The name “assault rifle” is believed to have been coined by Adolf Hitler. The assault rifle is a class of weapon that emerged in the middle of the last century to meet the needs of combat soldiers on the modern battlefield, where the level of violence had reached such heights that an entirely new way of fighting had emerged, one for which the existing weapons were a poor match. One was an infra-red night sight called the Vampir that allowed soldiers to spot - and kill - their enemies after dark.Amid the controversy over assault rifles-and specifically, the debate over whether or not guns like the semi-automatic weapon Omar Mateen used to commit the recent massacre in Orlando should be considered “assault weapons” or singled out for restrictions-some consideration of the original design and development of assault weapons is useful. The Germans also produced accessories that made the StG-44 even more dangerous. infantry unit in firepower.”īeleaguered American soldiers found themselves pinned down by withering fire from weapons that outmatched even the otherwise excellent M-1 Garand, which can only fire eight. “With their Sturmgewehr assault rifles, a small group of Germans often was able to outperform a much larger U.S. “Furthermore, the German equipment in many cases was superior to that of their opponent,” historian Christer Bergstrom wrote in The Ardennes, 1944–1945. The surprise attack caught the Allies completely off guard, giving the Germans the initiative. soldiers were poorly supplied and underequipped.
For example, many G.I.s first encountered the weapon during the Battle of the Bulge, where U.S. Unfortunately, it still inflicted terrible damage on advancing Allied troops. It’s often said that the Sturmgewehr appeared too late in the war to make any difference for the Germans. But the more common synonym in English is “assault” - and the assault rifle as we know it today made its first appearance as the StG-44 with some minor modifications. He was so impressed he wanted it named “ Sturmgewehr” - meaning “storm rifle” as in “taking the objective by storm” - for propaganda purposes. Giso Loewe/German Federal Archives photoįinally, Hitler actually fired an MP-43. Stories of overwhelmed German soldiers armed with MP-43s fighting their way out near annihilation made the weapon legendary on both sides of the lines.Įast German police with StG-44s on Oct. After briefly ordering a halt in production, he found out that his troops on the Eastern Front demanded more of the new rifles. Surprisingly, Hitler didn’t order the German brass shot for disobedience. Of course, it wasn’t a submachine gun … and eventually Hitler discovered the deception.
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They re-named the MKb42 (H) the Maschinenpistole 43 or MP-43, claiming it was an upgrade to existing submachine guns. However, the generals did something rarely risked while Hitler was in charge - they went behind his back. The reasons why are complex, partly rooted in own experiences as a soldier during World War I, partly because he often thought he was the greatest military genius who ever lived.
There was just one problem - Hitler hated the new weapon.
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Soldiers loved the weapon, particularly when they used it on full auto because the cartridge packed enough punch to kill a person without making the weapon unmanageable because of recoil. The MKb42 (H) fired the 7.92 x 33-millimeter Kurz (short) round - an intermediate round. Eventually, the army selected the Hugo Schmeisser-designed Maschinenkarabiner 1942 manufactured by Haenel.
The result were two amazingly similar weapons. In 1942, arms manufacturers Haenel and Walther both received specifications to develop a gas-operated machine carbine that could be manufactured quickly and inexpensively from stamped metal parts. On the Eastern Front, Red Army soldiers armed with semi-automatic weapons like the Tokarev SVT-38 took a great toll on German troops. The combat experiences of the 1930s and 1940s convinced many German officers that a modern army needed an infantry weapon that would provide more firepower than a bolt-action rifle in environments other than an open battlefield.
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