Chapter 412: Next Generation Weapons Part II (1/2)

While Berengar had begun his campaign in the Iberian Peninsula, rule over the Kingdom of Austria, and the efforts to oversee its industrialization were taken over by his father-in-law Chancellor Otto von Graz. At the moment, the man was sitting at his study within his chateau inside the upper-class district of Kufstein. He was staring at a series of weapons blueprints that would be vital to Berengar's future conflict with the church.

These blueprints were designed to operate alongside the previous weapons he had already begun testing for use in his special forces. The first design was a water-cooled machine gun chambered in 7.92x57mm LP, Berengar's version of the 7.92x57mm Mauser cartridge.

Unlike the Germans of his previous life, Berengar did not have to worry about the patents of the Vickers Machine Gun. Thus he decided to use such a magnificent weapon as his primary heavy machine gun for the time being.

The Vickers Machine gun was, in all honesty, just an improved Maxim Machine Gun with its action flipped upside down; this allowed it to save substantial size and weight. The Germans were unable to outfit themselves with this improved version of their machine gun due to business disputes, such as patent infringement.

A Water-cooled machine gun was exactly what it sounded like; it was essentially a heavy belt-fed machine gun that had a barrel shroud that contained water. As the barrel heated up, the water would cool it down; while this made for virtually unlimited volumes of fire, it also made the gun exceptionally heavy to the point where it would need to be used as a static weapon.

In fact, during Berengar's previous life, when the British Army retired this weapon from service, a crew of armorers tested a single Vickers Gun to its limits by firing roughly five million rounds of ammunition over seven days without stopping the gun. By the time they were finished, they had taken the gun apart and gauged its pieces, only to find that the weapon was still within functioning parameters.

Because Berengar currently lacked the technology to mechanize his forces, static defensive tactics would inevitably play a large part in waging war against his enemies. Thus there was no weapon suited to the task better than the Vickers Machine Gun.

The primary difference between this machine gun, and the Vickers used by the British in Berengar's past life, was that it was chambered in this world's equivalent of 7.92x57mm Mauser and utilized a metallic belt much like seen in use by the Russian M1910 Maxim Guns during both world wars of Berengar's previous life. Ultimately Berengar decided to designate this variant of the Vickers as the MG-22.

Otto looked over the document and stamped his seal of approval to begin production and testing in the armed forces; if what the notes Berengar left behind were true, they would need to build as many of these weapons as possible over the next few years.

After approving this design for manufacture and testing, Otto looked over the next blueprint; this was another machine gun from Berengar's past life. However, it was neither a heavy machine gun nor a belt-fed machine gun.

This was a magazine-fed light machine gun based on the Czech ZB-30 Machine Gun. The MG-22(H), as it would become known by in this timeline, was a Machine Gun that was considered by many in Berengar's past life to be the pinnacle of the Interwar era Light machine Guns. It had a rate of fire up to 650 rounds per minute and was the weapon used as the basis for many Light Machine guns across the world, including the British BREN Gun and the Japanese Type 99 Light Machine Gun.

The Waffen-SS used the weapon in WWII; due to the competitive nature of the Wehrmacht and the various branches of the Third Reich's armed forces and political factions. The Waffen-SS was excluded from the primary supply chains that the Wehrmacht had access to. Thus they had to source guns from some unconventional manufacturers such as occupied countries like Belgium and Czechoslovakia.

The Only real difference between this gun and the ones issued to the Waffen-SS in Berengar's past life was instead of a 20 Round Box Magazine, Berengar designed it for use with a 30 Round Box Magazine. The use of a Light machine gun among his soldiers was not only necessary it was a requirement. Since a single man could not carry a Vickers Machine Gun into battle, he needed his Squads in the future to have some form of automatic fire readily available on a unit basis, and the MG-22(H) filled that role perfectly.

Otto could not believe how Berengar had come up with such intricate designs. Still, with the industrialization of Kufstein and Austria as a whole, they now had the precision manufacturing equipment to make such advanced weapons. Thus he stamped his approval on this design and would later have it sent over to the National Armory to produce prototype samples and extensive testing.

Finally, there was one other weapon design in Otto's hands, and he looked over it carefully as he decided whether or not to approve of its use as well. This weapon was a sub-machine gun chambered in 9x19mm Parabellum, the same round that was undergoing testing with the Prototype P-22, which was based upon a later design of the Mauser C96 From Berengar's past life.

This Sub-Machine Gun was based upon the Steyr-Solothurn MP-34 from the interwar period. The history behind this weapon was complicated. It was manufactured by the Rheinmetall company via proxies in Switzerland and Austria to avoid the limitations placed upon them from the Treaty of Versailles.

As far as most were concerned, it was the best machine gun designed and manufactured in the Interwar period; in fact, the only reason it ceased production in 1940 was that it was too costly to manufacture during the German War effort.

The MP-34, or MP-22 as it was known in this timeline, was a side-feeding sub-machine gun with a 32 round double-stack magazine. It was capable of semi-automatic or automatic fire via a selector switch on the left side of the weapon. The automatic setting was capable of a firing rate of 600 rounds per minute.

After looking over these weapons, Otto approved them all, only to find a list of squad-based tactics that Berengar had left behind so that his soldiers who were equipped with such weapons could train with them appropriately.

Berengar practically followed the same route of the Wehrmacht's Squad Tactics from his past life. The Squad Leader would be issued the Submachine Gun, while one member of the Squad would be given the Light Machine Gun, as for the rest, they would be issued the Bolt Action Rifles. When it came to a platoon-sized unit, one Squad would be dedicated to using the Heavy Machine Gun.