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95-549: The Breda 37 was meant as company/battalion support as compared to the more troublesome Breda 30 meant for squad/platoon support and proved far more effective in combat. Though some sources say that the gun possesses some of the same problematic features of the Breda 30(mainly the need for an oil reservoir to lubricate the cartridges before chambering), the reality is that the Breda 37 was a simple—only four moving parts—and reliable gun that does not need lubrication and had nothing to do with

190-651: A political crisis between Portugal and the United States . A failed Portuguese military coup known as the Abrilada , attempted in an effort to overthrow the authoritarian Estado Novo regime of António de Oliveira Salazar, received covert U.S. support. In response, Salazar moved to consolidate his power, ordering an immediate military response to the violence occurring in Angola. The U.S.'s official stance on Portugal would shift following Richard Nixon 's election as president. Under

285-702: A black football player from Portuguese East Africa named Eusébio , were other examples of efforts towards assimilation and multiracialism in the post-World War II period. According to Mozambican historian João Paulo Borges Coelho , the Portuguese colonial army was largely segregated along terms of race and ethnicity until 1960. There were originally three classes of soldier in Portuguese overseas service: commissioned soldiers (whites), overseas soldiers (African assimilados ), and native or indigenous Africans ( indigenato' ). These categories were renamed to first, second, and third class in 1960, which effectively corresponded to

380-427: A chambered round to "cook off," or ignite without intent of the gunner. As a result of firing from a closed bolt, the Breda 30 could not fully take advantage of the cooling properties of air circulation like an open bolt weapon would, thus making cooked off rounds a realistic hazard. The disastrous results could lead to potential injuries to or even the death of the gunner. Some Bredas were eventually modified to accept

475-435: A corporal gunner, an assistant gunner and two ammunition bearers. The balance of the section was the rifle squad of eleven men. Due to the importance of its extra firepower, the Breda 30 was most often given to the squad's most reliable soldier (unlike other armies of the time, it was not rare to see an NCO carrying the squad's automatic weapon). The manual indicates that the two squads were to operate as distinct elements, with

570-547: A deep border incursion operation into Angola to attack guerrilla-controlled areas of the country following the coup. On 3 January 1961 Angolan peasants in the region of Baixa de Cassanje , Malanje boycotted the Cotonang Company's cotton fields where they worked, demanding better working conditions and higher wages. Cotonang, a company owned by European investors, used native African labor to produce an annual cotton crop for export abroad. The uprising, later to become known as

665-659: A degree comparable to that of the Europeans. Statistically, Portuguese Africa's white Portuguese population were indeed wealthier and more educated than the indigenous majority. After conflict erupted between the UPA and MPLA and Portuguese military forces, U.S. President John F. Kennedy advised António de Oliveira Salazar (via the US consulate in Portugal) that Portugal should abandon its African colonies, and that course of action by Kennedy would lead to

760-704: A diplomatic mission in Bucharest, the first of its kind in Eastern Europe. In 1973, Ceaușescu recognized FRELIMO as "the only legitimate representative of the Mozambican people", an important precedent. Samora Machel stressed that—during his trip to the Soviet Union—he and his delegation were granted "the status that we are entitled to" due to Romania's official recognition of FRELIMO. In terms of material support, Romanian trucks were used to transport weapons and ammunition to

855-443: A fixed magazine attached to the right side of the weapon and was loaded using brass or steel 20-round stripper clips. If the magazine or its hinge/latch were damaged the weapon became unusable. It also fired from a closed bolt along with using short recoil for its action. The rotating bolt was locked by six radially-arranged lugs (reminiscent of, e. g., AR-15 , Mondragón rifles or George Fosbery 's shotgun). The recoil operation

950-447: A good deal among senior Portuguese commanders during the conflict in Angola, Guinea, and Mozambique. General Francisco da Costa Gomes , perhaps the most successful counterinsurgency commander, sought good relations with local civilians, and employed African units within the framework of an organized counterinsurgency plan. General António de Spínola , by contrast, appealed for a more political and psycho-social use of African soldiers. On

1045-452: A low rate of fire, low magazine capacity, used sometimes unreliable ammunition and was highly prone to stoppages. The vital oiling system was very susceptible to allowing dust and debris to get into the action system, making the weapon unreliable in combat conditions. Though the magazine system was designed with the rationale that the feed lips on a detachable magazine are prone to damage, the Breda's sole magazine could also become disabled if

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1140-440: A message to President António de Oliveira Salazar advising Portugal to abandon its African colonies shortly after the outbreak of violence in 1961. Instead, after a coup led by pro-U.S. forces failed to depose him, Salazar consolidated power and immediately sent reinforcements to the overseas territories, setting the stage for continued conflict in Angola. Similar situations played out in other overseas Portuguese territories. By

