About the AK-47 in general
The Kalashnikov assault rifle, or as it is more often called AK-47, is known all over the world. From its creation in 1947 until it entered service with the USSR Army in 1949, this machine gun was a mandatory participant in all armed conflicts on our planet. For many African tribes, this machine gun has become something more than just a weapon; quite often its image can be found on the national flags of the countries of the continent. Such popularity of the AK is quite understandable; this machine gun is recognized as the most durable and lethal weapon in its class. Despite its power, it is so unpretentious that it copes well not only with the sands and dust of Africa and Eastern countries, but also with the swamps and jungles of Vietnam. Due to its simplicity, the production cost of this machine is low, which determines such production volumes. The wide distribution of the AK-47 also occurred due to the fact that the modern army, for the most part, has been re-equipped with a modified AK-74 for quite some time, but at the same time, decommissioned AK-47s are still in excellent condition and continue to work. And of course, there will always be people who will gladly make money on weapons that have been decommissioned, but are still quite usable. Now the armament of the army of the Russian Federation, and most CIS countries, uses various modifications of the AK-47, ranging from small, police AKSU to RPK machine guns.
RPK machine gun (Kalashnikov light machine gun)
AKSU (Kalashnikov Automatic Folding Short)
Was there a copy
There are many secrets and questions surrounding the creation of this excellent weapon, but the main one is that Kalashnikov did not invent his own machine gun, but simply copied the weapon from the German Stg-44 assault rifle. This rifle was invented by the famous German gunsmith Hugo Schmeisser back in 1942. Rumors of plagiarism are also fueled by the fact that after the war, more than 50 samples of the Stg-44 rifle were taken to the city of Izhevsk, where the AK-47 was actually created, for technical disassembly. In addition to the rifles themselves, more than 10,000 pages of technical documentation about the Stg-44 were sent to the plant. Of course, after this, evil tongues began to say that Kalashnikov simply slightly changed the Stg-44 and released his AK-47 assault rifle. It is known for certain that after the occupation of the city of Suhl by Allied troops, the production of weapons in Germany was prohibited, and a little later, in 1946, Hugo Schmeisser and his family were offered to go to the Ural factories that produced weapons as a consultant. It is also known that the German lived for some time in Izhevsk and it was after this that the creation of the legend - the AK-47 - was completed.
If we draw such conclusions, then all the weapons in the world are copied from each other. By and large, the AK-47 assault rifle and the German Stg-44 assault rifle have similarities only in appearance and in the trigger mechanism. But in this matter, Kalashnikov cannot be accused of stealing the idea of this mechanism from Hugo Schmeisser, since the German himself borrowed it from the Kholeka company, which developed the first self-loading rifles ZH-29 back in the 20s.
Self-loading rifle ZH-29
If you look closely at the middle part of the rifle, a similar design can be seen in any modern machine gun, but for some reason it never occurs to anyone to say that all modern weapons are copied from this self-loading rifle.
Kalashnikov, in fact, could have taken a German rifle as the basis for creating his machine gun, but the AK-47 is an original invention that is completely different from the German model not only in its tactical and technical characteristics, but also in its internal structure. Almost all the parts and important components in the AK-47 are completely different from the STG-44. Moreover, even the principle of disassembling these automatic rifles is completely different. The difference is visible everywhere, from the locking mechanism, re-locking on the AK-47 and the skew on the STG-44; The fire mode translators for STG and AK are completely different; the trigger principle of operation, despite its similarity, also has different practical implementation. If you consider each part of the machines separately, you will not find anything in common with each other.
STG-44 and AK
If we talk about ammunition for these machine guns, then they have an external resemblance, however, like many other ammunition in the world. This is not surprising, because this bullet shape is recognized as the most successful in terms of all ballistic characteristics. Further, if we talk about the caliber, the AK-47, as you know, uses a 7.62x39 mm caliber cartridge. The STG-44 used the 7.92x33 cartridge. A similar caliber can also be explained quite easily, because before the creation of weapons of this type, the main weapons were various rifles with a caliber of 7.62.
Cartridges for AK and STG-44
If we talk about “plagiarism,” then Kalashnikov could most likely liken his assault rifle to another Russian-made weapon - the Tula Bulkin assault rifle or TKB-415, which, unfortunately, was never fully developed and did not go into serial production, despite a good design and technical characteristics. Unfortunately for those who like to accuse M. Kalashnikov of plagiarism, the AK-47 and TKB-415 also have nothing in common except their appearance.
