MG 34 3D model

The MG 34 (shortened from German: Maschinengewehr 34, or machine gun 34) is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun, first tested in 1929, introduced in 1934, and issued to units in 1936. It introduced an entirely new concept in automatic firepower – the Einheitsmaschinengewehr (Universal machine gun) – and is generally considered the world's first general-purpose machine gun (GPMG). Both the MG 34 and MG 42 were erroneously nicknamed Spandau by Allied troops, a carryover from the World War I nickname for the MG 08, which was produced at the Spandau Arsenal.