$   Machine guns became a necessary equipment in the modern battlefield, greatly increasing the infantry$
$firepower, both on defence and in attack.$
$   Apart from machine gun companies forming part of infantry battalions, a few divisions possessed an$
$additional battalion of machine guns consisting of three machine gun companies and a rifle company.$
$   Machine gun battalion was usually used as a divisional reserve.  In September 1939 the main type of$
$machine gun was MG 34. It could be used either as LMG (light machine gun) or HMG (heavy machine gun).$
$   The difference was the basis of machine gun. In LMG version the total weight was equal 12 kg, in HMG$
$the weight was much higher: 32 kg. Heavy basis reduced the recoil,  greatly improving accuracy.$
