Breda M37

Breda M37
Fucile Mitragliatore Breda Modello 1937

Type Placeoforigin

Heavy machine gun Kingdom of Italy

Service history
Inservice Usedby Wars 1937 to 1960s Italy Portugal World War II, Portuguese Colonial War, current regional conflicts

Production history
Designed Manufacturer Produced Numberbuilt Variants 1936 Breda Meccanica Bresciana 1937 to 1943 not known Modello 38 vehicle mounted

Specifications
Weight Length Cartridge Action Rateoffire 17.5 kg 1270 mm 859mm RB Breda gas-operated 460 round/min maximum, 250 rounds/min sustained

Muzzlevelocity 900 m/s (2,952 ft/s) Effectiverange 1000 m Feedsystem 20 round strip

The Breda Modello 37 was an Italian heavy machine gun (Mitragliatrice Breda MOD.37) adopted in 1937. It was the standard machine gun for the Royal Italian Army during World War II. The M37 was meant as company/battalion support as compared to the more troublesome M1930 meant for squad/platoon support, and proved far more effective in combat, though possessing some of the same problematic features of Breda 30.

Breda M37

Design and Operation

The Breda M37 was a gas-operated, air-cooled heavy machine gun. The Breda used a larger cartridge than its rivals, the 8mm x59RB Breda. Unlike other infantry machine guns, the Breda lacked a camming mechanism for initial extraction of the cartridge case after firing, and this meant that each cartridge had to be oiled via an oiling mechanism before being fed into the chamber. This attracted dust and debris, particularly in desert environments such as found in the Royal Italian Army's World War II campaigns in Libya and the Western Desert. Another drawback was that the gun was fed by 20-round strips of cartridges. This limited continuous fire, as the gun could only be fired rapidly when a second crew member fed in one ammunition strip after another. The rounds still had to be oiled to stop the cases sticking in the chamber, with all the disadvantages this entailed. Another peculiarity of the design is that the spent cases were reinserted in the strip as each round was fired. The mechanical energy required to perform this function substantially reduced the rate of fire, and the weapon tended to jam whenever a case was reinserted even slightly out of line. It also meant that in the event the metal clips had to be reused, the gunner's assistant had to first remove the empty cases from the strips.

Service Use
In service, the M37 and M38 Bredas proved to be fairly reliable heavy machine guns. Perhaps because the heavy support weapons received more attention from their crews, field reports were generally positive except for jams caused by desert sand and dust, which in the Western Desert affected all infantry machine guns to some extent. The M37 Breda's slow rate of fire helped prevent overheating during continuous fire, and its powerful, heavy-bullet cartridge had excellent range and penetration. The weapon remained in first-line service with Italian forces throughout the war, and captured examples were used in combat by British and Commonwealth forces, including units of the SAS[citation needed]. The M37 was also adopted by the Portuguese armed forces, who placed it into service as the Metralhadora pesada 7,92 mm m/938 Breda heavy machine gun. The Breda saw extensive service in Portugal's African colonies during the early stages of the Portuguese Colonial Wars.[1] The Breda Modello 38 was intended for vehicle use, and was fed from a top-mounted box magazine. The Modello 38 used a pistol style grip, rather than the twin firing handles of the Modello 37. This was the main vehicle-mounted machine gun used in fighting vehicles by the Royal Italian Army. Production ended in 1943. It was still used as a standard machine gun after the war, until it was replaced by more modern machine guns.

References
[1] Abbott, Peter, and Rodrigues, Manuel, Modern African Wars 2: Angola and Mozambique, 1961-1974, Osprey Publishing (1998), p. 18

External links
Commando Supremo: Italy at War (http://www.comandosupremo.com/Breda37.html)

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

Breda M37 Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=540551245 Contributors: A Werewolf, Aldis90, Amendola90, CommonsDelinker, DannyMacGill, Delta 51, Evers, FAM1885, Gerd 72, Hmains, KEN, Koalorka, MatthewVanitas, Minorhistorian, Mzmadmike, Od Mishehu, Ohconfucius, Ospalh, RobertLunaIII, Sigurd1805, Skinny McGee, Surv1v4l1st, Sus scrofa, 23 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

Image:Breda M37.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Breda_M37.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Gerd 72 (talk) Original uploader was Gerd 72 at en.wikipedia File:Flag of Italy (1861-1946).svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Italy_(1861-1946).svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.5 Contributors: Flanker File:Flag of Portugal.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Portugal.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro (1910; generic design); Vtor Lus Rodrigues; Antnio Martins-Tuvlkin (2004; this specific vector set: see sources)

License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/