Here Greek soldiers of the legendary 8th Infantry Division in the Albanian front, 1940 are operating the modified Hotchkiss medium machine gun which was a Greek improvised version of the Hotckiss M1926 MMG.

Prior to World War 2 the Greek State Military factory in Athens were given the responsibility of modernising the existing stocks of Hotchkiss M1926 machine guns.

The current rate of fire was extremely poor at 220 rounds per minute, which was well below the performance of other contemporary machine guns.

The Greek State Military factory engineers were able to increase the rate of fire to 420 rounds/min and improved the guns overall stability.

The factory was also able to produce a large number of auxiliary parts, with minor improvements.

The gun was extensively used by the Greek Army during World War II.

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