ZB vz. 37

The ZB vz. 37, also known as the ZB-53 and the TK vz. 37, is an air-cooled, belt-fed heavy machine gun of Czechoslovak origin chambered for the 7.92x57mm Mauser cartridge. It was developed in the 1930s at Zbrojovka Brno to replace the water-cooled Schwarzlose machine gun, and it was meant to be useful as a tripod weapon, as a vehicle machine gun and as a bunker weapon. It is gas operated with a recoiling barrel, and a distinctive feature is a selector between a lower and a higher rate of fire. The infantry model uses spade grips on a heavy tripod, while vehicle and fortification models carry a heavier barrel that cannot be changed quickly. Czechoslovakia adopted it in 1937, and about twenty nations bought it in some form. Britain built it under licence as the Besa and fitted it to many armoured vehicles and tanks in the Second World War, and Nazi Germany used captured and newly produced guns as the MG 37(t), mostly on captured vehicles such as the Panzer 38(t). The source lists its status as obsolete.