Zbrojovka Brno

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Zbrojovka Brno
legal form sro (GmbH)
founding 1919/2010
Seat Brno
Branch Arms , engineering and other products
Website zbrojovka-brno.cz/cz/
zbrojovka-brno.cz/de/

Entrance to the old area of ​​Zbrojovka Brno

The Zbrojovka Brno (German: weapons plants Brno ), the 1918 Československá státní zbrojovka was founded (Czechoslovak state arms factory), one of the most important companies in the defense and engineering industry in Czechoslovakia and was for some products lead the world. Their products, which in addition to weapons (rifles, machine guns, pistols) also included automobiles, tractors, machine tools, motors and others, were mostly manufactured under the brand name Z or ZB .

The traditional company founded in 1918 and most recently operating under the name Zbrojovka Brno was wound up in 2006 after bankruptcy; The company Brno Rifles , established in 2004, obtained licenses and trademark rights and was renamed Zbrojovka Brno in 2010 , produces as a subsidiary of Česká zbrojovka (Uherský Brod) (ČZUB) with the name acquired in 2010 to this day.

Company history

Anti-aircraft gun PLDvK vz. 53/59 on mount

In Brno the were until the end of World War I , the Austro-Hungarian artillery workshops, the Imperial and Royal weapons factory main - branch in Brno (1916-1918), a branch of the Vienna Arsenal , which for the Imperial Army produced weapons.

After the establishment of Czechoslovakia , the area and the workshops were taken over by the Brno National Committee in November 1918 and were given different names, such as Státní zbrojovka a strojírna v Brně and Československá zbrojovka a strojírna v Brně ( State or Czechoslovakian Arms and Mechanical Engineering Factory in Brně ). Above all, various machine parts were repaired. On January 20, 1919, the factory was renamed Československá státní zbrojovka (Czechoslovak State Arms Factory). From 1923 the company was called Československé závody na výrobu zbraní (Czechoslovak Arms Manufacture) . In 1924 the name was retrospectively changed to Československá zbrojovka Brno , and the company also became a joint stock company . After the occupation of Czechoslovakia , the politically undesirable attribute "Czechoslovakian" was deleted from the name and Zbrojovka Brno was created , which was affiliated with the Hermann Göring Works under the German name Waffenwerke Brünn . On October 27, 1945 the factory was nationalized and continued to be called Zbrojovka Brno in Czech . From 1954 to 1968 the company was called Závody Jana Švermy Brno ( Jan Šverma Works Brno), after which it was renamed Zbrojovka Brno . After 1989 the company took on the legal form of a stock corporation again.

As early as the 1960s, the communist government shifted and outsourced production (especially in the 1980s in favor of the Česká zbrojovka company in Uherský Brod, also ČZUB, which, however, continued to market the products under the original ZB brand); As a result, the company ran into increasing difficulties under the new market economy conditions of the 1990s. Attempts were made to counteract this by restructuring the company in 1999/2000, which consisted in setting up a holding company with four subsidiaries that were created through production outsourcing:

  • Zbrojovka Brno Trade
  • Zbrojovka Brno Arms
  • Zbrojovka Brno Metal (founded in 1999, dissolved by resolution of the shareholders on June 13, 2006)
  • Zbrojovka Brno Technologies (replaced by Zbrojovka Brno Výroba after bankruptcy in 2002 )

The parent company itself shrank and only employed a dozen people in 2001/2002. Nonetheless, in March 2003 Zbrojovka had to file for bankruptcy with the subsidiaries, they were wound up, production stopped in 2006 and in 2007 the company's own premises including real estate and inventory were auctioned.

