Madsen Machine Gun The Madsen Machine Gun is a Danish machine gun created in 1902 by Julius A . Rasmussen and Theodor Schoubue and proposed for adoption by the Captain Vilhelm Herman Oluf Madsen . Was the first light machinegun created in big numbers , it was used by the Germans in the First and in the Second World War , it is actually used only by the Rio de Janeiro Military Police that considers her a reliable and effective weapon and by some reason consider them more effective than most of modern machineguns . Operational Use . World War I . The Madsen was first used in combat during the Russo - Japanese War , in the hands of the Russian Army , which had purchased 1 , 200 copies of the weapon . During the First World War , the German Army used a version chambered in the 7 . 92 mm caliber to pitch their companies of infantry , mountain troops and storm troopers . It was considered an expensive weapon to produce , but extremely reliable . It was sold to 34 countries in versions of about a dozen different gauges . Interwar Period . The gun was purchased by the Paraguayans between the years 1920 and 1930 where they were arming themselves to start a war against the Bolivian forces to take the region of Gran Chaco , in what became known as the Chaco War ( 1932 - 1935 ) . At the beginning of the war some 400 of these guns were in the Paraguayan hands , more acquired during their course . At this time Brazil have been purchased by about 23 Tankettes CV - 35 in Italy in the 1930s , and most of them armed with guns Madsens pairs of 7mm . World War II . At the beginning of World War II Madsen machine gun was still in service in various armies . In 1940 the Norwegian Army used the 3500 m / 22 variant chambered in 6 . 5x55mm in defending their country against the German invasion . At that time formed the first squadron was equipped primarily Norwegian with Madsen machine guns , and some time later incorporated in other squadrons . Were formed several battalions and one each had 36 Madsens and nine M / 29 heavy machineguns . Yet it was not considered an ideal weapon for Norwegian soldiers because jam after a few shots , and thus earned the nickname " Jomfru Madsen " ( in English : " Virgin Madsen " ) . Captured Madsens were used by units of the second German line throughout the war . They were also the standard machine gun of the Dutch East Indies Army , some captured madsens were used by the Japanese Imperial Army Portuguese Colonial War . The Madsen light machine guns was one of the standard machine guns of the Portuguese Army , which acquired two lots , one in 1930 and another in 1941 . These weapons were still in service in the early 1960s , being used in combat during the first years of the Colonial War . The machine gun was the main employment use as a temporary arms armored fighting vehicles " , machine gun - Daimler Auto 4 × 4 Mod . F / 64 , " being used in Daimler Dingo who had changed the structure above where it was mounted on a structure that allowed the coupling of the machine gun . Use in Brazil . The Madsen machinegun is often used in clashes with drug traffickers by the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro . Some of these weapons used by the Brazilian police forces were captured by traffickers and put into service to fight them , many of these are antique guns coming from the Argentine Army and others were stolen from museums . But most Madsens used by Brazilian police is coming from the Brazilian Army . These weapons are converted to . 30 cal to 7 . 62mm NATO . Official sources of the Brazilian Army realize that the Madsen machine guns were withdrawn from service in 1996 . Already in the police forces , the weapons were being replaced gradually from the beginning of 2008 for most modern weapons and with greater firepower , being the latest Madsens removed from service in April of 2008 . However , there are photographs taken on October 19 of 2009 in fighting between police and drug dealers who show that the gun is still used .