It is worth recognizing that the forces of the opponents at the beginning of World War II were unequal. The Wehrmacht significantly outgunned the Soviet army. In support of this "ten" small arms soldiers of the Wehrmacht.

Mauser 98k

A German-made repeating rifle that entered service in 1935. In the Wehrmacht troops, this weapon was one of the most common and popular. In a number of parameters, the Mauser 98k was superior to the Soviet Mosin rifle. In particular, the Mauser weighed less, was shorter, had a more reliable shutter and a rate of fire of 15 rounds per minute, against 10 for the Mosin rifle. For all this, the German counterpart paid with a shorter firing range and weaker stopping power.

Luger pistol

This 9mm pistol was designed by Georg Luger back in 1900. Modern experts consider this pistol the best at the time of the Second World War. The design of the Luger was very reliable, it had an energy-efficient design, low accuracy of fire, high accuracy and rate of fire. The only significant defect of this weapon was the impossibility of closing the locking levers with the design, as a result of which the Luger could become clogged with dirt and stop firing.

MP 38/40

This Maschinenpistole, thanks to Soviet and Russian cinema, has become one of the symbols of the Nazi war machine. Reality, as always, is much less poetic. Popular in media culture, MP 38/40 has never been the main small arms for most units of the Wehrmacht. They armed drivers, tankers, detachments special units, rear guard detachments, as well as junior officers ground forces. The infantry was armed with the German, for the most part, the Mauser 98k. Only sometimes MP 38/40 in a certain amount as an "additional" weapon were transferred to assault squads.

FG-42

The German semi-automatic rifle FG-42 was designed for paratroopers. It is believed that the impetus for the creation of this rifle was Operation Mercury to capture the island of Crete. Due to the nature of the parachutes, the Wehrmacht troops carried only light weapons. All heavy and auxiliary weapons were landed separately in special containers. This approach caused heavy losses on the part of the landing force. The FG-42 rifle was a pretty good solution. Used cartridges of 7.92 × 57 mm caliber, which fit into 10-20 piece magazines.

MG42

During the Second World War, Germany used many different machine guns, but it was the MG 42 that became one of the symbols of the aggressor in the yard with the MP 38/40 PP. This machine gun was created in 1942 and partially replaced the not very reliable MG 34. Despite the fact that the new machine gun was incredibly effective, it had two important drawbacks. First, MG 42 was very sensitive to contamination. Secondly, it had an expensive and labor-intensive production technology.

Gewehr 43

Before the outbreak of World War II, the Wehrmacht command was least interested in the possibility of using self-loading rifles. It was assumed that the infantry should be armed with conventional rifles, and for support, have light machine guns. Everything changed in 1941 with the outbreak of the war. The semi-automatic rifle Gewehr 43 is one of the best in its class, second only to the Soviet and American counterparts. In terms of its qualities, it is very similar to the domestic SVT-40. There was also a sniper version of this weapon.

STG 44

The SturmGewehr 44 Assault Rifle Was Not the Most best weapon times of World War II. It was heavy, absolutely uncomfortable, difficult to maintain. Despite all these shortcomings, the StG 44 was the first modern type of assault rifle. As you might guess from the name, it was already produced in 1944, and although this rifle could not save the Wehrmacht from defeat, it revolutionized the field of handguns.

Stielhandgranate

Another "symbol" of the Wehrmacht. This hand-held anti-personnel grenade was widely used by German forces in World War II. It was a favorite trophy of the soldiers of the anti-Hitler coalition on all fronts, in view of its safety and convenience. At the time of the 40s of the XX century, the Stielhandgranate was almost the only grenade completely protected from arbitrary detonation. However, it also had a number of shortcomings. For example, these grenades could not be stored in a warehouse for a long time. They also often leaked, which led to wetting and deterioration of the explosive.

Faustpatrone

The first single-shot anti-tank grenade launcher in the history of mankind. IN Soviet army the name "Faustpatron" was later assigned to all German anti-tank grenade launchers. The weapon was created in 1942 specifically "for" the Eastern Front. The thing is that the German soldiers at that time were completely deprived of the means of close combat with Soviet light and medium tanks.

PzB 38

The German Panzerbüchse Modell 1938 anti-tank rifle is one of the most obscure types of small arms from World War II. The thing is that it was discontinued already in 1942, as it turned out to be extremely ineffective against Soviet medium tanks. Nevertheless, this weapon is a confirmation that such guns were used not only in the Red Army.