1235-680: A period of economic collapse and political instability, but received general support from the public in its aim of ending the Portuguese war effort in Africa. In the ex-colonies, officers suspected of sympathizing with the prior regime, even black officers, such as Captain Marcelino da Mata, were imprisoned and tortured, while African soldiers who had served in native Portuguese Army units were forced to petition for Portuguese citizenship or else face reprisals from their former enemies in Angola, Guinea, or Mozambique. The Carnation Revolution of 25 April 1974 came as

1330-558: A policy of assimilation, multiracialism, and civilising mission , or lusotropicalism , as a way of integrating Portuguese colonies, and their peoples, more closely with Portugal itself. For the Portuguese ruling regime, the overseas empire was a matter of national interest , to be preserved at all costs. As far back as 1919, a Portuguese delegate to the International Labour Conference in Geneva declared: "The assimilation of

1425-565: A shock to the United States and other Western powers, as most analysts and the Nixon administration had concluded that Portuguese military success on the battlefield would resolve any political divisions within Portugal concerning the conduct of the war in Portuguese Africa, providing the conditions for US investment there. Most concerned was the apartheid government of South Africa , which launched

1520-498: A small minority of each territory's total population. Nevertheless, the costs of continuing the wars in Africa imposed a heavy burden on Portugal's resources; by the 1970s, the country was spending 40 percent of its annual budget on the war effort. General Spínola was dismissed by Dr. Marcelo Caetano, the last prime minister of Portugal under the Estado Novo regime, over the general's publicly announced desire to open negotiations with

1615-560: A standard machine gun after the war, until it was replaced by more modern machine guns. Some examples were converted to .30-06 Springfield after the war. Breda 30 The Fucile Mitragliatore Breda modello 30 also known as Breda 30 or the Alpine scythe (la falce degli Alpini) or Finita Burrasca (The storm is over) was the standard light machine gun of the Royal Italian Army during World War II . The Breda Modello 30

1710-415: A total of 40,000 reinforcements to Angola and Mozambique during World War I. By this time, the regime in Portugal had been through two major political upheavals—from monarchy to republic in 1910 and then to a military dictatorship after a coup in 1926. These changes resulted in a tightening of Portuguese control in Angola. In the early years of the expanded colony, near-constant warfare was occurring between

1805-651: The Breda 20mm cannon became available in sufficient numbers. Likewise, the early examples of the VAS anti-submarine launch ( Vedetta Antisommergibile ) carried a pair of M37s forward in place of the designed 20mm gun, owing to production shortages of the heavier weapon. The M37 was also adopted by the Portuguese armed forces, who placed it into service as the Metralhadora pesada 7,92 mm m/938 Breda heavy machine gun. The Breda saw extensive service in Portugal's African colonies during

1900-562: The Carcano rifle made up the backbone of the Italian infantry armament during the Second World War. Field reports on the weapon were of mixed nature: the Breda's very low rate of fire often resulted in a turning of the tide during a firefight against Italian soldiers; however, the Breda 30, in most occasions, was the fastest and most helpful weapon available. The Italian Army attempted to counter

1995-463: The Carnation Revolution military coup of April 1974 in mainland Portugal . The withdrawal resulted in the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Portuguese citizens plus military personnel of European, African, and mixed ethnicity from the former Portuguese territories and newly independent African nations. This migration is regarded as one of the largest peaceful, if forced, migrations in

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2090-520: The Communist Bloc which had the Soviet Union as its lead nation. By 1973, the war had become increasingly unpopular due to its length and financial costs, the worsening of diplomatic relations with other United Nations members, and the role it had always played as a factor of perpetuation of the entrenched Estado Novo regime and the nondemocratic status quo in Portugal. The end of the war came with

2185-576: The FN MAG in 1960. The weapon was also adopted for use by the Regia Marina in small numbers aboard minor warships. The Breda M37 was a gas-operated, air-cooled medium machine gun. The Breda used a slightly larger cartridge than its rivals, the 8x59mm RB Breda . A common misnomer, the Breda 37 does contain a camming mechanism for initial extraction of the cartridge case after firing, which means that each cartridge does not need to be oiled before being fed into

2280-548: The Overseas War ( Guerra do Ultramar ) or in the former colonies as the War of Liberation ( Guerra de Libertação ), and also known as the Angolan , Guinea-Bissau and Mozambican War of Independence , was a 13-year-long conflict fought between Portugal's military and the emerging nationalist movements in Portugal's African colonies between 1961 and 1974. The Portuguese regime at

