BACKGROUND: Among other restrictions, the Treaty of Versailles banned Germany from developing any type of general purpose machine gun. To circumvent this, German development of an all purpose machine gun was secretly being done in Switzerland in the early 1930's. By 1934 designer Louis Stange of the Rheinmetall armaments factory had made improvements to the secret machine gun developed in Switzerland and the MG34 was introduced as an all purpose, selective, fire weapon. In spite of the relatively high production cost, the MG34 was accepted by the HwaA, Heereswaffenamt, (Army Ordnance Office), a subsection of the OKH, Oberkommando des Heeres, (High Command of the Army), that was responsible for testing, evaluation and eventual issue of all ordnance, and deliveries of the MG34 began in 1936. In 1937 due to the high cost and manufacturing time of the MG34, development began on another general purpose machine gun which utilized stamped and pressed components making it cheaper and quicker to produce. Further developments resulted in the introduction of the MG42 general purpose machine gun in late 1941. Of Note: With a rate of fire of roughly nine hundred rounds per minute, the MG34 was a formidable weapon with automatic and semi-automatic firing capabilities and production continued even after the cheaper and higher rate of fire, (1,500 rpm), MG42 was introduced. The MG34 and MG42 were both manned by a three person crew with one individual being designated the "#1 gunner". The gunner was equipped with a specific gunners belt pouch which carried special tools and accessories for the weapon including a spare main spring.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Roughly, 12 7/8", (32.7cm), tall, 1", (2.5cm), diameter, blued, tooled sheet metal cylindrical carrying/storage container with a removable, friction fit top lid. The top lid has vertical grooves to its top edge for ease of handling and a small, raised, loop with a small "L" shaped cut-out to secure it to the container’s body. The top edge of the container’s body has two small, evenly spaced, raised pins which would slide under the raised loop and fit into the "L" cut-outs on the top lid. The container retains about 85% of its original bluing with small spots of wear to the base sheet metal with moderate surface spotting. The bottom edge of the container is well marked with a faint, stamped waffen-amt, (Ordnance Office, {Armorer’s Inspection Mark}), and the manufacturer’s initials and date, "G.G. & Co. 1940", indicating manufacturer by Gustav Genschow & Company of Durlach in 1940. Nice MG34 accessory