View source for Engineering:Bergmann MG 15nA machine gun

{{more references|date=February 2021}}

{{infobox weapon
| name               = Bergmann MG 15nA
| image              = [[File:Bergmann MG 15nA.jpg|350px]]
| caption            =
| origin             = [[Place:German Empire|German Empire]]
| type               = [[Engineering:Light machine gun|Light machine gun]]
| is_ranged          = yes
| service            =1916–1920s
| used_by            =
| wars               = [[Social:World War I|World War I]]<br>German Revolution<br>Spanish Civil War<br>[[Social:World War II|World War II]] (Briefly)
| designer           = Theodor Bergmann and Louis Schmeisser
| design_date        = 1910
| manufacturer       =
| unit_cost          =
| production_date    = 1916–1919
| number             = approx. 5,000
| variants           =
| spec_label         =
| weight             = {{convert|12.9|kg|lb|abbr=on}}
| length             = {{convert|1120|mm|in|abbr=on}}
| part_length        = {{convert|726|mm|in|abbr=on}}
| cartridge          = 7.92x57mm Mauser
| caliber            =
| barrels            =
| action             = short recoil
| rate               = 500-600 rpm
| velocity           = {{convert|883|m/s|ft/s|abbr=on}}
| range              = >{{convert|2000|m|yd|abbr=on}}
| max_range          =
| feed               = 250-, 200-, or 100-round metal link belt
| sights             = Iron
}}

The '''Bergmann MG 15nA''' was a [[Social:World War I|World War I]] light machine gun produced by Germany starting in 1915. It used 100- and 200-round belts and utilized a bipod, which allowed the weapon to be mounted on a flat surface for more accurate firing. 

==Design and development==
The Bergmann gun used a lock system patented by Theodor Bergmann in 1901 along with the [[Engineering:Recoil operation#Short recoil operation|short recoil]] principle of operation. The locking system, in which a cam moves a lock vertically in the weapon, was not dissimilar to the [[Engineering:Browning machine gun|Browning machine gun]] designs. The original design, borrowing from the 1910 pattern, was a heavy ground-based weapon fitted with a water-cooling jacket. The weapon was then lightened for both infantry and aircraft use. For aircraft usage, the bolt was lightened and the mechanism sped up from 500 rounds per minute to 800. For ground use, this weapon was adopted as the ''Bergmann MG 15''. The receiver to the weapon was machined down and lightened, featured a butt stock fitted to the end of the weapon. It was given a pistol grip and trigger grouping instead of spade grips, the heavy cooling jacket was replaced with a thin perforated barrel shroud and a bipod was fitted halfway down the barrel.

The major development of the weapon came early in 1916 when the Bergmann MG 15 was converted into a second variation to mirror the development of the Maxim MG 08/15. The bolt was slowed back down as the original had stoppage issues when used in the ground role. The bipod was removed from the flimsy barrel shroud and relocated to just forward of the pistol grip using a swivel-mount that accepted the bipod shared between the Bergmann and Maxim guns. A carry handle and new sights were also added. When this variation was adopted, it was called the Bergmann MG 15nA, the nA standing for ''neuer Art'' ('new model'). The old pattern was then renamed the ''Bergmann MG 15aA'' for ''alter Art'' ('old model'). The MG 15nA saw much more frequent use amongst Imperial German forces than the MG 15aA.

==Service use==
Battlefield usage of the weapon was significant, but not to the extent of the Maxim weapons. The Bergmann MG 15nA was an important weapon in that it filled a gap in the German armory between the rifle and the heavy machine gun. The only other light machine guns the Imperial German Army fielded before the Bergmann was adopted were the various [[Engineering:Madsen machine gun|Madsen machine gun]]s used by the ''Musketen'' battalions. In the 1916 Battle of the Somme, the German Army found that they desperately needed a weapon to counter the British Army's [[Engineering:Lewis gun|Lewis light machine gun]]. The limited quantities of the Madsen gun only added to the need for a light machine gun. Germany did not produce any Madsens in the First World War and relied almost entirely on captured weaponry. Madsen machine guns were used between a mix of examples captured from a shipment heading to Bulgaria and others supplied by the Austrians. The German Army, reeling from the Battle of the Somme, ordered some 6,000 MG 15nA examples in November 1916. These weapons were distributed to Musketen and other infantry battalions before enough troops could be trained upon the new MG 08/15 in the winter/spring of 1917. The majority of MG 15nA weapons were actually delivered to the Eastern and Palestine fronts where the German Asia Corps made the most significant use of the gun. The limitation of the weapon was that its air-cooled barrel would overheat after 250 rounds of sustained fire. They were therefore grouped into sections in which the tactical positioning allowed the gunners to open fire alternately or were attributed to mobile detachments that did not require long sustained fire. The German ''Leichtmaschinengewehr Truppen'' (LMGt) were formed specifically for the weapon. The MG 15nA was a generally reliable gun that served until the manufacture of automatic weaponry was ceased in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles, but the dominance of the Maxim 08 during the war meant it never acquired much enthusiasm from military officials. The weapon had faded into obscurity by the time the Second World War came about, though some were used by the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War. It was briefly put back into service during the closing months of [[Social:World War II|World War II]] in Europe by German Volkssturm units who lacked modern equipment and were little more than suicide squads meant to mount a hopeless 'last-ditch' defense. [[Place:Nazi Germany|Nazi Germany]] was using any weapon they had available during the last part of the war due to failing production and resupply.

== Users ==
* {{flagcountry|Republic of China (1912-1949)|1912}}: M1910 purchased during the warlord era<ref name="China">{{cite book|title=China’s Wars: Rousing the Dragon 1894-1949|series=General Military|first= Philip|last= Jowett|date=20 Nov 2013 |publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=9781782004073 |page=129}}</ref>
*{{flag|German Empire}}
*{{flag|Ottoman Empire}}
*{{Flag|Latvia}}: 52 in stock of the Latvian Army by April 1936<ref>{{Cite thesis|last=Dambītis|first=Kārlis|date=2016|title=Latvijas armijas artilērija 1919.-1940.g.: Vieta bruņotajos spēkos, struktūra un uzdevumi|trans-title=Artillery of the Latvian Army (1918–1940): structure, tasks and place in the Armed forces|url=https://dspace.lu.lv/dspace/handle/7/31857?locale-attribute=en|publisher=University of Latvia|type=PhD thesis|page=225}}</ref>
*{{flag|Nazi Germany}}: used by Volkssturm
*{{flag|Spanish Republic}}

== Sources ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/mgun_mg15na.htm http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/mgun_mg15na.htm]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110719132605/http://www.thm-online.dk/public/billeder/genstande/900-999/b_0976_s.jpg picture of MG15 nA]
* [http://www.mitrailleuse.fr/Allemandes/LMG15/LMG15.htm Mitrailleuse Bergmann LMG 15 aA and nA]


{{DEFAULTSORT:Bergmann Mg15 Na Gun}}
[[Category:Light machine guns]]

{{Sourceattribution|Bergmann MG 15nA machine gun}}