2375-677: The Second Italo-Ethiopian War . The Wehrmacht adopted the Breda 30 in small numbers after the occupation of Northern and Central Italy following the Italian armistice of 1943 with the Allies, as the MG 099(i) ; it filled a similar role as the German MG 34 , a light machine gun, predominantly utilized in Italian campaign battlefields. The Breda 30 was widely viewed as a poorly designed weapon. It had

2470-568: The 1950s and 1960s, the Portuguese Estado Novo regime did not withdraw from its African colonies, or the overseas provinces ( províncias ultramarinas ) as those territories had been officially called since 1951. During the 1960s, various armed independence movements became active—the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola , National Liberation Front of Angola , National Union for

2565-784: The 1950s, the European mainland Portuguese territory was inhabited by a society that was poorer and had a much higher illiteracy rate than the average Western European societies or those of North America. It was ruled by an authoritarian and conservative right-leaning dictatorship, known as the Estado Novo regime. By this time, the Estado Novo regime ruled both the Portuguese mainland and several centuries-old overseas territories as theoretically co-equal departments. The possessions were Angola , Cape Verde , Macau , Mozambique , Portuguese Guinea , Portuguese India , Portuguese Timor , São João Baptista de Ajudá , and São Tomé and Príncipe . In reality,

2660-662: The 1962 by the Minister of the Overseas Adriano Moreira (the Universidade de Luanda in Angola and the Universidade de Lourenço Marques in Mozambique, awarding a range of degrees from engineering to medicine ); however, most of their students came from Portuguese families living in the two territories. Several personalities in Portuguese society, including one of the most idolized sports stars in Portuguese football history,

2755-490: The 1970s, including such officers as Captain (later Lt. Colonel) Marcelino da Mata, a Portuguese citizen born of native Guinean parents who rose to command from a first sergeant in a road engineering unit to a commander in the elite all-African Comandos Africanos , where he eventually became one of the most decorated soldiers in the Portuguese Army. Many native Angolans rose to positions of command, though of junior rank. By

2850-529: The African Commando Battalion ( Batalhão de Comandos Africanos ) commanded by General Almeida Bruno. While sub-Saharan African soldiers constituted a mere 18% of the total number of troops fighting in Portugal's African territories in 1961, this percentage rose dramatically over the next 13 years, with black soldiers constituting over 50% of all government forces fighting in Africa by April 1974. Coelho noted that perceptions of African soldiers varied

2945-692: The Breda's defects by stressing the importance of the loader's role: every soldier was trained to be a Breda 30 loader and taught how to rapidly feed one ammunition strip after another (this was not always possible, as with Breda 30s mounted on motorcycles). Careful polishing was also carried out frequently with extra attention being paid to the Breda's lubrication system and ammunition availability. Portuguese Colonial Wars 1,400,000 total men mobilized for military and civilian support service. 40–60,000 guerrillas ~29,000 casualties 41,000+ casualties The Portuguese Colonial War ( Portuguese : Guerra Colonial Portuguesa ), also known in Portugal as

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3040-596: The FLNA, which included photos of decapitated civilians, men, women and children of both white and black ethnicity, was later displayed in the UN by Portuguese diplomats. The emergence of labor strikes, attacks by newly organized guerrilla movements, and the Santa Maria hijacking by Henrique Galvão began a path to open warfare in Angola. According to historical researchers such as José Freire Antunes, U.S. President John F. Kennedy sent

3135-543: The Islamic port of Ceuta in 1415 and several other towns in current-day Morocco in a Crusade against Islamic neighbors, managed to successfully establish themselves in the area. In Guinea, rival European powers had established control over the trade routes in the region, while local African rulers confined the Portuguese to the coast. These rulers then sent enslaved Africans to the Portuguese ports, or to forts in Africa from where they were exported. Thousands of kilometers down

3230-591: The Katanga region, aiming to provide access to the sea for the richest mining district of the Belgian Congo. The line reached the Congo border in 1928. In 1914, both Angola and Mozambique had Portuguese army garrisons of around 2,000 men, African troops led by European officers. With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Portugal sent reinforcements to both colonies, because the fighting in the neighboring German African colonies

3325-744: The Mwenemutapa in the 1560s. However, the Portuguese traders and explorers settled in the coastal strip with greater success, and established strongholds safe from their main rivals in East Africa – the Omani Arabs , including those of Zanzibar . Portugal's colonial claim to the region was recognized by the other European powers during the 1880s, during the Scramble for Africa , and the final boundaries of Portuguese Africa were agreed by negotiation in Europe in 1891. At

