The FM 24/29 light machine gun was the replacement of the criticised Chauchat used during World War One. It was highly succesful and was the standard light machine gun from the 1930s to the 60s. The FM 24/29 was developed using the experience gained from trials of many different foreign machine guns following WWI, the BAR 1918 was favored from the onset but they decided to order a new design with the positive elements of the machine guns tested. With the FM 24 they also moved over from 8 mm Lebel to 7.5 mm rimless rounds, first 7.5x57 mm but they settled on 7.5x54 mm in 1929 since the previous round could be mistaken for 7.92x57 mm Mauser which would cause serious accidents. The rimless cartridge was better suited for box magazines, drum magazines and belts and it had a higher velocity.
The Reibel machine gun was a heavy machine gun developed from the FM 24/29 to be used in the single or twin mounts in fortifications like on the Maginot Line and as the standard machine gun for armoured fighting vehicles. The FM 24/29 was also used in fortifications and the only appearance of the weapon in FHSW is in the small GFM Cloche bunker turret. French soldiers use the Mle 1914 Hotchkiss heavy machine gun or the Bren Mk.I and BAR 1918 light machine guns due to the lack of a weapon model for the FM 24/29.
