ZB 60 : Czech Republic / Czechoslovakia (CZE) (original) (raw)

Presumed military name : 15 mm machine gun vz. 38
Factory designation : ZB-60, or ZB 15 mm
Yugoslav name : Mitraljez 15 mm M 38
British name : Machine gun BESA 15 mm Mk. I
German name : MG M38(t), 15 mm FlaMG 39, or 15 mm FlaMG 490(j)

Calibre : 15mm
Magazine : 40 rounds in metal cartridge belt
Length : 2050 mm
Barrel length : 1400 mm
Weight : 55 kg
Weight of receiver : 203 kg (gun has a three-legged receiver with wheels for transport)
Impact velocity : 860 - 970 m/s
Rate of fire : 420 rounds/min.
Manufacturer : Československá Zbrojovka Brno (later Waffenfabrik Brünn)
A Czechoslovakian large calibre machine gun introduced in Yugoslavia, the weapon was adopted by the Wehrmacht (including Yugoslavian looters) and produced for the WH as the 15 mm FlaMG 38t. The WH used the machine gun primarily as an anti-aircraft weapon. The license was sold to the UK where the weapon was also produced and used as the BESA MkII , thus similar to the 7.92mm machine gun of the same origin derived from the ZB37. The British weapons were used in Vickers Mk.IV tanks.

URL : https://www.valka.cz/ZB-60-t32150#116003 Version : 0

15 mm machine guns and their export
The Czechoslovak Ordnance Factory (during the Protectorate it was part of the Herman Gering Werke and later the Waffen Union) produced the following numbers of 15 mm machine guns for export between 1938 and 1943:

70 units delivered to Iran between 1938 and 1939
477 units delivered to Yugoslavia between 1938 and 1940
140 units delivered to Great Britain between January and April 1939, plus production licences
200 units for Germany - Kriegsmarine order between 1940-1941, information to be verified also in the Bundesarchiv
250 units delivered to Spain between November 1942 and July 1943, information to be verified also at Archivo General Militar

Moravian Provincial Archive in Brno, PA ZB fund, quarterly director's reports

Moravian Provincial Archive in Brno, fund PA ZB, minutes of the meeting of the race committee, 09.12.1942
Moravian Land Archive in Brno, fond PA ZB, circular No. 6, 26.01.1944
Moravian Provincial Archive in Brno, fund PA ZB, summary of contracts, 10.06.1944

Catalogue of Zbrojovka Brno, issued by the Directorate, Prague 1942
Statistical bulletin, vol. IX., Prague 1946
Václav Král: Questions of economic and social development in the Czech lands in the years 1938-1945, parts 1 to 3, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Prague 1957-1959, ISBN mute
Otakar Franěk: Weapons for the Whole World, Volume 2 of the History of the Brno Zbrojovka Concern, published by the Czech Republic, no. Blok, Brno 1970, ISBN not available
Miroslav Šáda: Czechoslovak Small Arms and Machine Guns, NV, Prague 1971/1, ISBN missing
Otakar Franěk: The Brno Zbrojovka Concern in 1939/1945, 3rd volume of the history of the Brno Zbrojovka Concern, published by the Brno Zbrojovka publishing house, no. Blok, Brno 1973, ISBN not available
Lubomír Popelínský: Czechoslovak automatic weapons and their creators, Our Army, Prague 1999, ISBN 80-206-0567-3
Lubomír Popelínský: Saga of the Machine Gun Family, Deus, Prague 2002, ISBN 80-86215-33-4

Note

The research was carried out by persons from the University of Defence in Brno (ex VA) and the Military Historical Institute in Prague. These persons do not wish to be named.

URL : https://www.valka.cz/ZB-60-t32150#209081 Version : 0

I add photos of the weapon from the museum in Lesany, the weapon is described as 15 mm ZB-60. In the text it says: "In 1938 it was being prepared for introduction into the armament of the Czechoslovak army." It also mentions exports to Yugoslavia and Iran, according to the description the weapon is on an anti-aircraft mount.