3420-689: The PAIGC in Portuguese Guinea. The dismissal caused considerable public indignation in Portugal, and created favorable conditions for a military overthrow of the existing regime, which had lost all public support. On 25 April 1974 a military coup organized by left-wing Portuguese military officers, the Armed Forces Movement (MFA), overthrew the Estado Novo regime in what came to be known as the Carnation Revolution in Lisbon , Portugal. The coup resulted in

3515-420: The Portuguese and the various African rulers of the region. A systematic campaign of conquest and pacification was undertaken by the Portuguese. One by one, the local kingdoms were overwhelmed and abolished. By the middle of the 1920s, the whole of Angola was under control. Slavery had officially ended in Portuguese Africa, but the plantations were worked on a system of paid serfdom by African labour composed of

3610-587: The Shona kingdoms, including the Mutapa Empire 's (Mwenemutapa) metropolitan district, between 1512 and 1516. By the 1530s, small bands of Portuguese traders and prospectors penetrated the interior regions seeking gold, where they set up garrisons and trading posts at Sena and Tete on the Zambezi River and tried to establish a monopoly over the gold trade. The Portuguese finally entered into direct relations with

3705-836: The Total Independence of Angola in Angola, African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde in Portuguese Guinea, and the Mozambique Liberation Front in Mozambique. During the ensuing conflict, atrocities were committed by all forces involved. Throughout the period, Portugal faced increasing dissent, arms embargoes, and other punitive sanctions imposed by the international community, including by some Western Bloc governments, either intermittently or continuously. The anti-colonial guerrillas and movements of Portuguese Africa were heavily supported and instigated with money, weapons, training and diplomatic lobbying by

3800-622: The Western Desert affected all infantry machine guns to some extent. The Breda 37's slow rate of fire helped prevent overheating during prolonged fire, and its powerful, heavy-bullet cartridge had excellent range and penetration. Still, this machine gun was almost twice as heavy as the German machine guns and heavier than weapons like the M1919. In fact, it was the heaviest World War II rifle-caliber machine gun, and unnecessarily complex to use and deploy. This

3895-553: The World War II, as communist and anticolonial ideologies spread across Africa, many clandestine political movements were established in support of independence using various interpretations of Marxist revolutionary ideology. These new movements seized on anti-Portuguese and anti-colonial sentiment to advocate the complete overthrow of existing governmental structures in Portuguese Africa. These movements alleged that Portuguese policies and development plans were primarily designed by

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3990-500: The advice of Henry Kissinger , Nixon sought to reduce America's involvement in the Third World, delegating this role to "regional policemen" such as Joseph Mobutu of Congo-Léopoldville . This led to Nixon cutting off aid to Holden Roberto's FNLA and resuming normal trade relations with Portugal. While Portuguese forces had all but won the guerrilla war in Angola, and had stalemated FRELIMO in Mozambique, colonial forces were forced on

4085-449: The armed forces, where younger officers disenchanted with the Estado Novo regime and promotional opportunities began to identify ideologically with those calling for overthrow of the government and the establishment of a state based on Marxist principles. Nicolae Ceaușescu 's Romania offered consistent support to the African liberation movements. Romania was the first state that recognized

4180-491: The chamber. There is no provision for a oiler on any variant of the Breda 37, unlike its predecessor, the Breda 30 in 6.5mm carcano. Another drawback was that the gun was fed by 20-round trays of cartridges. This limited continuous fire, as the gun could be fired rapidly only when a second crew member fed in one ammunition tray after another (although being air cooled the gun would be unable to fire more than short bursts anyway, or it would rapidly overheat). Another peculiarity of

4275-495: The citizenry there. Portugal joined NATO as a founding member in 1949, and was integrated within the various fledgling military commands of NATO. NATO's focus on preventing a conventional Soviet attack against Western Europe was to the detriment of military preparations against guerrilla uprisings in Portugal's overseas provinces that were considered essential for the survival of the nation. The integration of Portugal in NATO resulted in

4370-453: The coast, in Angola, the Portuguese found consolidating their early advantage in establishing hegemony over the region even harder, due to the encroachment of Dutch traders. Nevertheless, the fortified Portuguese towns of Luanda (established in 1587 with 400 Portuguese settlers) and Benguela (a fort from 1587, a town from 1617) remained almost continuously in Portuguese hands. As in Guinea,

4465-462: The conflict in Guinea at the outset, but was forced to fight on to prevent an independent Guinea from serving as an inspirational model for insurgents in Angola and Mozambique. Despite continuing attacks by insurgent forces against targets throughout the Portuguese African territories, the economies of both Portuguese Angola and Mozambique had actually improved each year of the conflict, as had