The advantages of PP (rate of fire) and rifles (range of aimed and lethal fire) were designed to combine an automatic rifle. However, almost until the very end of World War II, none of the countries managed to create a successful mass weapon of this class. The Germans came closest to this.

At the end of 1944, the 7.92-mm Schmeisser assault rifle (Sturm-Gewehr-44) was adopted by the Wehrmacht. She came further development assault rifles of 1942 and 1943, which successfully passed military tests, but were not put into service. One of the reasons for the delay in the mass production of such promising weapons was the same conservatism of the military headquarters, which, in connection with new weapons, did not want to make changes to the established staffing tables of army units.

Only in 1944, when the overwhelming fire superiority of both the Soviet and the Anglo-American infantry over the German infantry became obvious, did the “ice break” and the StG-44 was put into mass production. However, the factories of the weakened Third Reich managed to produce only a little more than 450 thousand units of this AB before the end of the war. She never became the main weapon of the German infantry.

There is no need to describe the StG-44 for a long time, because all its main characteristics, design solutions and design were embodied after the war in the Soviet Kalashnikov assault rifle of the 1947 model. The main differences between the AK-47 and the German prototype are associated only with the caliber of the cartridge: the standard 7.62 mm Soviet instead of the 7.92 mm German.

MP 38, MP 38/40, MP 40 (abbreviated from German Maschinenpistole) - various modifications of the submachine gun of the German company Erfurter Maschinenfabrik (ERMA) (English), developed by Heinrich Volmer based on the earlier MP 36. They were in service with the Wehrmacht During the Second World War.

The MP 40 was a modification of the MP 38 submachine gun, which, in turn, was a modification of the MP 36 submachine gun, which was combat tested in Spain. MP 40, like MP 38, was intended primarily for tankers, motorized infantry, paratroopers and infantry platoon commanders. Later, towards the end of the war, it began to be used by the German infantry relatively massively, although it was not widespread.//
Initially, the infantry was against the folding butt, as it reduced the accuracy of shooting; as a result, gunsmith Hugo Schmeisser, who worked for C.G. Haenel, Erma's competitor, created a modification of the MP 41, combining the main mechanisms of the MP 40 with a wooden stock and trigger, made in the image of the MP28 previously developed by Hugo Schmeisser himself. However, this version was not widely used and was not produced for long (about 26 thousand pieces were produced)
The Germans themselves very meticulously name their weapons according to the indices assigned to them. In the special Soviet literature of the Great Patriotic War, they were also quite correctly identified as MP 38, MP 40 and MP 41, and MP28 / II was designated by the name of its creator, Hugo Schmeisser. In the Western literature on small arms, published in 1940-1945, all the then German submachine guns immediately received the general name "Schmeisser system". The term stuck.
With the advent of 1940, when general staff the army was ordered to develop new weapons, MP 40 began to receive large quantities of shooters, cavalrymen, drivers, tank units and staff officers. The needs of the troops were now more satisfied, although not completely.

Contrary to popular belief imposed by feature films, where German soldiers “poured” MP 40s with continuous fire “from the hip”, the fire was usually fired in short bursts of 3-4 shots with the unfolded butt resting on the shoulder (except when it was necessary to create a high density of non-aimed fire in combat at the closest ranges).
Characteristics:
Weight, kg: 5 (with 32 rounds)
Length, mm: 833/630 with unfolded/folded stock
Barrel length, mm: 248
Cartridge: 9x19 mm Parabellum
Caliber, mm: 9
rate of fire,
shots / min: 450-500
Muzzle velocity, m/s: 380
Sighting range, m: 150
Maximum
range, m: 180 (effective)
Type of ammunition: 32-round box magazine
Sight: unregulated open at 100 m, with a folding stand at 200 m

Due to Hitler's reluctance to begin production of a new class of weapons, development was carried out under the designation MP-43. The first samples of the 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 begins, however, under the name MP-44. After the results of successful frontal tests were presented to Hitler and approved by him, the weapon nomenclature was again changed, and the sample received the final designation StG.44 ("sturm gewehr" - assault rifle).
The disadvantages of the MP-44 include an excessively large mass of weapons, sights located too high, which is why the shooter had to raise his head too high when firing while lying down. For the MP-44, short magazines for 15 and 20 rounds were even developed. In addition, the butt mount was not strong enough and could collapse in hand-to-hand combat. In general, the MP-44 was a fairly successful model, providing effective fire with single shots at a distance of up to 600 meters and automatic fire at a distance of up to 300 meters. In total, taking into account all the modifications, in 1942 - 1943, about 450,000 copies of the MP - 43, MP - 44 and StG 44 were produced and, with the end of the 2nd World War, its production ended, but it was until the mid-50s of the XX th century was in service with the police of the GDR and airborne troops Yugoslavia...
Characteristics:
Caliber, mm 7.92
Used cartridge 7.92x33
Muzzle velocity, m/s 650
Weight, kg 5.22
Length, mm 940
Barrel length, mm 419
Magazine capacity, rounds 30
Rate of fire, v / m 500
Sighting range, m 600