At the same time, on May 14, 2004, the Brno Rifles company was founded as a wholly owned subsidiary of ČZUB, which had previously manufactured bolt action rifles for hunters and was interested in existing new designs from Zbrojovka. In 2006, ČZUB and Brno Rifles bought parts of the Zbrojovka Brno production facilities and took over most of the employees. After ČZUB was able to secure the trademark rights and the logo of Zbrojovka Brno for itself in mid-2010 , it renamed the subsidiary Brno Rifles to Zbrojovka Brno (GmbH) on July 2, 2010 . Even if, for example, the “Zbrojovka Brno” website, which is available today, is maintained and refers to the tradition up to 1918, these two companies should not be mixed up.

Development of the product range

The first activity of the new arms factory was by no means up to par, measured against the name of the company. These were repairs of military tools, blacksmithing and metalworking work. Rifles were not manufactured until the spring or summer of 1919. The newly formed Czechoslovakia built its own army and wanted to manufacture the weapons itself. While some heavy industrial companies such as Škoda Pilsen or ČKD were commissioned with the production of cannons, tanks and armored cars and, for example, Avia , Aero or Letov with the production of airplanes, the task of manufacturing infantry weapons fell to Zbrojovka - this production started around the spring of 1919 and the company achieved a good international reputation.

Motorbike Manet-90

In the 1920s and 1930s, the company transformed into a globally operating conglomerate with a focus on firearms, where it was one of the world's market leaders, but also machine tools, printing machines, industrial scales, presses, motorcycles (such as the prototypes of the Manet or Z 2 ) and bicycles (brand Z with an optional motor drive), automobiles, aircraft engines, special tools, electrotechnical devices. The company had production facilities in 70 countries around the world.

During the Second World War, the company manufactured German rifles such as the Mauser Karabiner 98k and the Gewehr 33/40 as well as formerly Czech models under new names for the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS ; A machine gun and an anti-aircraft cannon were also produced.

In the post-war period, Zbrojovka Brno had to do without parts of its production, especially weapons production, in the centrally managed economy, leaving only sporting and hunting weapons. Production was reoriented towards "civil" areas, including office and communication technology, EDP and computer technology, diesel engines for tractors, machine tools and others. In the 1980s, the plant employed around 10,000 people.

Infantry and other weapons

Rifle vz. 24
Bren machine gun

In the beginning, Zbrojovka mainly dealt with repairs of rifles and machine guns, and spare parts were also manufactured. These were the Mannlicher 1895 rifle and the Schwarzlose machine gun from remnants of the Austrian army in large numbers.

The Schwarzlose MG became its own model vz. 7/24 (or M07 / 24 ) developed and produced in large numbers. The production or further development of the Mannlicher rifles was largely abandoned in favor of the Mauser models . Since arms production in Germany was severely restricted as a result of the Versailles Treaty , the company (with financial help from the Ministry of Defense in Prague) bought the entire machine park, licenses and documentation for the Mauser Karabiner 98 bolt action rifle in Oberndorf - as well as the license for the Mauser pistol 1914 . These two weapons were called Gewehr vz. 24 and pistol vz. 24 manufactured; the designer of the pistol, Ing. Josef Nickl, later worked in Brno himself. Especially the rifle vz. 24 became a successful product of Zbrojovka Brno : 2 million pieces of this model were produced by 1938, the Czechoslovak army bought around 750,000 pieces, the rest was exported all over the world.

In the interwar period, some machine guns were also developed, among others by the designer Václav Holek , which were later used extensively in some armies during the Second World War. The ZB vz light machine gun is particularly important here . 26 from 1924, which was based on the Praga 1024 prototype and whose series production began in 1926; there were different variants, including above all ZB vz. 27 and ZB vz. 30 , the total number of pieces produced for all variants is around 145,000 pieces. In addition, the heavy machine gun ZB vz. 37 designed and manufactured. The British military was interested in both light and heavy machine guns. After the Royal Small Arms Factory bought a few copies of the vz. 26 and vz. 30 , a license was purchased for a model from Brno adapted for the British .303 cartridge , which was then also produced in Canada and other countries from 1935 to 1971 under the name Bren ; the machine gun was in use until the 1990s. In addition, the British military agreed to license the ZB vz heavy machine gun with the Czech manufacturer. 37, which was called Besa in British manufacture by the Birmingham Small Arms Company and was produced from 1939 to 1946 (60,000 pieces). After the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Germany, weapons for the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS were produced in the Zbrojovka Brno , albeit under different names: the rifle vz. 24 as Gewehr 24 (t) , the ZB vz. 26 as MG 26 (t) and the ZB vz. 37 as MG 37 (t) , the "t" standing for "Czech".

