page_title: Heavy machine gun
section_title: Designs
hierarchical_section_title: Heavy machine gun / Designs
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. 1931 Reichswehr Manöver in Königshofen/Franken MG-Nest im Gelände, mit beobachtendem Truppenführer
context_page_description: A heavy machine gun or HMG is a class of full-powered rifle cartridge machine gun implying greater characteristics than general purpose medium machine guns.
  There are two generally recognized classes of weapons identified as heavy machine guns. The first are weapons from World War I identified as "heavy" due to the weight and encumbrance of the weapons themselves. The second are large-caliber machine guns, pioneered by John Browning with the M2 machine gun, designed to provide increased range, penetration and destructive power against vehicles, buildings, aircraft and light fortifications beyond the standard rifle calibers used in medium or general-purpose machine guns, or the intermediate cartridges used in light machine guns.
context_section_description: Machine guns diverged into heavier and lighter designs. The later model water-cooled Maxim guns and its derivatives the MG 08 and the Vickers, as well as the American M1917 Browning machine gun, were all substantial weapons.  The .303 Vickers, for example, weighed 33 lb (15 kg) and was mounted on a tripod that brought the total weight to 50 lb (23 kg). The heavier designs could, and in some cases did, fire for days on end, mainly in fixed defensive positions to repel infantry attacks.  These machine guns were typically mounted on tripods and were water-cooled, and a well-trained crew could fire nonstop for hours, given sufficient ammunition, replacement barrels and cooling water.  Carefully positioned heavy machine guns could stop an attacking force before they reached their objectives.
caption: MG 08 system (7.92 mm) and crew circa 1931.
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