4560-484: The day in Southern Africa, the territory was segregated along racial lines. Strict qualification criteria ensured that fewer than one in 100 black Mozambicans became full Portuguese citizens. Numerous subsidies were offered by the Estado Novo regime to those Portuguese who agreed to settle in Angola or Mozambique, including a special premium for each Portuguese man who agreed to marry an African woman. Salazar himself

4655-400: The defensive in Guinea, where PAIGC forces had carved out a large area of the rural countryside under effective insurgent control, using Soviet-supplied AA cannon and ground-to-air missiles to protect their encampments from attack by Portuguese air assets. Overall, the increasing success of Portuguese counterinsurgency operations and the inability or unwillingness of guerrilla forces to destroy

4750-402: The design is that the spent cases were reinserted in the tray as each round was fired. The mechanical energy required to perform this function substantially reduced the rate of fire, and the weapon tended to jam whenever a case was reinserted even slightly out of line. It also meant that, in the event the metal clips had to be reused, the gunner's assistant first had to remove the empty cases from

4845-432: The early 1970s, the Portuguese authorities had fully perceived racial discriminatory policies and lack of investment in education as wrong and contrary to their overseas ambitions in Portuguese Africa, and willingly accepted a true color blindness policy with more spending in education and training opportunities, which started to produce a larger number of black high ranked professionals, including military personnel. After

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4940-576: The early stages of the Portuguese Colonial Wars . The Breda Modello 38 was intended for vehicle use, and was fed from a top-mounted box magazine. The Modello 38 used a pistol style grip, rather than the twin firing handles of the Modello 37. This was the main vehicle-mounted machine gun used in fighting vehicles by the Royal Italian Army. Production ended in 1943. It was still used as

5035-470: The early years of World War II (two per platoon), but this number eventually increased to twelve for the majority of the war (four per platoon). An infantry platoon was divided into two large sections, each of twenty men, which were further split into rifle and light machine gun squads. The section was commanded by a sergeant, who also controlled the LMG squad. The latter was made up of two Breda 30s, each manned by

5130-425: The economy of Portugal proper. Angola enjoyed an unprecedented economic boom during the 1960s, and the Portuguese government built new transportation networks to link the well-developed and highly urbanized coastal strip with the remote inland regions of the territory. The number of ethnic European Portuguese migrants from mainland Portugal (the metrópole ) continued to increase as well, though always constituting

5225-485: The economy of Portugal's African territories was seen as a victory for the Portuguese government policies. The Soviet Union, realising that military success by insurgents in Angola and Mozambique was becoming increasingly remote, shifted much of its military support to the PAIGC in Guinea, while increasing diplomatic efforts to isolate Portugal from the world community. The success of the socialist bloc in isolating Portugal diplomatically extended inside Portugal itself into

5320-564: The first country to formally recognize Mozambique. By early 1974, guerrilla operations in Angola and Mozambique had been reduced to sporadic ambush operations against the Portuguese in the rural countryside areas, far from the main centers of population. The only exception was Portuguese Guinea , where PAIGC guerrilla operations, strongly supported by neighbouring allies like Guinea and Senegal , were largely successful in liberating and securing large areas of Portuguese Guinea. According to some historians, Portugal recognized its inability to win

5415-484: The formation of a military élite who were critical in the planning and implementation of operations during the Overseas War. This "NATO generation" ascended quickly to the highest political positions and military command without having to provide evidence of loyalty to the regime. The Colonial War established a split between the military structure – heavily influenced by the western powers with democratic governments – and

5510-577: The front, as well as medicine, school material and agricultural equipment. Romanian tractors contributed to the increase in agricultural production. Romanian weapons and uniforms—reportedly of "excellent quality"—played a "decisive role" in FRELIMO's military progress. It was in early 1973 that FRELIMO made these statements about Romania's material support, in a memorandum sent to the Romanian Communist Party 's Central Committee. In 1974, Romania became

5605-506: The hinges or latches were damaged, and the slit on the top for viewing the ammunition count provided another way for debris to enter and jam the magazine. The Breda's rear and fore sight were both on the gun body, so only one barrel could be zeroed and any spare barrels would, when installed, invariably lead to decreased accuracy without re-zeroing the sights. The magazine was loaded using 20-round stripper clips, which were known to be fragile, especially in combat conditions. In North Africa ,

