Machine Guns of Two World Wars (Greenhill Military Manuals)

This compact reference guide, by respected expert John Walter, provides descriptions, technical specifications and illustrations of the machine guns used in the WWI and WWII, some of which v such as the 0.50 Browning v are still in service today. Many were produced in huge numbers, though it is difficult to provide accurate totals. The US is believed to have made 2.6 million guns between the attack on Pearl Harbor (7 December 1941) and the end of the campaigns in the Far East (August 1945); German output in 1939v45 totaled 1.2 million; and Soviet claims suggest that more than 1.5 million machine guns of all types and calibres were made during the Great Patriotic War. By contrast, between 1939 and 1944, Britain produced less than a million machine guns, concentrating instead on submachine-guns. Walter details and compares weapons produced in these countries and others, including Denmark, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Romania, Yugoslavia, Poland and Turkey.