#M37

During my travels to Serbia, I wanted to examine the Yugoslav M37 light machine gun, a pre-war development of the earlier Czechoslovak Zbrojovka ZB vz.26. The ZB vz.26 was first developed in the early 1920s as Czechoslovakia sought a modern light machine gun. When adopted by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia), it was designated the M26. Operational experience with the M26 revealed the need for design adjustments, leading to the development of the ZB vz.30J, a modified version tailored for Yugoslav requirements (the “J” denoting Yugoslav). This was a previous development of the ZB vz. 30 for Romania, as well as its licensed production at the Cugir factory in Romania.