BACKGROUND: Among other restrictions, the Treaty of Versailles banned Germany from developing any type of heavy machine gun. To circumvent this German development of an all purpose machine gun were secretly being done in Switzerland in the early 1930's. By 1934 designer Louis Stange of the Rheinmetall armaments factory had made improvements to the secret machine gun developed in Switzerland and the MG34 was introduced as an all purpose selective fire weapon. In spite of the relatively high production cost the MG34 was accepted by the Wehrmacht Ordnance department and deliveries of the MG34 began in 1936. The MG34 came equipped with a wide variety of accessories including assorted optical enhancement devices. One of the optical accessories was the four power magnification, ZF34 sight which could be utilized for either direct or indirect fire when the weapon was mounted on its tripod as a heavy machine gun. In the indirect fire role the ZF34 sight had an effective range of 3500 meters. The MG’s section leader carried and was responsible for the ZF34 optical sight. Of Note: The ZF34 optical sight was to be replaced in 1940 with the newly developed ZF40 optical sight although the ZF34 remained in use until the end of the war. The ZF40 was an updated and improved sight and was adaptable to both the MG34 and MG42 when used as a heavy machine gun on a tripod.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Tooled alloy and steel construction ZF34 sight with natural aluminum and blued fittings retains about most of its original field-grey and black paints. Maker marked to Kuhlmann. Complete as photographed. There is a chip to the optics, but does not effect the view when in use.