Bulkin assault rifle TKB-415
Bottom line
In conclusion, it must be said that in the AK-47 there are indeed many elements copied from weapons of various types, but this was not done in order to deliberately copy weapons, but in order to collect all the best that was developed in the field of automatic weapons of that time . It was thanks to his ability to evaluate and choose the best that Kalashnikov managed to create such a magnificent weapon, which has been used by countries around the world for more than 50 years and does not become obsolete. It should also be noted that if Kalashnikov copied the STG-44 rifle from Germany, why then the production of this weapon was not continued, because the STG-44 can only be found in private collections or museums, and the Kalashnikov assault rifle not only continued to exist, but also continues constantly modified, each time turning into an increasingly formidable weapon.
On the monument Mikhail Kalashnikov, opened on September 19, 2017 in Moscow, military expert Yuri Pasholok saw an explosion diagram of the German assault rifle StG 44, developed in 1944 Hugo Schmeisser and outwardly reminiscent of the Kalashnikov assault rifle released later. Sculptor Salavat Shcherbakov, the author of the monument, told the radio station “Moscow Speaks” that
This message coincided with the newly activated (in connection with the opening of the monument) discussion that the Kalashnikov assault rifle could allegedly be developed by Schmeisser, who lived in the USSR for a short time after the war, or “copied” from the StG 44 (the abbreviation translates as Sturmgewehr, then there is an “Assault rifle model 1944”). Discussions of this topic regularly begin with renewed vigor, despite the fact that weapons experts have repeatedly pointed out the fundamental differences in the design of these machine guns, emphasizing that the reason for the comparison is the distant external similarity of the weapons.
StG 44 rifle. Photo: Public Domain
What are the differences?
Shutter locking method
AK and StG 44 differ in the most important feature for the design of weapons - the method of locking the bolt. On the AK, locking occurs by rotating the bolt around the longitudinal axis; on the StG 44, by tilting the bolt in a vertical plane. The method of locking the bolt is a key element of the entire design, but is little known to ordinary people who do not understand the structure of the weapon. Thus, a lack of understanding of the significance of this difference influences the opinion that different types of machine guns and rifles are similar to each other.
Receiver
The Kalashnikov assault rifle consists of the receiver itself with a cross-section in the form of an inverted letter P with bends in the upper part along which the bolt group moves, and its cover attached to the top, which must be removed for disassembly. In the StG 44, the tubular receiver has an upper part with a closed cross-section in the form of the number 8, inside which the bolt group is mounted, and a lower part, which serves as the trigger mechanism (trigger) box. Differences in the design of the receiver lead to different procedures for disassembling and assembling the weapon.
Layout, disassembly order
The layout and, as a result, the order of disassembly of these machines also differ. StG 44 structurally involves “breaking” the weapon into two parts, one of which consists of the trigger and butt, and the other of the receiver, chamber, barrel itself, forend, gas release mechanism, etc. This StG 44 design, in almost the same form, was then implemented in the design of the M16 rifle, various modifications of which are the main small arms of the US Army.
In an AK, the firing mechanism (trigger mechanism) is not detachable; disassembly does not require disconnecting the stock, and the return mechanism is completely located in the receiver.
Magazine mount
The magazine mount is also different. The StG has a fairly long receiving neck, while the AK magazine is simply inserted directly into the receiver window.
Fire selector and safety device
The fire translator and safety device also differ between German and Soviet machine guns: the StG has a separate push-button type two-way fire translator and a flag-shaped safety device located on the left, while the AK has a safety translator located on the right.
“The Kalashnikov assault rifle and the STG 44 differ from a technical point of view in many ways. These are two different systems: both in terms of weapons and cartridges. In Germany, earlier than in other countries, a new type of weapon was invented, which we call a machine gun. This is an individual automatic weapon chambered for an intermediate power cartridge.
Prototypes undergoing launch tests were captured by Soviet soldiers as trophies in 1942-1943. This did not mark the start of work on the machine gun in our country, but it allowed us to speed it up. No copying was done. Both have automation based on the removal of powder gases. Both can fire bursts and single shots. But this does not mean they are closely related. Kalashnikov re-developed both the cartridge and the weapon. It is enough to put two cartridges next to each other, and the difference will be noticeable. It is also enough to carry out partial disassembly of two machines, and the differences will be visible.
The Kalashnikov assault rifle is much lighter than the German one. The locking system on the AK is by turning the bolt by two stops, on the STG 44 by tilting the bolt.
When producing the machine gun, the Germans tried to save as much as possible on materials; they widely used stamped metal parts, because of this it is not very convenient to hold the weapon in your hands. The AK has better ergonomics. None of the German developments - neither the experimental ones, nor the STG 44 itself - were subsequently copied anywhere. There were attempts to copy this weapon in Spain and Latin America, but to no avail. And the Kalashnikov assault rifle is still being copied,” said AiF.ru firearms specialist, historian, writer Semyon Fedoseev.
