Osprey - Weapon 21 - MG 34 and MG 42 Machine Guns.pdf

(6622 KB) Pobierz
MG 34 AND MG 42
MACHINE GUNS
CHRIS M
C
NAB
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
MG 34 AND MG 42
MACHINE GUNS
CHRIS McNAB
Series Editor Martin Pegler
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
DEVELOPMENT
The ‘universal’ machine gun
4
8
27
62
74
77
78
80
USE
Flexible firepower
IMPACT
‘Hitler’s buzzsaw’
CONCLUSION
GLOSSARY
BIBLIOGRAPHY & FURTHER READING
INDEX
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
INTRODUCTION
Although in war all enemy weapons are potential sources of fear, some
seem to have a deeper grip on the imagination than others. The AK-47, for
example, is actually no more lethal than most other small arms in its class,
but popular notoriety and Hollywood representations tend to credit it with
superior power and lethality. Similarly, the bayonet actually killed
relatively few men in World War I, but the sheer thought of an enraged foe
bearing down on you with more than 30cm of sharpened steel was the
stuff of nightmares to both sides. In some cases, however, fear has been
perfectly justified. During both world wars, for example, artillery caused
between 59 and 80 per cent of all casualties (depending on your source),
and hence took a justifiable top slot in surveys of most feared tools of
violence.
The subjects of this book – the MG 34 and MG 42, plus derivatives –
are interesting case studies within the scale of soldiers’ fears. Regarding the
latter weapon, a US wartime information movie once declared that the
gun’s ‘bark was worse than its bite’, no doubt a well-intentioned comment
intended to reduce mounting concern among US troops about the
firepower of this astonishing gun. In fact, the exact opposite was probably
true. Firing at a cyclical rate of 1,200rpm, the MG 42 had a truly appalling
bite. An on-target burst of just half a second could slash through a man
with no fewer than ten 7.92×57mm high-velocity rounds, each delivering
dreadful injuries, and at ranges of well over a kilometre. The MG 34 fired
with less pace – up to 900rpm – but was also a proficient killing engine in
trained hands.
Eyewitness accounts of both the MG 34 and, more particularly, the
MG 42 tend to speak of the weapons with an almost hushed respect. To
take a case in point, here is a memory from former Polish freedom fighter
Marian S. Mazgai, who himself became an enthusiastic operator of
captured MG 42s:
4
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
A unit from the Jedrus company pushed toward the end of the road
that went in the direction of Momocicha, but when it reached the top
of the elevation that divided it from the enemy, the German machine-
gun fire, from a nearby windmill, forced it to hit the ground. I will
never forget that heavy German machine-gun fire that almost cost me
my life. When the Germans fired at our unit from the windmill as well
as from its vicinity, we responded with our fire. I happened to fire a
German-made machine gun MG 42 from a fine position. At the same
time, I was doing everything possible to discover the German position
from which the enemy was firing at us with the same kind of machine
guns, MG 42s. According to my humble estimation, model MG 42 was
the best machine gun used in World War II. (Mazgai 2008: 211)
The MG 42 represented the
ultimate in German infantry
firepower. It became the scourge
of the Allies, and was justly
feared by all those who faced it.
(Cody Images)
5
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin