page_title: Schwarzlose machine gun
section_title: Use as an infantry and naval weapon
hierarchical_section_title: Schwarzlose machine gun / Use as an infantry and naval weapon
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Maschinengewehrschützen der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Armee, hier im Winterkampf im Tiroler Hochgebirge. English: Austro-Hungarian machine-gun somewhere in the Tyrolean high mountains area
context_page_description: The Maschinengewehr M. 7, also known as the Schwarzlose MG, is a medium machine-gun, used as a standard issue firearm in the Austro-Hungarian Army throughout World War I. It was utilized by the Dutch, Greek and Hungarian armies during World War II. It was routinely issued to Italian colonial troops, alongside the Mannlicher M1895 rifle.
context_section_description: For infantry use, the Schwarzlose was usually employed as a traditional, tripod mounted, heavy machine gun served by a crew of at least three soldiers, one of whom was the commander, usually an NCO, a gunner who carried the weapon, a third soldier who served as an ammunition carrier and loader and he would presumably also carry the tripod although in practice a fourth soldier might be added to the team to carry the tripod. Another less commonly seen method of deployment was the more compact 'backpack mount'. In this configuration the gun was fitted with a backwards folding bipod attached to the front of the water jacket near the muzzle. The backpack mount itself consisted of a square wooden frame with a metal socket in the center. When the gun was fully deployed the frame was laid on the ground, the gun's central mounting point that usually attached to a tripod now had a small mounting pin attached to it instead which was inserted into the mounting socket in the center of the wooden backpack frame and finally the bipod was folded forward. The Schwarzlose would also have seen service as a fortress weapon in which case it would have been deployed on a variety of heavy and specialized fixed mountings and it also saw some use as a naval weapon aboard ship. During World War I the Schwarzlose was also pressed into service as an anti-aircraft gun and as such it was deployed using a variety of often improvised mountings.
caption: Austro-Hungarian machinegunners in the Tyrolean high mountains.
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