were made to the basic ZB26 to handle the increased pressures generated by the heavier bullet.  The modified gun was longer, with a barrel that had a thicker and heavier chamber.  The junction of the barrel and receiver was reinforced, an adjustable gas regulator, and a reinforced gas piston added.  The rear sight was recalibrated for 2,000 meters.  Additional accessories were added, including a rear butt support on a sliding track to help spread out the gun's beaten zone, heavier barrels, larger magazines, and anti-aircraft sights.  The modified gun was designated the ZB30.

ZB30J

Yugoslavia adopted the sS cartridge in 1934.  An order for 10,000 ZB26's was placed in 1935, with a delivery scheduled for August 1937, and further possibility of licensed production at the Yugoslav State Arsenal at Kragujevac.  Brno was

Image Credit:  Dugelby, Thomas B, The Bren Gun Saga, Collector Grade Publications, Cobourg, Ontario, 1999  Page 37

unable to meet the scheduled delivery and the Ministry of Defense recommended that 10,000 ZB26 guns be released from Army stores against replacement by new and improved types.  This rearmament never took place, as the older ZB26 guns functioned poorly with the sS cartridge.  To keep the contract in the face of stiff competition from Browning Automatic Rifles, exclusive modifications were made to the ZB30, which resulted in the creation of the ZB30J (J for Jugoslav).  The ZB30J had a thicker, non-finned breech area with distinctive checkering, as well as a larger and more robust gas system.  A contract was signed in July 1936 for 15,000 ZB30J light machineguns, of which 5,000 were replacements for the earlier ZB26's, which Brno took back, refurbished, and sold to China.  Later licensed production did indeed take place at Kragujevac.

A contract was signed with Romania in 1930 for ZB30's, but no guns were delivered for lack of payment.  A license production agreement was eventually entered into, and the ZB30 was produced at the Romanian State Arsenal at Cugir as the ZB30R.  There was also a  Turkish contract.  The Turkish ZB30 differed from the Romanian in that it had a lightweight cavalry barrel and was made from different steels due to very strict Turkish specifications.  During the Turkish trials, a Turkish general fired an entire twenty round magazine at a target, which, when inspected, was found to contain only one hole.  Representatives of Zbrojovka Brno saved the general great embarrassment when they congratulated him on the superlative shooting skills which had enabled him to place all 20 rounds through the same hole!  During the Portuguese trials, the ZB30 fired 10,000 rounds with no stoppages whatsoever, and the average dispersion remained the same after 5,000 rounds.  As a result of this demonstration, an order for several thousand guns was placed.

By 1938, 120,000 ZB light machineguns of various models had been made at Brno, with the majority being made for export.  Up to the outbreak of World War Two, ZB guns were exported to Afghanistan, Bolivia, Chile, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Persia, Iraq, Japan, Lithuania, Peru, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia.  These were only the major contracts - ZB guns went to many more countries.

Bren

Image Credit:  Dugelby, Thomas B, The Bren Gun Saga, Collector Grade Publications, Cobourg, Ontario, 1999  Page 112

Perhaps the one piece to of the story that is missing is that of the ZGB33 and the ZGB34.  These guns were made to compete in the English light machinegun trials, as the English sought to rearm their infantry with a modern light automatic weapon.  In 1935, the English selected the ZGB34 as the new light machinegun for the

British Army.  The designation received by the new gun married the name of the plant in Czechoslovakia where it had been designed, Brno, with the plant where it was to be produced, Enfield, to give the name Bren.

Conclusion
From their inauspicious beginnings, the state of automatic weapons development in Czechoslovakia reached dizzying heights.  In fact, it is not unwarranted to observe that with the possible exception of the Browning Automatic Rifle, the guns developed in Czechoslovakia were the most influential and important light automatic weapons in the world.

Note:  Data for this month's trivia page was gathered from:

The Bren Gun Saga, by Thomas B. Dugelby, Collector Grade Publications, 2000

The Bren Gun Saga is available from Collector Grade Publications.  Click on the image to order.

 
 

HOME