Knorr-Bremse

[Armeiro]

Knorr-Bremse MG-35/36 light machine gun...



Swedish Knorr-Bremse Kg. m/40 light machine gun...





http://world.guns.ru/machine/mg91-e.htm
http://www.gotavapen.se/gota/artiklar/k ... sh_kg4.htm

[Armeiro]

"The Kg m/40 was a light machine gun used by the Swedish Army during the 1940s.
A small number were also manufactured in Germany by Knorr-Bremse for the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS, under the name MG35/36A, though they were mostly called just "the Knorr-Bremse".

The KG/1940 loaded its magazine from the side, similar to the FG42. It also had the ability to use 20 round magazines from Swedish type M1918 BAR's. In 1940 there was a desperate need for machineguns in Sweden. The production rate of kg m/37 was rather slow and not suitable for modern production.

In 1940, a LMG was accepted called system SAV (Svenska Automat Vapen = Swedish Automatic Weapons). The design was made by a German called Hans Lauf at Magdeburg Maschinenfabrik AG. However the patent starts out from the 22nd of November 1933 in Sweden. He had two fellow applicants from Sweden: Ivar Staeck and Torsten Lindfors.

Staeck and Lindfors got the patent for the double gas canal system and the double trigger construction. This prototype was called LH33 and it later became Kg m/40. 1935 Hans Lauf became manager for the AG Knorr-Bremse, Berlin-Lichtenberg. There he got patent 19th of September 1935 for a similar weapon called LH35 which is modified to LH36 and this prototype was later accepted as the German MG 35/36. Wendelin Przykalla at Knorr-Bremse AG made some further improvements 1939. The weapon was most likely only designed at Knorr-Bremse but manufactured in Waffenfabrik Steyr."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kg_m/40_light_machine_gun

[Sewer King]

Small-arms author Ian V. Hogg wrote that the buttstock of the Knorr-Bremse could fall off in action, but I can't tell any fastener details that might hint at this.

The name refers to a company that manufactured automotive brakes(?)

Did the Finns take some numbers of these guns into service?

-- Alan

[audrew]

maybe someone has photos of the years cited mg35/36 wwII

[Juha Tompuri]

Did the Finns take some numbers of these guns into service?

I've read somewhere about that, but it is only a rumour.
Couple of links:
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... it#p555330
http://gotavapen.se/gota/artiklar/kg/swedish_kg4.htm
in swedish:
http://forum.skalman.nu/viewtopic.php?f ... 0500&hilit

Regards, Juha

[peeved]

MG 35/36 in AA stance from my Motley Collection of Fine Arts. Possibly in or near Poland; Zegrze (?) sign seems to run low on vowels.

Markus

[Kocur]

There is a town of Zegrze in Poland, north of Warsaw. Road sign in German there indicates the picture was taken past 1939.

[peeved]

Thanks Kocur,

Probably armed SS training in occupied Poland then.

Markus

[audrew]

The picture was taken probably in the Góra town before the year 1942. Nowy Dwor in 1939 was renamed the Neuhof, and since 1942 the Bugmünde.

[peeved]

Thanks Audrew,

For fixing the time frame and narrowing the shot location down.

Markus

[peeved]

SS folks with prototype Knorr-Bremse from my MCFA.

Markus

[JTV]

Did the Finns take some numbers of these guns into service?

Finnish sources don't even mention this machinegun. It is unclear if Finnish Armed Forces inventory had some among the "machineguns miscellanious" category that contained lot of weapons of which only one or two had been acquired for testing. What is clear is that they were not common and nothing suggests that they would have seen any Finnish use.

Jarkko

[Kevin Kenneally]

All,

I am looking for information that this machine gun was used by SS formations during the campaign against Poland in 1939?

I've seen the write-ups that detail that this MG was used by the Waffen SS, just trying to confirm that it really was used by the Waffen SS during that time period.

Thanks

Kevin

[audrew]

MG Knorr - Bremse

[Jay Felsberg]

As near as I can tell from various sources (Gander and Chamberlin among others) the KB was used only by the Waffen-SS and they passed them on to foreign units just as soon as they could. Keep in mind that in the early years the SS was the red-headed stepchild of the German armed fources and they used whatever they ZB-26/30, MP-388, Erma MP, etc.

The consensus of Small Arms of the World and the guys in the small arms locker at Aberdeen when I visited several years ago (it like being in gun heaven) was that the KB was not a very good weapon.

And it was manufactured by a company that made vehicle brakes and they wisely went back to that!