At a monument to gunsmith Mikhail Kalashnikov unveiled in Moscow, an image of a drawing of the German StG 44 assault rifle was discovered instead of an AK-47. The Russian Military Historical Society (RVIO), which oversaw the construction of this monument, stated that this was a mistake by the sculptor and his apprentices, and thanked the person who revealed this. It was also stated that the drawing of the German StG 44 assault rifle would soon be removed from the new monument.
Photo: ©RIA Novosti/Vladimir Astapkovich
The military-historical editor of Rolling Wheels magazine, Yuri Pasholok, rightly drew public attention to the “oddities” of the new monument.
Pasholok posted a photo of the monument and a scan of a drawing of a German machine gun on Facebook.
“Don’t say it was them by accident. You have to beat someone for this, painfully and publicly,” the expert commented on his unsightly discovery.
Let us recall that the author of the monument to the legendary Mikhail Kalashnikov is Salavat Shcherbakov. His chisel belongs to the stone patriarch Hermogenes, Alexander I in the Alexander Garden, as well as the recently opened, but already famous Monument to Prince Vladimir.
The fact that the Kalashnikov monument contains a diagram of the German StG 44 assault rifle is quite symbolic. (Let us clarify that the concept of “machine gun” is used in relation to small arms of this kind precisely here, in Russia. In the rest of the world, another classification is accepted - “submachine gun” and “assault rifle”. But we will call it as we like for us, not for the world - “automatic”!) The fact is that outwardly our AK-47 suspiciously strongly resembles just this technical work of the talented designer Hugo Schmeisser, which was used by special units of the Third Reich - mountain riflemen (including their second division "Edelweiss"), as well as units of the "Waffen-SS". We have specifically posted below interesting material about Soviet and German small arms during the Second World War, where, in particular, this same StG 44 is described and shown in illustration form.
There is nothing wrong with the fact that Kalashnikov, to one degree or another, adopted the achievements of the Germans. This is normal practice for the military-industrial complex of any country - any achievement of the enemy is immediately implemented into its own defense structures. This was the case, for example, with the tanks of the French company Renault, which were created during the First World War, in 1916-17, and which for the first time used a turret of circular rotation (360 degrees). This innovation was immediately adopted by tank builders all over the world - and are still in use today! And what - all the armies of the world consider themselves “humiliated” after this?!
Moreover, the Germans, when they captured warehouses with a large number of our excellent SVT-40 rifles, did not consider it shameful to officially arm their units with them - its shooting characteristics were so good! (By the way, this will be discussed below).
After the war, special groups from both the USSR and the USA intensively hunted for the technical secrets of the Nazis - documentation, technologies and finished products. Our outstanding rocket designer Sergei Pavlovich Korolev - “Colonel Sergeev” - was in one of these special forces. It was from Germany that the V-2 engines were delivered, which helped Korolev develop his own rocket engines. They then stood at the entrance to the Museum of Cosmonautics, located on the territory of RSC Energia. At one time I made a publication on this topic in one of the central newspapers of Russia, where I worked at that time. And how funny the situation looked when I visited this Museum again. and... didn’t see these units! In response to my astonished question, the guide, looking at me with pewter eyes, firmly began to assure that they had never been here: apparently, the management of the concern, after publication in the press (and it was the first at that “perestroika” time), considered it “shameful” for S P. Korolev and “lowering his authority as a designer” is the fact that he used the developments of “some Germans.” Truly funny!
Alexey Anatolyevich Cheverda
Small arms of World War II
By the end of the 30s, almost all participants in the coming world war had formed common directions in the development of small arms. The range and accuracy of the attack was reduced, which was compensated by the greater density of fire. As a consequence of this, the beginning of mass rearmament of units with automatic small arms - submachine guns, machine guns, assault rifles.
Accuracy of fire began to fade into the background, while the soldiers advancing in a chain began to be taught shooting on the move. With the advent of airborne troops, the need arose to create special lightweight weapons.
Maneuver warfare also affected machine guns: they became much lighter and more mobile. New types of small arms appeared (which was dictated, first of all, by the need to fight tanks) - rifle grenades, anti-tank rifles and RPGs with cumulative grenades.
Small arms of the USSR
On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, the rifle division of the Red Army was a very formidable force - about 14.5 thousand people. The main type of small arms were rifles and carbines - 10,420 pieces. The share of submachine guns was insignificant - 1204. There were 166, 392 and 33 units of heavy, light and anti-aircraft machine guns, respectively.
