Sturmgewehr 44





The Sturmgewehr 44 (StG44) was the world's first truely effective assault
rifle. It was introduced by the German army late in WWII, and if the war had
continued another year, the SG44 would have replaced every other rifle,
light machine gun, and submachine gun in the Wehrmacht, including the
antique Karabiner 98k and MP38. After the war the StG44 resulted in the
outright replacement of almost every infantry gun in the western world,
serving as the direct inspiration for the Russian AK47, the most prolific
gun in the world, and the indirect inspiration for practically everything else.

Background

In the early stages of the war, the German army had considered the rifle to
be a "support" weapon only. The primary weapon of the infantry was the
machine gun, and in a typical squad the soldiers carried considerably more
ammunition for their MG34 than they did for their own rifles. The MG34 could
pour out considerably more fire than all of the rifles put together, so they
were almost an afterthought.

In combat things were never so simple. The machine gun proved to be far too
large to be operated on the move, meaning that the troops often had to use
their rifles while moving up. Of course the defenders they were moving up on
were in fixed positions, and therefore had no limitations in the use of
their own machine guns. For an army depending on the fast-moving blitzkrieg,
they found themselves outgunned almost constantly. These problems were
magnified in the cities and towns, where the weapon could not be brought to
bear on their targets before they disappeared into the next building.

For this reason the troops started making increased use of submachine guns,
forming squads known as assault troops which could keep up a high rate of
fire while on the move. Unfortunately the submachine gun's use of
pistol-sized rounds made for poor range, and the assault troops were really
only useful in urban settings. Once out in the country it was back to the
rifles again.

Adding to the confusion was the fact that the Red Army had been in the
process of replacing their own rifles in the immediate pre-war era.
Increasing numbers of semi-automatic Tokarev SVT38 and SVT40's were reaching
the units, meaning that they outgunned their German counterparts
considerably. The army had been attempting to introduce semi-automatic
weapons of their own, notably the Gewehr 41, but these were proving rather
problematic in service, and were therefore being delivered at a trickle
while the problems were being worked out.

Several attempts had been made to introduce very light weight machine guns
for these roles, but invariably the recoil from the fairly heavy standard
German 7.92mm Mauser round made them too difficult to control. The solution
was to use a round of "intermediate" power, somewhere between that of the
full rifle cartridge, and the pistol rounds. Experiments with several such
intermediate rounds had been going on since the 1930s, but had been
constantly rejected for use by the army. By 1941 it was becoming clear that
there actually was a problem to solve, and one of the experimental rounds,
the Polte 7.92x33mm Kurz Patrone (short cartridge), was eventually selected
as the basis for future development.

MKb 42

Contracts for rifles firing the Kurz round were sent to both Walther and
Haenel (who's design group was headed by Hugo Schmeisser), who were asked to
submit prototype weapons under the name Maschinenkarabiner 1942 (MKb 42), a
new designation indicating a "short machine gun". Both designs were largely
similar, using a gas-actuated action, with both semi-automatic and
fully-automatic firing modes.

The original versions of the Haenel version, the MKb 42(H), fired from the
open bolt and used a striker for firing. The receiver and trigger housing
with pistol grip are made from steel stampings, which are attached to the
barrel assembly on a hinge, allowing the weapon to be "folded open" for
quick disassembly and cleaning. The Haenel MKb 42(H) design proved superior
to the Walther MKb 42(W), and the army then asked Haenel for another version
incorporating a list of minor changes. One was to include lugs for mounting
a standard bayonette, another to change the pitch of the rifling. A
production run of these modified versions was sent to the field in November
1942, and the users loved it with a few reservations. Another set of
modifications added a hinged cover over the ejection port to keep it clean
while on the move, and rails to mount a sighting scope. A run of these
modified MKb 42(H)'s in late 1942 and early 1943 produced 11,833 guns for
field trials.

MP43

While the new version was under development in late 1942, the infighting
within the Third Reich was in full swing. Hitler was increasingly upset by
this, and after Hermann Gšring had created the FG-42 simply to one-up the
army's G41 efforts, Hitler gave up and cancelled all new rifle projects
completely. This included the production of the MKb 42(H), which was still
underway, which he was particularily upset about because it used a new
ammunition type which would further confuse the already daunting logistics
problems the army was having.

In order to protect what was clearly a war-winning weapon, a new project at
Gustloff was started to produce a similar weapon using the original Mauser
round, the Mkb 43(G). Whenever Hitler asked about the progress of the rifle,
he was always shown one of these prototypes, although there was no intention
of ever producing them.

Meanwhile the changes to the original Mkb 42(H) was being made, called the
Maschinenpistole 43 (MP43), to disguise it as upgrades to existing
submachine guns. Another change was introduced to allow the fitting of the
grenade launcher attachments from the earlier MKb 42(H) led to the MP43/1,
as opposed to fittings for the launcher from the Kar 98k on the original
MP43.

Eventually the truth surfaced and Hitler ordered the project stopped once
again. However in March 1943 he allowed a the run to continue for evaluation
purposes, which they then continued until September. That month the first
service reports of the gun started to filter in, and Hitler allowed for
continued production.

MP44/StG44

On April 6, 1944, Hitler issued the following decree:

     a) The former MG42 is to retain the same designation
     b) The former self-loading rifle, known as the Gewehr 43, shall receive
     the designation Karabiner 43 (K43).
     c) The former new MP, known as the MP43, shall receive the designation
     MP44.

In July 1944 at a meeting of the various army heads about the eastern front,
the universal answer to "what do you need" was "more of the new rifles".
This caused some confusion, but once Hitler realized what was going on he
agreed to allow its full production. Seeing the possibility of a propaganda
win, the rifle was again renamed as the StG44, to highlight the new class of
weapon it represented, literally "assault rifle, model 1944", thereby
introducing the term.

By the end of the war, some 425,977 StG44 variants of all types were
produced. The assault rifle proved an invaluable weapon, especially on the
Eastern front, where it was first deployed. A properly trained soldier with
an StG44 had a greatly improved tactical repertoire, in that he could
effectively engage targets at long range across open terrain, or in close
range urban fighting, as well as provide cover fire in all situations as a
machine gun role.

An intriguing addition was the Krummerlauf, a bent barrel with a persicope
sighting device for shooting around corners. It was produced in several
variants, an "I"-version for infantry use, and a "P" version for use in
tanks (to cover the dead areas in the close range around the tank to defend
against assaulting infantry), versions with 30¡, 45¡, 60¡ and 90¡, and a
version for the StGw 44 and one for the MG 42. Only the 30¡ "I" - version
for the StG44 was produced in any numbers.

The wisdom of the assault rifle concept has been born out in that, with the
exception of a few specialized positions such as the sniper, virtually every
soldier in every army today carries a descendent of the StG44.

Specifications

     Caliber: 7.92x33mm Kurz
     Muzzle velocity: 685m/s (2,055 fps)
     Action: Gas operated, tilting bolt
     Overall length: 940mm, 37"
     Barrel length: 419mm, 14.35"
     Weight: 5.22kg, 10.85 pounds unloaded
     Rate of fire: 500-600 rounds per minute
     Magazine capacity: 30 rounds
     Sights: Tangent U-notch rear, Blade front