World War II Database

Country of Origin	Denmark
Type	Machine Gun
Caliber	7.920 mm
Length	1.143 m
Barrel Length	584.000 mm
Weight	9.070 kg
Rate of Fire	450 rounds/min
Muzzle Velocity	870 m/s

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe Madsen light machine guns were developed by a Captain Vilhelm Herman Oluf Madsen of the Danish artillery in 1896 and were adopted by the Danish Army in 1902. They were among the first true light machine guns produced in quantity. They were made by Compagnie Madsen A/S. The company later operated under the names of Dansk Rekyl Riffel Syndikat A/S and Dansk Industri Syndikat A/S. After Russia purchased 1,250 units, many of them were deployed in the east during the Russo-Japanese War. In 1914, the German Army deployed them and saw service during WW1. Both nations noted that they were expensive but extremely reliable, thus eventually over 34 nations worldwide placed orders between the 1910s and the 1930s, serving in combat in faraway places such as South America and China. By Apr 1940, the Norwegian Army was still using the Madsen light machine gun as its standard light machine gun; 3,500 units of them were in use when Germany invaded Norway. Norwegian and Danish examples captured by the Germans were kept in use in second line units. In the Pacific, the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army operated a number of them, and some were captured and used by the Japanese. After WW2, the Danish Army used them until 1955. During the Portuguese Colonial War of the 1960s and the 1970s, the Portuguese Army used Madsen light machine guns either with light infantry units or mounted on armored cars. Among the last forces to retire these weapons was the Military Police of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which used them until Apr 2008.

Though listed on here with the caliber 7.92-millimeter, due to the wide market for this weapon design, they were actually of a various number of calibers, using cartridges such as the 7x57mm Mauser, 6.5x55mm, 7.92x57mm Mauser, and others.

Source: Wikipedia. ww2dbase

Last Major Revision: Mar 2009

Photographs

See all 8 photographs of Madsen Machine Gun

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