The division had its own artillery of 144 guns and 66 mortars. The firepower was supplemented by 16 tanks, 13 armored vehicles and a solid fleet of auxiliary vehicles.
Mosin rifle
The main small arms of the USSR infantry units of the first period of the war was certainly the famous three-line rifle - the 7.62 mm S.I. Mosin rifle of the 1891 model, modernized in 1930. Its advantages are well known - strength, reliability, ease of maintenance, combined with good ballistics qualities, in particular, with an aiming range of 2 km.
The three-line rifle is an ideal weapon for newly recruited soldiers, and the simplicity of the design created enormous opportunities for its mass production. But like any weapon, the three-line gun had its drawbacks. The permanently attached bayonet in combination with a long barrel (1670 mm) created inconvenience when moving, especially in wooded areas. The bolt handle caused serious complaints when reloading.
On its basis, a sniper rifle and a series of carbines of the 1938 and 1944 models were created. Fate gave the three-line a long life (the last three-line was released in 1965), participation in many wars and an astronomical “circulation” of 37 million copies.
At the end of the 30s, the outstanding Soviet weapons designer F.V. Tokarev developed a 10-round self-loading rifle cal. 7.62 mm SVT-38, which after modernization received the name SVT-40. It “lost weight” by 600 g and became shorter due to the introduction of thinner wooden parts, additional holes in the casing and a decrease in the length of the bayonet. A little later, a sniper rifle appeared at its base. Automatic firing was ensured by the removal of powder gases. The ammunition was placed in a box-shaped, detachable magazine.
The target range of the SVT-40 is up to 1 km. The SVT-40 served with honor on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. It was also appreciated by our opponents. Historical fact: having captured rich trophies at the beginning of the war, among which there were many SVT-40s, the German army... adopted it for service, and the Finns created their own rifle - TaRaKo - on the basis of the SVT-40.
The creative development of the ideas implemented in the SVT-40 became the AVT-40 automatic rifle. It differed from its predecessor in its ability to fire automatically at a rate of up to 25 rounds per minute. The disadvantage of the AVT-40 is its low accuracy of fire, strong unmasking flame and loud sound at the moment of firing. Subsequently, as automatic weapons entered the military en masse, they were removed from service.
Submachine guns
The Great Patriotic War was the time of the final transition from rifles to automatic weapons. The Red Army began to fight, armed with a small number of PPD-40 - a submachine gun designed by the outstanding Soviet designer Vasily Alekseevich Degtyarev. At that time, PPD-40 was in no way inferior to its domestic and foreign counterparts.
Designed for a pistol cartridge cal. 7.62 x 25 mm, the PPD-40 had an impressive ammunition load of 71 rounds, housed in a drum-type magazine. Weighing about 4 kg, it fired at a rate of 800 rounds per minute with an effective range of up to 200 meters. However, just a few months after the start of the war it was replaced by the legendary PPSh-40 cal. 7.62 x 25 mm.
The creator of the PPSh-40, designer Georgy Semenovich Shpagin, was faced with the task of developing an extremely easy-to-use, reliable, technologically advanced, cheap to produce mass weapon.
From its predecessor, the PPD-40, the PPSh inherited a drum magazine with 71 rounds. A little later, a simpler and more reliable sector horn magazine with 35 rounds was developed for it. The weight of the equipped machine guns (both versions) was 5.3 and 4.15 kg, respectively. The rate of fire of the PPSh-40 reached 900 rounds per minute with an aiming range of up to 300 meters and the ability to fire single shots.
To master the PPSh-40, a few lessons were enough. It could easily be disassembled into 5 parts made using stamping and welding technology, thanks to which during the war years the Soviet defense industry produced about 5.5 million machine guns.
In the summer of 1942, the young designer Alexey Sudaev presented his brainchild - a 7.62 mm submachine gun. It was strikingly different from its “bigger brothers” PPD and PPSh-40 in its rational layout, higher manufacturability and ease of manufacturing parts using arc welding.
PPS-42 was 3.5 kg lighter and required three times less manufacturing time. However, despite its quite obvious advantages, it never became a mass weapon, leaving the PPSh-40 to take the lead.
By the beginning of the war, the DP-27 light machine gun (Degtyarev infantry, 7.62mm caliber) had been in service with the Red Army for almost 15 years, having the status of the main light machine gun of infantry units. Its automation was powered by the energy of powder gases. The gas regulator reliably protected the mechanism from contamination and high temperatures.