5700-478: The independence of Guinea-Bissau, as well as the first to sign agreements with the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde and Angola's MPLA . In May 1974, Ceaușescu reaffirmed Romania's support for Angolan independence. As late as September 1975, Bucharest publicly supported all three Angolan liberation movements (FNLA, MPLA and UNITA). In the spring of 1972, Romania allowed FRELIMO to open

5795-405: The large majority of ethnic Africans who did not have resources to pay Portuguese taxes and were considered unemployed by the authorities. After World War II and the first decolonization events, this system gradually declined, but paid forced labor, including labor contracts with forced relocation of people, continued in many regions of Portuguese Africa until it was finally abolished in 1961. In

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5890-652: The late 1950s, the Portuguese Armed Forces saw themselves confronted with the paradox generated by the dictatorial regime of the Estado Novo that had been in power since 1933; on one hand, the policy of Portuguese neutrality in World War II placed the Portuguese Armed Forces out of the way of a possible East-West conflict ; on the other, the regime felt the increased responsibility of keeping Portugal's vast overseas territories under control and protecting

5985-482: The long distance and low annual income of the average Portuguese and that of the indigenous overseas populations. An increasing number of African anticolonial movements called for total independence of the overseas African territories from Portugal. Some, like the UPA wanted national self-determination , while others wanted a new form of government based on Marxist principles. Portuguese leaders, including Salazar, attempted to stave off calls for independence by defending

6080-437: The new 7.35 mm Carcano cartridge, which the Italian military was making an effort to adopt; however, this was short-lived as slowed production never allowed full adoption of the new cartridge. In regular army units, one Breda 30 was issued to each squad (standard issue was 24 to 27 per battalion), although this was later changed to two weapons per squad. An Italian infantry company therefore had about six light machine guns in

6175-633: The other hand, General Kaúlza de Arriaga , the most conservative of the three, appears to have doubted the reliability of African forces outside his strict control, while continuing to view African soldiers as inferior to Portuguese troops. As the war progressed, Portugal rapidly increased its mobilized forces. Under the Salazar regime, a military draft required all males to serve three years of obligatory military service; many of those called up to active military duty were deployed to combat zones in Portugal's African overseas provinces. The national service period

6270-438: The outbreak of the insurgency. With illiteracy rates approaching 99% and almost no African enrollment in secondary schools, few African candidates could qualify for Portugal's officer candidate programs; most African officers obtained their commission as the result of individual competence and valour on the battlefield. As the war went on, an increasing number of native Africans served as noncommissioned or commissioned officers by

6365-613: The period of the Colonial War, became the goal of the independent territories. The former Portuguese territories in Africa became sovereign states, with Agostinho Neto in Angola, Samora Machel in Mozambique, Luís Cabral in Guinea-Bissau, Manuel Pinto da Costa in São Tomé and Príncipe, and Aristides Pereira in Cape Verde as the heads of state . When the Portuguese began trading on

6460-399: The political power of the regime. Some analysts see the " Botelho Moniz coup " of 1961 (also known as A Abrilada ) against the Portuguese government and backed by the U.S. administration, as the beginning of this rupture, the origin of a lapse on the part of the regime to keep up a unique command center, an armed force prepared for threats of conflict in the colonies. This situation caused, as

6555-495: The previous series (that was mistakenly called the Breda 30 series: in reality, the Breda 30 automatic rifle/light machinegun is part of the Breda 24 series). Instead, the Breda 37 is part of the Breda 31 series of automatic weapons, the series started with the Breda 31 (a licensed built copy of the Hotchkiss 1929 ): the weapons of this series were amongst the most re-employed by the allies and this weapon continue to serve well after WW2, only being replaced in Portuguese service by

6650-413: The relation of mainland Portuguese to their overseas possessions was that of colonial administrator to a subservient colony. Political, legislative, administrative, commercial, and other institutional relations between the colonies and Portugal-based individuals and organizations were numerous, though migration to, from, and between Portugal and its overseas departments was limited in size, due principally to

6745-615: The requisite education and technical skills. While access to basic, secondary, and technical education remained poor until the 1960s, a few Africans were able to attend schools locally or in some cases in Portugal itself. This resulted in the advancement of certain black Portuguese Africans who became prominent individuals during the war and its aftermath, including Samora Machel , Mário Pinto de Andrade , Marcelino dos Santos , Eduardo Mondlane , Agostinho Neto , Amílcar Cabral , Jonas Savimbi , Joaquim Chissano , and Graça Machel . Two state-run universities were founded in Portuguese Africa in

6840-494: The ruling authorities for the benefit of the territories' ethnic Portuguese population at the expense of local tribal control, the development of native communities, and the majority of the indigenous population, who suffered both state-sponsored discrimination and enormous social pressure to comply with government policies largely imposed from Lisbon. Many felt they had received too little opportunity or resources to upgrade their skills and improve their economic and social situation to