In addition, the Br 303 anti-aircraft gun was developed in the Brno factory, of which around 130 were produced from 1944. From this a new anti-aircraft gun was developed after the war, the ZK 454 , which was sold in 1956 under the name PLDvK vz. 53/59 (NATO code: M53 / 59 ) was introduced into the army - but manufactured by the Zbrojovka Vsetín plant .

Weapons overview

Passenger vehicles

Passenger cars were produced from 1924 onwards, but were removed from the range in 1936 due to insufficient profitability. The first model was offered under the brand name Disk. During this time the following basic models were produced:

Type construction time cylinder Cubic capacity cm³ horsepower number of pieces
Disk 1) 1924-1925 4 row 598 10 75
Z 18 1926-1930 2 row 1004 18th 2510
Z 9 2) 1930-1932 2 row 933 22nd 850
Z 4 3) 1933-1936 2 row 905 18th 2680
Z 5 1935-1936 4 row 1470 40 357
Z 6 4) 1935-1936 2 row 735 19th 500

Remarks:

1)The brand name was Disk. Passenger car with friction drive. Depending on the source, 52 to over 80 copies.
2) The only Z-car built in series with 4 doors.
3) First series-built Czechoslovakian passenger car with front-wheel drive.
4)Small car, popularly called "Hurvínek" (after the famous Spejbl and Hurvínek puppet series ).

  • Disk from 1924

  • Z 18 from 1930

  • Z 5 from 1936

  • Z 6 "Hurvínek", 1936

Special engines have been developed for car races. This included a six-cylinder engine with a displacement of 1083 cm³ and an eight-cylinder engine with a displacement of 1444 cm³. In the 1000 miles of Czechoslovakia in 1934 Josef Mamula was class winner on a Z-4 up to 1000 cm³.

Tractors

Zetor 25A

The Zetor tractor series played a special role in the post-war production of the Brno plants . The first Zetor 25 rolled off the production line in 1945. In 1946 the tractor production was outsourced to the newly founded company Zetor (also in Brno), which remained a subsidiary of Zbrojovka Brno until 1990. The models Zetor 15 , Zetor 35 , Zetor 50 and other series followed. However, the best known was the Zetor 25 , which was manufactured without interruption until 1961 with a total of 158,000 pieces.