The DP-27 could only fire automatically, but even a beginner needed a few days to master shooting in short bursts of 3-5 shots. Ammunition of 47 rounds was placed in a disk magazine with a bullet towards the center in one row. The magazine itself was mounted on top of the receiver. The weight of the unloaded machine gun was 8.5 kg. An equipped magazine increased it by almost another 3 kg.
It was a powerful weapon with an effective range of 1.5 km and a combat rate of fire of up to 150 rounds per minute. In the firing position, the machine gun rested on a bipod. A flame arrester was screwed onto the end of the barrel, significantly reducing its unmasking effect. The DP-27 was serviced by a gunner and his assistant. In total, about 800 thousand machine guns were produced.
Wehrmacht small arms
The main strategy of the German army is offensive or blitzkrieg (blitzkrieg - lightning war). The decisive role in it was assigned to large tank formations, carrying out deep breakthroughs of the enemy’s defenses in cooperation with artillery and aviation.
Tank units bypassed powerful fortified areas, destroying control centers and rear communications, without which the enemy quickly lost their combat effectiveness. The defeat was completed by motorized units of the ground forces.
Small arms of the Wehrmacht infantry division
The staff of the German infantry division of the 1940 model assumed the presence of 12,609 rifles and carbines, 312 submachine guns (machine guns), light and heavy machine guns - 425 and 110 pieces, respectively, 90 anti-tank rifles and 3,600 pistols. Wehrmacht small arms generally met the high requirements of wartime . It was reliable, trouble-free, simple, easy to manufacture and maintain, which contributed to its serial production.
Rifles, carbines, machine guns
"Mauser 98K"
The Mauser 98K is an improved version of the Mauser 98 rifle, developed at the end of the 19th century by the brothers Paul and Wilhelm Mauser, the founders of the world famous arms company. Equipping the German army with it began in 1935.
« Mauser 98K"
The weapon was loaded with a clip of five 7.92 mm cartridges. A trained soldier could shoot 15 times within a minute at a range of up to 1.5 km. The Mauser 98K was very compact. Its main characteristics: weight, length, barrel length - 4.1 kg x 1250 x 740 mm. The indisputable advantages of the rifle are evidenced by numerous conflicts involving it, longevity and a truly sky-high “circulation” - more than 15 million units.
At the shooting range. Rifle "Mauser 98K"
The self-loading ten-shot rifle G-41 became the German response to the massive equipping of the Red Army with rifles - SVT-38, 40 and ABC-36. Its sighting range reached 1200 meters. Only single shooting was allowed. Its significant disadvantages - significant weight, low reliability and increased vulnerability to contamination - were subsequently eliminated. The combat “circulation” amounted to several hundred thousand rifle samples.
MP-40 "Schmeisser" assault rifle
Perhaps the most famous Wehrmacht small arms of the Second World War was the famous MP-40 submachine gun, a modification of its predecessor, the MP-36, created by Heinrich Vollmer. However, as fate would have it, he is better known under the name “Schmeisser”, obtained thanks to the stamp on the store - “PATENT SCHMEISSER”. The stigma simply meant that, in addition to G. Vollmer, Hugo Schmeisser also participated in the creation of the MP-40, but only as the creator of the store.
MP-40 "Schmeisser" assault rifle
Initially, the MP-40 was intended to arm the command staff of infantry units, but later it was transferred to the disposal of tank crews, armored vehicle drivers, paratroopers and special forces soldiers.
However, the MP-40 was absolutely unsuitable for infantry units, since it was exclusively a melee weapon. In a fierce battle in open terrain, having a weapon with a firing range of 70 to 150 meters meant for a German soldier to be practically unarmed in front of his enemy, armed with Mosin and Tokarev rifles with a firing range of 400 to 800 meters.
StG-44 assault rifle
Assault rifle StG-44 (sturmgewehr) cal. 7.92mm is another legend of the Third Reich. This is certainly an outstanding creation by Hugo Schmeisser - the prototype of many post-war assault rifles and machine guns, including the famous AK-47.
The StG-44 could conduct single and automatic fire. Its weight with a full magazine was 5.22 kg. At a target range of 800 meters, the Sturmgewehr was in no way inferior to its main competitors. There were three versions of the magazine - for 15, 20 and 30 shots with a rate of up to 500 rounds per minute. The option of using a rifle with an under-barrel grenade launcher and an infrared sight was considered.
Creator of "Sturmgever 44" Hugo Schmeisser
Not without its shortcomings. The assault rifle was heavier than the Mauser-98K by a whole kilogram. Its wooden butt sometimes could not withstand hand-to-hand combat and simply broke. The flame escaping from the barrel revealed the location of the shooter, and the long magazine and sighting devices forced him to raise his head high in a prone position.