6935-512: The same categories. Later, after official discrimination based on skin colour was outlawed, some Portuguese commanders such as General António de Spínola began a process of "Africanization" of Portuguese forces fighting in Africa. In Portuguese Guinea, this included a large increase in African recruitment along with the establishment of all-black military formations such as the Black Militias ( Milícias negras ) commanded by Major Carlos Fabião and

7030-464: The slave trade became the basis of the local economy in Angola. Excursions traveled ever farther inland to procure captives who were sold by African rulers; the primary source of these slaves were those captured as a result of losing a war or interethnic skirmish with other African tribes. More than a million men, women, and children were shipped from Angola across the Atlantic. In this region, unlike Guinea,

7125-754: The so-called inferior races, by cross-breeding, by means of the Christian religion, by the mixing of the most widely divergent elements; freedom of access to the highest offices of state, even in Europe – these are the principles which have always guided Portuguese colonisation in Asia, in Africa, in the Pacific, and previously in America." As late as the 1950s, the policy of "colorblind" access and mixing of races did not extend to all of Portugal's African territories, particularly Mozambique, where in tune with other minority white regimes of

7220-483: The spent cartridges still inside to ammo supply points. There the trays would be emptied and reloaded and the spent cartridges were reboxed and repacked for reloading. The realities of combat made this idea impractical. In service, the Breda 37 and 38 proved to be fairly reliable heavy machine guns. Perhaps because the heavy support weapons received more attention from their crews, field reports were generally positive except for jams caused by desert sand and dust, which in

7315-495: The three separate Angolan , Guinea-Bissau and Mozambican theaters of operations, rather than a number of separate conflicts as the emergent African countries aided each other and were supported by the same global powers and even the United Nations during the war. India's 1954 annexation of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and 1961 annexation of Goa are sometimes included as part of the conflict. Unlike other European nations during

7410-413: The time, Portugal was in effective control of little more than the coastal strip of both Angola and Mozambique, but important inroads into the interior had been made since the first half of the 19th century. In Angola, construction of a railway from Luanda to Malanje , in the fertile highlands, was started in 1885. Work began in 1903 on a commercially significant line from Benguela all the way inland to

7505-586: The time, the Estado Novo , was overthrown by a military coup in 1974 , and the change in government brought the conflict to an end. The war was a decisive ideological struggle in Lusophone Africa, surrounding nations, and mainland Portugal. The prevalent Portuguese and international historical approach considers the Portuguese Colonial War as was perceived at the time—a single conflict fought in

7600-602: The trade remained largely in Portuguese hands. Nearly all the slaves were destined for the Portuguese colony of Brazil . In Mozambique , reached in the 15th century by Portuguese sailors searching for a maritime spice trade route, the Portuguese settled along the coast and made their way into the hinterland as sertanejos (backwoodsmen). These sertanejos lived alongside Swahili traders and even obtained employment among Shona kings as interpreters and political advisers. One such sertanejo managed to travel through almost all

7695-427: The trays. Although, this is a non-issue as the feed tray loading machine removes the empty cases from the trays as it refills them with fresh ammunition. This design flaw was actually intentional. Recycling cartridge cases for reloading was a common practice in some militaries of the time (admonitions to collect and clean spent cartridges are found on ammunition carton labels). The trays were supposed to be returned with

7790-410: The two LMGs supporting the rifle squad in its objective. At the time, most other armies embedded a light machine gun with each section or squad, usually half the size of the Italian section, which by comparison seems an unwieldy organisation. As individual weapons, pistols were issued to each corporal gunner, a carbine for the sergeant-major, and rifles for all others. The Breda 30 was first used in

7885-413: The weapon achieved slightly better results. Low magazine capacity, frequent jamming and the complicated barrel change made firing and reloading a slow and laborious process, resulting in the Breda 30 being a weapon only capable of laying down a diminutive amount of firepower and making it a very modest contributor to a firefight. When considering all of the gun's deficiencies, taken during combat when it

7980-463: The weapon's full-auto mode was nearly unusable: desert sand and dust caused the weapon to jam continuously, with the oil used in the cartridge lubrication only exaggerating this problem. Because of its highly frequent jamming and stoppages, the Breda, despite being a machine gun, was more comparable to a semi-automatic rifle in terms of fire output. In the Balkans , Eastern Front and other theatres of war,

