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| Villar Perosa 9mm Machine Pistol, Model 1915, Double Aircraft Configuration |
Italy has a strong claim to being the first combatant to introduce a handheld machine gun (or submachine gun) during World War I. The Villar Perosa M15 was an Italian portable automatic firearm developed during the World War I by the Officine di Villar Perosa originally to be mounted on aircraft in a double barrel configuration shown above.
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| Italian Assault Troops Armed with the VP M15 |
Its 9mm projectile, however, was not massive enough to be effective against sturdy aircraft, so it was adopted by the Italian infantry for its elite Arditi units. It was first used in combat in the Isonzo River/ Carso Plateau sector in 1916. It had a high rate of fire at 300 rounds per minute per barrel but a short effective range. With 25-round clips, it had to be recharged 12 times a minute at full fire. Because its effective range was only about 100 meters (it had a theoretical range of 800 meters), reloading was extremely risky for the gunner.
Source: La Grande Guerra Website
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