« Sturmgever "44 with IR sight
In total, before the end of the war, German industry produced about 450 thousand StG-44s, which were used mainly by elite SS units.
Machine guns
By the beginning of the 30s, the military leadership of the Wehrmacht came to the need to create a universal machine gun, which, if necessary, could be transformed, for example, from a manual one to an easel one and vice versa. This is how a series of machine guns was born - MG - 34, 42, 45.
The 7.92 mm MG-42 is rightly called one of the best machine guns of World War II. It was developed at Grossfus by engineers Werner Gruner and Kurt Horn. Those who experienced its firepower were very outspoken. Our soldiers called it a “lawn mower,” and the allies called it “Hitler’s circular saw.”
Depending on the type of bolt, the machine gun fired accurately at a speed of up to 1500 rpm at a range of up to 1 km. Ammunition was supplied using a machine gun belt with 50 - 250 rounds of ammunition. The uniqueness of the MG-42 was complemented by a relatively small number of parts - 200 - and the high technology of their production using stamping and spot welding.
The barrel, hot from shooting, was replaced with a spare one in a few seconds using a special clamp. In total, about 450 thousand machine guns were produced. The unique technical developments embodied in the MG-42 were borrowed by gunsmiths from many countries around the world when creating their machine guns.
https://www.techcult.ru/weapon/2387-strelkovoe-oruzhie-vermahta
The Second World War seriously stimulated the development of weapons and military equipment. Armies that entered the war sometimes emerged from it with a completely different face and more advanced weapons. The German armed forces were also at the forefront of technical thought.
As a result of Germany's defeat, many ideas ended up abroad, promoting new products in other countries. One of the first mass-produced models known in the world was the Sturmgever 44 assault rifle, one of the first such examples chambered for an intermediate cartridge.
The history of the creation of Sturmgever
Even during the break between the world wars, theorists and military personnel were concerned with the issue of uniformity and fundamentally new technical characteristics of firearms among soldiers. Rifle cartridges were unnecessarily powerful. They retained lethal force for an average of a couple of kilometers, while the real battle took place on average at a distance of 300 meters.
However, the problem was not the strength of the cartridge, but its large dimensions and difficulty of use in automatic weapons. The pistol cartridge performed well at distances of up to 200 meters, after which both penetration and shooting accuracy greatly decreased. As a result, the armed forces of the world's countries faced World War II armed with rifles and submachine guns.
A new type of weapon and ammunition made it possible to use logistics capabilities much more efficiently.
An increased amount of ammunition carried and transported due to uniformity, an increase in the strength, range and density of fire by the unit, all this and much more was provided by the new cartridge.
Intermediate ammunition, which has the lethality of a rifle cartridge and is suitable for automatic weapons, has been sought since the beginning of the twentieth century. The unitary cartridges created at that time were not widely used and had almost no effect on the armament of soldiers. Only in 1940, the engineers of the German Polte managed to create a successful cartridge, 7.92x33 mm Kurz (short).
According to the plans of the High Command, the Wehrmacht was to be rearmed; instead of submachine guns and rifles, the soldiers were to receive a universally uniform
weapon.
Even earlier, in 1938, an agreement was concluded between the Armament Directorate and the Schmeisser company on the development of a new type of weapon for an intermediate cartridge. In 1940, he handed over the developed sample for research, and around the same time a new contract was concluded with the Walter company with the same technical specifications. At the beginning of 1942, both options were demonstrated at a meeting with Hitler.
Tests showed the failure of the Walter model; it was too capricious and difficult to operate. Schmeisser's model, on the contrary, proved to be convenient, and it was decided to arrange front-line tests.
After successful use in the East and the elimination of minor shortcomings, in 1943 a sample of a fundamentally new small arms was put into service under the marking MP-43A or MP-431.
It took a long time to choose the name of the weapon. In the early years, it was believed that engineers were working on an automatic carbine. In 1944, the Fuhrer proposed the name assault rifle, and this name was assigned to all samples of this type of weapon in the West. Interesting fact: Hitler was initially against a new type of personal small arms.
He was presented with an option that had been tested by the troops, revised several times, and was highly appreciated by the generals, who enjoyed Hitler’s trust. Under pressure from positive reviews, the Fuhrer had to give in, and the StG.44 was put into mass production.
Weapon design
Automation is based on the removal of powder gases from the barrel bore. They move the bolt back, and locking occurs by tilting the bolt. The impact mechanism is of the trigger variety.
The machine gun is capable of firing both automatic fire in bursts of varying lengths and single shots.
