In 1918, Austria-Hungary created a copy of the VP, the Sturmpistole M.18, which featured a straight magazine rather than curved magazines. Some VP machine pistols were equipped with a wooden stock, though the firing mechanism remained unaltered and was not modified in the fashion of, for example, the OVP SMG or the MAB 18. Every weapon was manned by 4 people: a shooter with a backpack or a shoulder ammo bag and 3 ammo carriers, who could take with them up to 5000 rounds. In his idea, a section of 8 (later 16) VP machine guns had to support the attack of 20-30 Arditi armed with rifle, dagger and hand-grenades, giving an adequate suppressive fire and striking the enemy on a psychological level too. Giuseppe Bassi personally designed a carrying system (consisting of a leather belt fixed to the handles that was later arranged behind the gunner's neck) and a 1.6 kg bipod and removed the gun shield (which weighed roughly 26 kg) to enhance Arditi performances in battle. It was in particular appreciated as a squad weapon by the Arditi, the Royal Italian Army World War I shock troops, due to its high rate of fire and its weight (it was light for a machine gun), and went under various modifications: Lt.

It was operated by Bersaglieri too, often mounted on bicycles. Despite its high rate of fire, its atypical design, and its weight, it proved to be very effective at short range. It was also used during World War I by the Italian Infantry, with a bipod and a gun shield (which proved to be uncomfortable in combat and was subsequently removed).

However, in practice the 9mm munition was not sufficiently powerful to shoot down aircraft, which had become ever more resistant over the course of the war, and in addition the range was inadequate, so it was eventually dismissed by the Corpo Aeronautico. It consisted of two independent coupled weapons, each with its own barrel, firing mechanism, and separate 25-round magazine.Īs it was originally designed to be operated from airplanes, it had a high rate of fire of over 1,500 rounds per minute. The Villar Perosa was designed as a portable double-barrel machine gun firing a 9mm round.

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