Remarks

  1. ↑ The website belongs to the subsidiary of Česká zbrojovka (Uherský Brod) Brno Rifles, which was established in 2004 and was renamed Zbrojovka Brno in 2010.
  2. ↑ The statement February 1, 1919, which is also (rarely) found, is obviously incorrect.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Extract from the library of the Museum of Applied Arts in Prague, online at: upm.cz/…
  2. ↑ History of Zbrojovky Brno [History of Zbrojovka Brno], company portal, online at: zbrojovka-brno.cz/…
  3. ↑ a b c d David Pazdera: Zbrojovka Brno - high quality firearms since 1918? , online at: guns-info.cz/…
  4. ↑ a b c Jaromír Vykoukal: Zbraně pro pěchotu první republiky 3rd díl. Kapitola třetí: Vybudování československého moderního zbrojního průmyslu (The Origin of Modern Czechoslovak Industry), online at: vojsko.net/…
  5. ↑ Založena Československá státní Zbrojovka , article in Internetová encyklopedie dějin města Brna (online encyclopedia of the city of Brno), online at: encyklopedie.brna.cz/…
  6. ↑ VHJ Závody Jana Švermy Brno , online at: historiepocitacu.cz/vhj-zavody-jana-svermy-brno
  7. ↑ Brno Arms (Zbrojovka Brno) Gun Values , online at: bluebookofgunvalues.com/… ( Memento from December 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Zbrojovka Brno Metal sro - v likvidaci, Brno IČO 25564366 - Obchodní rejstřík firem , extract from the commercial register, online at: rejstrik-firem.kurzy.cz / ...
  9. ↑ Zbrojovka Brno je od konce letošního března v konkursu , in: Konkursní noviny (bankruptcy newspaper) April 16, 2003, online at: kn.cz/… ( Memento from December 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ Jan Dvořák: CO JE NOVÉHO VE ZBROJOVCE BRNO? , Agrární WWW portál AGRIS, December 5, 2000, online at: agris.cz/…
  11. ↑ a b About us , company portal, online at: zbrojovka-brno.cz/…
  12. ↑ Výpis for obchodního rejstříku. ZBROJOVKA BRNO, sro, C 45994 vedená u Krajského soudu v Brně (extract from the Commercial Register of the Ministry of Justice), online at: or.justice.cz/…
  13. ↑ ZBROJOVKA BRNO, sro , online at: daty.cz/…
  14. ↑ Zbrojovka Brno pokračuje, Brno Rifles nekončí , in: Myslivost 12/2010, p. 80, online at: myslivost.cz/…
  15. ↑ ZBROJOVKA BRNO Gun Values , online at: bluebookofgunvalues.com / ... ( Memento from January 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  16. ↑ a b c David Sáňka: Zbrojní průmysl v ČR - historie a perspective , Bachelor thesis at the University of Economics in Prague, online at: www.vse.cz/… , p. 17
  17. ↑ a b Eva Staffová: ZBROJOVKA BRNO , diploma thesis at the Faculty of Architecture at the TU Brno, online at: vutbr.cz/… , p. 5
  18. ↑ Z historie firmy Zbrojovka Brno mezi dvěma světovými válkami , in: Bulletin ASI (Asociace strojních inženýrů ČR), 49/2010, online at: asicr.cz/…
  19. ↑ Michal Kroužek: Lehký kulomet ZB vz. 26 , online at: vojsko.net/…
  20. ↑ Michal Kroužek: ZB 1937 / MG 37 (t) , online at: vojsko.net/…
  21. ↑ 30 mm canon device 303 Br , description of the Historical Military Institute VHU Prague, online at: vhu.cz/… (Czech); 30 mm protilietadlový dvojkanón vz. 53 , description of the Historical Military Institute VHU Bratislava, online at: vhu.sk/… ( Memento from December 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (Slovak); 30 mm PLDVK vz. 53 , description in German including technical data, online at: jesterka.wz.cz/ ( Memento from December 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (German)
  22. ↑ Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 , chapter disk.
  23. ↑ George Nick Georgano (Editor-in-Chief): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Volume 1: A – F. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , p. 439. (English)
  24. ↑ a b Marián Šuman-Hreblay: automobilů Encyklopedie. České a slovenské osobní automobily od roku 1815 do současnosti. Computer Press, Brno 2007, ISBN 978-80-251-1587-9 .
  25. ↑ a b Motor Klassik , edition 6/1989.
  26. ↑ Reinhard Bauer: The "1000 Miles of Czechoslovakia" - only held three times! (PDF).
  27. ↑ History , website of Zetor as, online at: zetor.cz/…

literature

  • Michael Riedner: Zet sign. In: Motor Klassik, issue 6/1989. United Motor-Verlage GmbH & Co. KG, Stuttgart 1989, p. 32.
  • Marián Šuman-Hreblay: Encyclopedie automobilů. České a slovenské osobní automobily od roku 1815 do současnosti. Computer Press, Brno 2007, ISBN 978-80-251-1587-9 . (Czech)

Web links

Commons : Zbrojovka Brno  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 49 ° 12 ′ 19.9 ″  N , 16 ° 38 ′ 0.3 ″  E