Schwarzlose M.07/12 8mm Heavy Machine Gun
by Peter Kempf and Jack Mueller

Invented by Andreas Schwartzlose of Charlottenberg Germany in 1902, this gun was first produced by Steyr in Austria three years later. The Austro-Hungarian Army used them in several models, and it was their standard Machine Gun throughout the War, used on all fronts. (An altered version of this gun was used by the Austro-Hungarian air service, although it proved markedly inferior to most other Machine Guns used in Aircraft. Indeed it wasn't until 1917 that the Schwarzlose was modified for use with aircraft.)

It was, as can be seen in the photo, a water-cooled weapon, with a pretty short barrel. It's tripod could be adjusted so that the gun could be fired at different heights. It could, as can be seen below, also be equipped with a special 7mm Shield of Steel. The gun could also be equipped with wheels. (In addition to being used in Austria it was used in 6.5 mm calibre in Sweden as the Model 14 and in the Netherlands as the Models 08, 08/13 and 08/15. Czechoslovakia used it in 7.92 mm calibre and the Italians made great use of it, having large stocks they had taken from the Austrians after World War 1. Some Schwarzlose MG:s were also employed by both the Italians and the Russians - using captured supplies of the Austro-Hungarian weapon.) It was a sturdy weapon and reliable weapon. It had some drawbacks. In order to prevent the cartridges from getting stuck, the gun had a in-built oil pump, that dispensed oil on this part of the machanism, but the problem with this was, that this generated quite a lot of smoke, which could make the gun easy to spot.

It was comparitively light when compared to a Vickers, or Maxim.   Additionally, though the system was designed to utilize a tri-pod (the configuration most often seen with the weapon) it was supplied with a shoulder stock extention that could be bolted to the receiver.  The carrying back-pack for the gun was fitted centrally with a steel sleeve to accept the gun's pinion, and in demands of expediency, could be utilized as a extemperized block mount for firing. After the success of the light MG08/15 was noted, a bipod was developed to clamp over the foward portion of the water jacket; which, when utilized with the shoulder stock, made  the Schwarzlose a reasonably successful assault weapon.

The organization of the Machine Gun units was - as much else in the Austro-Hungarian Army - in almost constant flux during the war. In 1914 the Regimental MG Company for the most time had four sections, each equipped with two Schwarloses. (This type of MG Coy consisted of 5 officers and 157 men.) At the end of the war the aim was to have each Infantry Division have one MG Batallion with three Companies, and in addition to this one MG Company to each Infantry Regiment. Each Company was still to have 8 guns, but Companies with 4 guns was not unusual. In some units, however, the MG Companies were allocated to the Batallions. There was no unity in this.

For more info see this Dutch Link.

Technical Data