8075-500: The west coast of Africa in the 15th century, they concentrated their energies on Guinea and Angola . Hoping at first for gold , they soon found that slaves were the most valuable commodity available in the region for export. The Islamic Empire was already well-established in the African slave trade , for centuries linking it to the Arab slave trade . However, the Portuguese who had conquered

8170-720: The world's history although most of the migrants fled the former Portuguese territories as destitute refugees. The former colonies faced severe problems after independence. Devastating civil wars followed in Angola and Mozambique , which lasted several decades, claimed millions of lives, and resulted in large numbers of displaced refugees . Angola and Mozambique established state-planned economies after independence, and struggled with inefficient judicial systems and bureaucracies, corruption, poverty and unemployment. A level of social order and economic development comparable to what had existed under Portuguese rule, including during

8265-593: Was another issue for Italians, whose mobility was limited by their weak truck fleet. The tripod added around 20 kg to the complex, putting it at around 40 kilograms. In Regia Marina service, the M37 was used aboard vessels from aviso scorta (destroyer escort/torpedo boat) rank, such as the 840-ton Orsa class which carried two per ship as tertiary gun armament, down to small flotilla craft . MS boats frequently carried them as secondary gun armament and many early-war MAS boats carried an M37 as their sole gun armament before

8360-622: Was at its worst, the practical rate of fire of the Breda 30 could even have been comparable to a semi-automatic weapon's practical rate of fire, as the standard American rifle was (the M1 Garand and M1 Carbine ) and the later German Gewehr 43 . Although considerably flawed when compared to its contemporaries, the Breda 30 was still considered the deadliest weapon of the standard Italian infantryman's arsenal, since heavy machine guns were seen in relatively small numbers and submachine guns such as Beretta Model 38 were very rare. The Breda 30 along with

8455-849: Was expected to spill over the borders into its territories. After Germany declared war on Portugal in March 1916, the Portuguese government sent more reinforcements to Mozambique (the South Africans had captured German South West Africa in 1915). These troops supported British , South African and Belgian military operations against German colonial forces in German East Africa . In December 1917, German colonial forces led by Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck invaded Mozambique from German East Africa. Portuguese, British and Belgian forces spent all of 1918 chasing Lettow-Vorbeck and his men across Mozambique, German East Africa and Northern Rhodesia . Portugal sent

8550-478: Was fond of restating the old Portuguese policy maxim that any indigenous resident of Portugal's African territories was, in theory, eligible to become a member of Portuguese government, even its president. In practice, this never took place, though trained black Africans living in Portugal's overseas African possessions were allowed to occupy positions in a variety of areas including the military, civil service, clergy, education, and private business —providing they had

8645-788: Was increased to four years in 1967, and virtually all conscripts faced a mandatory two-year tour of service in Africa. The existence of the draft and likelihood of combat in African counterinsurgency operations over time resulted in a sharp increase in emigration by Portuguese men seeking to avoid such service. By the end of the Portuguese colonial war in 1974, black African participation had become crucial due to declining numbers of recruits available from Portugal itself. Native African troops, although widely deployed, were initially used in subordinate roles as enlisted troops or noncommissioned officers. Portuguese colonial administrators were handicapped by their policies in education, which largely barred indigenous Africans from adequate education until well after

8740-406: Was issued at platoon level and gave Italian rifle squads extra firepower. As a light machine gun it had many problems including jamming and overheating. It was fed by a 20 round stripper clips which had to be oiled by a lubrication device. Despite all its faults it formed the main base of fire for infantry units during the war. The Breda 30 was rather unusual for a light machine gun. It was fed from

8835-440: Was often difficult to remedy in the field. The Breda 30 inherently lacked good primary extraction in its design, and thus utilized a small lubrication device that oiled each cartridge as it entered the chamber. The dust and sand of the deserts of North Africa caused significant premature wear and jamming. As an automatic weapon's chamber and barrel heat up with prolonged automatic fire, the resulting excessive temperature can cause

8930-535: Was verified later, a lack of coordination between the three general staffs ( Army , Air Force , and Navy ). The FNLA , which was headed by Holden Roberto , attacked Portuguese settlers and Africans living in northern Angola from its bases in Congo-Léopoldville . Many of the victims were African farm workers living under labor contracts that required seasonal relocation from the desertified Southwest and Bailundo areas of Angola. Photos of Africans killed by

9025-420: Was violent and often resulted in poor primary extraction . In the primary extraction phase of automatic firearms cycling, the initial small rearward movement of the hot expanded cartridge case away from the chamber's walls should be powerful but not too rapid, otherwise reliability problems may arise. Separated cases resulting in jamming of the Breda were usually the consequence of poor primary extraction, and this

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