Václav Holek (24 September 1886 – 13 November 1954) was a Czech

firearm A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originate ...

engineer who applied for over 75 patents.

Life

Václav Holek was born in Malé Nepodřice, southern

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

, on 24 September 1886. He completed his apprenticeship as a

gunsmith A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds guns. The occupation differs from an armorer, who usually replaces only worn parts in standard firearms. Gunsmiths do modifications and changes to a firearm that may require a very ...

and studied afterward in

Písek Písek (; ) is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 31,000 inhabitants. The town is known for the oldest bridge in the country. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an urban monument z ...

. In 1905, he started working with an Anton Mulacz company in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. In 1910, he acquired a job with the gunsmith Jan Nowotný in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, where he took part in refining Holland & Holland system

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small ...

s. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the company produced artillery guns for the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army, also known as the Imperial and Royal Army,; was the principal ground force of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918. It consisted of three organisations: the Common Army (, recruited from all parts of Austria-Hungary), ...

. In 1918, Holek switched to the Zbrojovka Praga, a firearm company newly established by the son of Holek's former boss, Jan Nowotný. Here, a service

semi-automatic pistol A semi-automatic pistol (also called a self-loading pistol, autopistol, or autoloading pistol) is a repeating firearm, repeating handgun that automatically ejects and loads cartridge (firearms), cartridges in its chamber (firearms), chamber afte ...

designated for the

Czechoslovak Army The Czechoslovak Army (Czech and Slovak: ''Československá armáda'') was the name of the armed forces of Czechoslovakia. It was established in 1918 following Czechoslovakia's declaration of independence from Austria-Hungary. History In t ...

and police designed by Holek existed. And it was here where, in the springtime of 1921, Václav Holek constructed a

light machine gun A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridge (firearms), cartridges of the same caliber as the othe ...

from which the Czechoslovak Army light machine gun PRAGA vz. 24 was born, the predecessor of the ZB vz. 26 light machine gun. (Later, the British

Royal Small Arms Factory The Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF), also known by the metonym ''Enfield'', was a UK government-owned rifle factory in Enfield, adjoining the Lee Navigation in the Lea Valley. Some parts were in Waltham Abbey. The factory produced British m ...

of Enfield bought the

license A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...

and produced some 220,000 guns marked as

Bren The Bren gun (Brno-Enfield) was a series of light machine guns (LMG) made by the United Kingdom in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1992. While best known for its role as the British and Commonwealth forces' primary infantry LMG in Wor ...

.) In December 1924, Holek switched to the Československá zbrojovka in Brno, where, in the 1930s, he developed the ZB-53 machine gun, of which 60,000 pieces marked as

Besa machine gun The Besa machine gun was a British version of the Czechoslovak ZB-53 air-cooled, belt-fed machine gun (called the TK vz. 37 in the Czechoslovak army"TK" from ''těžký kulomet'' "heavy machine gun"; "vz" from ''vzor'' "Model"). The name ca ...

were produced in Britain. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and in the post-war years, Václav Holek developed several modern semi-automatic weapons, of which only the Vz. 52 light machine guns saw the production line. Holek died on 13 November 1954 in

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

at the age of 68.

References

Literature

* Lubomir Popelinský: ''Československé automatické zbraně'' (Czechoslovak automatic weapons), Prague 1999 {{DEFAULTSORT:Holek, Václav 1886 births 1954 deaths People from Písek District Engineers from Austria-Hungary Firearm designers Czechoslovak engineers