Breda Model 1937 8 mm machine gun, 1941

The Breda Model 37 was adopted by the Italian Army in 1937 and became that force's standard light machine gun during World War Two (1939-1945). It performed fairly well in combat but lacked a mechanism for extraction of the cartridge case after firing, so each cartridge had to be oiled via an oiling mechanism before being fed into the chamber. This allowed the gun to extract spent cases but attracted dirt and dust and led to many stoppages, particularly in the desert. The weapon was fed by 20-round cartridge strips. This limited continuous fire, as it could only be fired in long bursts by feeding in one ammunition strip after another.