MG 42 (German: Maschinengewehr 42) - German single machine gun of the Second World War. Developed by Metall und Lackierwarenfabrik Johannes Grossfuss AG in 1942...
By the beginning of World War II, the Wehrmacht had the MG-34 created in the early 1930s as a single machine gun. With all its merits, it had two serious drawbacks: firstly, it turned out to be quite sensitive to contamination of mechanisms; secondly, it was too laborious and expensive to manufacture, which did not allow satisfying the ever-increasing needs of the troops for machine guns.
Adopted by the Wehrmacht in 1942. The production of the MG-42 continued in Germany until the end of the war, and the total production amounted to at least 400,000 machine guns ...
Characteristics
Weight, kg: 11.57
Length, mm: 1220
Cartridge: 7.92x57 mm
Caliber, mm: 7.92
Principles of operation: Short stroke
rate of fire,
shots / min: 900-1500 (depending on the shutter used)
Muzzle velocity, m/s: 790-800
Sighting range, m: 1000
Type of ammunition: machine-gun belt for 50 or 250 rounds
Operating years: 1942–1959

Walther P38 (Walther P38) - German self-loading pistol caliber 9 mm. Developed by Karl Walter Waffenfabrik. It was adopted by the Wehrmacht in 1938. Over time, he replaced the Luger-Parabellum pistol (although not completely) and became the most massive pistol. German army. It was produced not only on the territory of the Third Reich, but also on the territory of Belgium and occupied Czechoslovakia. P38 was also popular with the soldiers of the Red Army and the allies, as a good trophy and melee weapon. After the war, the production of weapons in Germany was stopped for a long time. Only in 1957 did the production of this pistol resume in Germany. It was supplied to the Bundeswehr under the brand name P-1 (P-1, P is an abbreviation for German "pistole" - "pistol").
Characteristics
Weight, kg: 0.8
Length, mm: 216
Barrel length, mm: 125
Cartridge: 9x19 mm Parabellum
Caliber, mm: 9 mm
Principles of operation: short stroke
Muzzle velocity, m/s: 355
Sighting range, m: ~50
Type of ammunition: magazine for 8 rounds

The Luger pistol ("Luger", "Parabellum", German Pistole 08, Parabellumpistole) is a pistol developed in 1900 by Georg Luger based on the ideas of his teacher Hugo Borchardt. Therefore, the Parabellum is often called the Luger-Borchardt pistol.

Complicated and expensive to manufacture, the Parabellum was nonetheless quite reliable, and for its time, was an advanced weapon system. The main advantage of the "Parabellum" was a very high accuracy of shooting, achieved due to the convenient "anatomical" handle and easy (almost sporty) descent ...
The rise to power of Hitler led to the rearmament of the German army; all restrictions imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles were ignored. This allowed Mauser to resume active production of Luger pistols with a barrel length of 98 mm and grooves on the handle for attaching an attached butt holster. Already in the early 1930s, the designers of the Mauser arms company began to work on the creation of several variants of the Parabellum, including a special model for the needs of the secret police of the Weimar Republic. But the new R-08 model with an expansion silencer was no longer received by the German Ministry of the Interior, but by its successor, created on the basis of the SS organization of the Nazi Party - the RSHA. This weapon in the thirties - forties was in service with the German special services: the Gestapo, SD and military intelligence - the Abwehr. Along with the creation of special pistols based on the R-08, in the Third Reich at that time there were also constructive revisions of the Parabellum. So, by order of the police, a variant of the R-08 was created with a shutter delay, which did not allow the shutter to move forward when the magazine was removed.
During preparations for a new war, with the aim of conspiring the real manufacturer, Mauser-Werke A.G. began to apply special stamps to their weapons. Previously, in 1934-1941, Luger pistols were marked "S / 42", which in 1942 was replaced by the code "byf". It existed until the completion of the production of these weapons by the Oberndorf company in December 1942. In total, during the Second World War, the Wehrmacht received 1.355 million pistols of this brand.
Characteristics
Weight, kg: 0.876 (weight with loaded magazine)
Length, mm: 220
Barrel length, mm: 98-203
Cartridge: 9x19 mm Parabellum,
7.65mm Luger, 7.65x17mm and others
Caliber, mm: 9
Principles of operation: recoil of the barrel with its short stroke
rate of fire,
shots / min: 32-40 (combat)
Muzzle velocity, m/s: 350-400
Sighting range, m: 50
Type of ammunition: box magazine with a capacity of 8 rounds (or drum magazine for 32 rounds)
Scope: Open sight

Flammenwerfer 35 (FmW.35) is a German portable backpack flamethrower of the 1934 model, put into service in 1935 (in Soviet sources - "Flammenwerfer 34").