Ammunition is supplied by magazine method, from a sector-type double-row magazine with 30 rounds of ammunition. The sight allows you to shoot at eight hundred meters. Separately, it is worth highlighting the return spring, located in the wooden butt. This does not make it possible to produce weapons with a folding stock.
Since the weapon went into service with the troops, essentially “raw,” it has many disadvantages, as well as advantages:
- unsuccessful aiming devices, taking into account the fact that the machine gun fires accurately at short and medium combat distances;
- heavy weight compared to rifles and submachine guns, but good ergonomics and compactness;
- insufficient strength of the receiver,
- weakness of the spring in the magazine;
- unfinished forend, inconvenient for the shooter;
- excellent rate of fire from the positive aspects of the weapon.
It is worth noting that almost all the shortcomings are associated with “childhood diseases” or wartime conditions. These shortcomings are quite easily eliminated, as demonstrated by operating experience, since from the moment they were put into service until the end of the war, the machine guns were modernized several times and, literally, the weapons were improved on the assembly line.
If Germany had more time and resources, history could have changed greatly due to the massive use of new weapons, analogues of which either had worse characteristics or were in development.
Interesting are the developments to improve the StG.44, carried out by German designers until the very end of the war. In addition to mounts for sights and grenade launchers, a device for firing at night was developed. The Vampire sight made it possible to see a target at a distance of up to one hundred meters. The downside was the weight of the sight, more than 2 kg, as well as the 13 kg power supply carried on the back.
Combat use
Initially, the new assault rifle was used in the SS Viking division. Subsequently, these weapons also entered service only with elite units of the German army. A total of 400 thousand samples were produced, which was not a very large number, but that was not the main problem.
There was a catastrophic shortage of ammunition for the machine gun; the industry could not cope with orders for the front.
This, and the fact that the weapon was delivered en masse to the troops in 1944, when the question of Germany’s defeat remained a matter of time, did not allow the rifle to make a significant contribution to combat operations.
Meanwhile, the Allies took a closer look at the new weapons. The Americans did not like the Sturmgever; the generals considered the M1 carbines to be a much better weapon. True, this did not stop American infantrymen from happily using captured models throughout the war. The Soviet army appreciated the capabilities of the assault rifle.
The saturation of PPSh did not affect the use of a fundamentally different captured weapon, and its low mass use is associated with the main problem, the insufficient amount of ammunition. Captured samples influenced the 7.62×39 intermediate cartridge designed in the Union.
Post-war life of StG.44 and interesting facts
Speaking about the German assault rifle, one cannot fail to mention the discussion surrounding its role in the creation. After the end of World War II, Schmeisser, who had not tarnished himself as a Nazi criminal, was released. He was immediately offered cooperation with the Soviet authorities, and he spent a long time in Izhevsk, at an arms factory.
At the same time, the young designer Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov is working on the creation of his weapons in Kovrov, on the basis of a weapons factory.
One way or another, we can talk about the external similarity between the StG.44 and the AK, but if you look inside, the difference will become obvious. Despite the same principle, the removal of powder gases, the design itself is significantly different.
The location of the return spring, locking, the principle of disassembly, and many other small differences make it possible to talk about different samples. The provocative question of whether Kalashnikov made the machine gun, or Schmeisser, remains on the conscience of lovers of cheap sensations and searches in an empty dark room for a cat.
In the post-war period, the machine gun was used by the armies of both Germanys, the IDF in many wars with Arab countries, as well as in military conflicts in Korea, Vietnam and some African countries. The proliferation of other types of weapons did not allow the machine gun to become widespread, but it made its contribution to wars.
There is evidence of its use in the conflict in Syria, already in the 21st century. He got there from Israeli warehouses, laden with outdated machine guns.
The StG.44 received unexpected success in Soviet cinema.
During the filming of the film "Pirates of the 20th Century", the director and screenwriters decided that it would be nice to arm the villains with something new. Since rumors about the American M16 had already reached the public, but the film studio could not get prop samples, it was decided to slightly “modernize” the German StG.44.
A handle was welded on top to make it look like the “black rifle” of American soldiers. It is unclear why, but they welded the connection between the stock and the receiver, eliminating the possibility of disassembling and cleaning the weapon. Soviet citizens, especially school-age ones, were shocked by the appearance of the new weapon in the movies, and this made the pseudo-M16 good advertising. This was followed by appearances in several more films about the “friendship” of the Soviet and American people.
As a result, hundreds of samples of Eugene Stoner's real creations were purchased for the warehouses of film studios, leaving this interesting hybrid to the delight of movie blooper fans. From time to time, the StG.44 appears in films about war and various shooting games.
Video
The Haenel / Schmeisser MP.43 assault rifle is the predecessor of the famous Sturmgewehr Stg.44. Left view
The Haenel / Schmeisser MP.43 assault rifle is the predecessor of the famous Sturmgewehr Stg.44. Right view
The Haenel / Schmeisser MP.43 assault rifle is the predecessor of the famous Sturmgewehr Stg.44.
Incomplete disassembly in comparison with the Kalashnikov AKM assault rifle
The development of hand-held automatic weapons chambered for a cartridge intermediate in power between pistol and rifle began in Germany even before the outbreak of World War II, in the mid-thirties. In 1939, the intermediate cartridge 7.92×33 mm (7.92 mm Kurz), developed on the initiative of the German company Polte, was chosen as the new basic ammunition. In 1942, by order of the German arms department HWaA, two companies began to develop weapons for this cartridge - C.G. Haenel and Karl Walther.
As a result, two samples were created, initially classified as automatic carbines - (MaschinenKarabiner, MKb). The Walter company sample was designated , the Haenel company sample, developed under the leadership of Hugo Schmeisser, was designated . Based on the test results, it was decided to develop the Henel design, which included significant changes, primarily related to the trigger device. Due to Hitler's reluctance to begin production of a new class of weapons, development was carried out under the designation MP 43 (MaschinenPistole = submachine gun). The first samples of MP 43 were successfully tested on the Eastern Front against Soviet troops, and in 1944 more or less mass production of a new type of weapon began under the name MP 44. After the results of successful front-line tests were presented to Hitler and approved by him, the nomenclature of weapons there was again treason, and the sample received the final designation StG.44 (Sturmgewehr 44, Sturmgewehr, “assault rifle”). The name Sturmgewehr had a purely propaganda meaning, however, as sometimes happens, it firmly stuck not only to this model, but also to the entire class of hand-held automatic weapons chambered for an intermediate cartridge. The total production of all variants of the Sturmgever for 1943-45 amounted to more than 400 thousand units, and in the post-war period its production was not resumed. However, Stg.44 assault rifles were used in limited quantities in the early post-war period in the GDR and Czechoslovakia, and in Yugoslavia they remained in service with the airborne troops until the 1970s.
It should be noted that the successful development and use of Stg.44 assault rifles by Nazi Germany left an imprint on the entire post-war development of small arms, since sooner or later most countries of the world switched to weapons of the same class under an intermediate cartridge. At the same time, the most common designation for the new class of weapons was a tracing paper from the German word “Sturmgever”, i.e. “assault rifle”, although from any point of view the term “automatic carbine” originally used by the Germans seems much more correct.
In general, the Stg.44 assault rifle was a relatively successful model, providing effective fire with single shots at a range of up to 500-600 meters and automatic fire at a range of up to 300 meters, although it was, however, overly heavy and not very convenient to use, especially when shooting lying down. There is a common legend that the Kalashnikov assault rifle was copied from the Sturmgewehr and that Schmeisser himself, allegedly, while in Soviet captivity, participated in the development of the AK. HOWEVER, it is absolutely impossible to talk about Kalashnikov’s DIRECT BORROWING from the Schmeisser design - the designs and Stg.44 contain too many fundamentally different solutions (receiver layout, trigger device, barrel locking unit, etc.). And the very possible participation of Schmeiser in the development of the Kalashnikov assault rifle looks more than doubtful, given that Schmeiser was in Izhevsk, while the experimental AK-47 was created in Kovrov and Kalashnikov himself arrived in Izhevsk only in 1948, with a ready-made design of the machine gun.
Assault rifle Sturmgewehr 44 (Sturmgewehr 44, Stg.44) was a weapon built on the basis of automation with a gas engine with a long stroke of a gas piston located above the barrel. The barrel was locked by tilting the bolt downwards, behind the liner in the receiver. The receiver is stamped from a steel sheet, and the stamped trigger block together with the pistol grip is hinged to the receiver and folds forward and down for disassembly. The butt is wooden, attached to the receiver with a transverse pin and removed during disassembly; a return spring is located inside the butt (thereby excluding the possibility of simply creating a variant with a folding butt). The sight is sectorial, the safety and fire mode selector are independent (the safety lever is on the left above the pistol grip and the transverse button for selecting the fire mode is located above it), the bolt handle is located on the left and moves with the bolt frame when firing. The muzzle of the barrel has a thread for attaching a rifle grenade launcher, usually covered with a protective sleeve. The Stg.44 could be equipped with an active Vampire IR sight, as well as a special Krummlauf Vorsatz J curved-barrel device, designed for firing from tanks (and other shelters) at the enemy in the dead zone near the tank.
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