Unlike the bulky knapsack flamethrowers previously in service with the Reichswehr, serviced by a crew of two or three specially trained soldiers, the Flammenwerfer 35 flamethrower, whose curb weight did not exceed 36 kg, could be carried and used by just one person.
To use the weapon, the flamethrower, pointing the hose towards the target, turned on the igniter located at the end of the barrel, opened the nitrogen supply valve, and then the supply of the combustible mixture.

After passing through the hose, the combustible mixture pushed out by the force of compressed gas ignited and reached the target located at a distance of up to 45 m.

Electric ignition, first used in the design of a flamethrower, made it possible to arbitrarily adjust the duration of the shots and made it possible to fire about 35 shots. The duration of work with a continuous supply of a combustible mixture was 45 seconds.
Despite the possibility of using a flamethrower by one person, in battle he was always accompanied by one or two infantrymen who covered the actions of the flamethrower with small arms, giving him the opportunity to quietly approach the target at a distance of 25-30 m.

The initial stage of the Second World War revealed a number of shortcomings that significantly reduce the possibility of using this effective weapon. The main one (besides the fact that the flamethrower that appeared on the battlefield became the primary target of snipers and enemy shooters) remained a rather significant mass of the flamethrower, which reduced maneuverability and increased the vulnerability of the infantry units armed with it ...
Flamethrowers were in service with sapper units: each company had three Flammenwerfer 35 backpack flamethrowers, which could be combined into small flamethrower squads used as part of assault groups.
Characteristics
Weight, kg: 36
Crew (calculation): 1
Sighting range, m: 30
Maximum
range, m: 40
Type of ammunition: 1 fuel bottle
1 gas cylinder (nitrogen)
Scope: no

Gerat Potsdam (V.7081) and Gerat Neumönster (Volks-MP 3008) are more or less exact copies of the English Stan submachine gun.

Initially, the leadership of the Wehrmacht and the SS troops rejected the proposal to use the captured English Stan submachine guns, which had accumulated in significant quantities in the warehouses of the Wehrmacht. The reasons for this attitude were the primitive design and short effective range of this weapon. However, the lack of automatic weapons forced the Germans to use the Stans in 1943-1944. for arming the SS troops fighting the partisans in the territories occupied by Germany. In 1944, in connection with the creation of the Volkssturm, it was decided to establish the production of Stans in Germany. At the same time, the primitive design of these submachine guns was already considered a positive factor.

Like the English counterpart, the Neumünster and Potsdam submachine guns produced in Germany were designed to engage manpower at a distance of up to 90–100 m. They consist of a small number of main parts and mechanisms that can be manufactured in small enterprises and handicraft workshops.
For firing from submachine guns, 9-mm Parabellum cartridges are used. The same cartridges are also used in the English Stans. This coincidence is not accidental: when creating the "Stan" in 1940, the German MP-40 was taken as the basis. Ironically, after 4 years, the production of Stans was started at German enterprises. In total, 52 thousand Volkssturmgever rifles and Potsdam and Neumünster submachine guns were produced.
Tactical and technical characteristics:
Caliber, mm 9
Muzzle velocity, m/s 365–381
Weight, kg 2.95–3.00
Length, mm 787
Barrel length, mm 180, 196 or 200
Magazine capacity, rounds 32
Rate of fire, rds / min 540
Practical rate of fire, rds / min 80–90
Sighting range, m 200

Steyr-Solothurn S1-100, also known as MP30, MP34, MP34(c), BMK 32, m/938 and m/942, is a submachine gun developed on the basis of the experimental German Rheinmetall MP19 submachine gun of the Louis Stange system. Produced in Austria and Switzerland, it was widely offered for export. The S1-100 is often regarded as one of the best submachine guns of the interwar period...
After World War I, the production of submachine guns like the MP-18 was banned in Germany. However, in violation of the Versailles treaties, a number of experimental submachine guns were secretly developed, among which was the MP19 created by Rheinmetall-Borsig. Its production and sale under the name Steyr-Solothurn S1-100 was organized through the Zurich company Steyr-Solothurn Waffen AG controlled by Rheinmetall-Borzig, the production itself was located in Switzerland and, mainly, Austria.
It had an exceptionally solid construction - all the main parts were milled from steel forgings, which gave it great strength, high weight and a fantastic cost, thanks to which this sample received the fame of "Rolls-Royce among PP". The receiver had an up-and-forward hinged lid, which made disassembling the weapon for cleaning and maintenance very simple and convenient.
In 1934, this model was adopted by the Austrian army for limited armament under the designation Steyr MP34, and in the variant for a very powerful 9×25 mm Mauser Export cartridge; in addition, there were export options for all the main military pistol cartridges of that time - 9x19 mm Luger, 7.63x25 mm Mauser, 7.65x21 mm, .45 ACP. The Austrian police were armed with the Steyr MP30 - a variant of the same weapon chambered for 9x23 mm Steyr. In Portugal, it was in service as m/938 (7.65 mm) and m/942 (9 mm), and in Denmark as BMK 32.

S1-100 fought in the Chaco and Spain. After the Anschluss in 1938, this model was purchased for the needs of the Third Reich and was in service under the name MP34 (c) (Machinenpistole 34 Österreich). It was used by the Waffen SS, rear units and the police. This submachine gun even managed to take part in the Portuguese colonial wars of the 1960s and 1970s in Africa.
Characteristics
Weight, kg: 3.5 (without magazine)
Length, mm: 850
Barrel length, mm: 200
Cartridge: 9x19 mm Parabellum
Caliber, mm: 9
Principles of operation: free shutter
rate of fire,
shots / min: 400
Muzzle velocity, m/s: 370
Sighting range, m: 200
Type of ammunition: box magazine for 20 or 32 rounds

WunderWaffe 1 - Vampire Vision
The Sturmgewehr 44 was the first assault rifle similar to the modern M-16 and the AK-47 Kalashnikov. Snipers could use the ZG 1229, also known as the "Vampire Code", also at night, due to the infrared night vision device. It was used during recent months war.

One of the most famous German pistols. Developed by the designers of Walther in 1937 under the name HP-HeeresPistole - a military pistol. A number of commercial HP pistols have been produced.

In 1940, it was adopted as the main army pistol under the name Pistole 38.
Serial production of the R.38 for the armed forces of the Reich begins in April 1940. In the first half of the year, about 13,000 pistols of the so-called zero series were produced. The new weapons were received by officers of the ground forces, part of the non-commissioned officers, the first numbers of heavy weapons calculations, officers of the SS field troops, as well as the SD security service, the Imperial Main Security Directorate and the Imperial Ministry of the Interior.

On all Series 0 pistols, the numbers start at zero. On the left side of the slide is the Walther logo and the model name P.38. The WaA acceptance number on zero-series pistols is E/359. Handles are bakelite black with diamond-shaped notches.

Walter P38 480 series

In June 1940, the German leadership, fearing the bombing of arms factories by the Allies, decided to indicate the letter code of the factory instead of the manufacturer's name on the weapon. For two months, Walther produced P.38 pistols with manufacturer code 480.

Two months later, in August, the plant received a new designation from the letters AC. Next to the manufacturer's code, they began to indicate the last two digits of the year of manufacture.

At the Walter factory, serial numbers of pistols were used from 1 to 10,000. Each after the 10,000th pistol, the countdown began again, but now a letter was added to the number. After every ten thousand, the next letter was used. The first tens of thousands of pistols produced at the beginning of the year did not have a suffix letter in front of the number. The next 10,000 received the suffix "a" in front of the serial number. Thus the 25,000th pistol of a given year had the serial number "5000b" and the 35,000th "5000c". The combination of year of manufacture + serial number + suffix or lack thereof was unique to each pistol.
The war in Russia required a huge amount of personal weapons, the production capacity of the Walter plant was no longer enough to cover this need. As a result, the Walther company had to transfer drawings and documentation for the production of P.38 pistols to its competitors. At Mauser-Werke A. G., production was launched by the autumn of 1942, Spree-Werke GmbH - in May 1943.

Mauser-Werke A. G. received manufacturer code "byf". All pistols produced by him were stamped with the manufacturer's code and the last two digits of the year of issue. In 1945 this code was changed to SWW. In April, the Allies seized the Mauser factory and handed it over to the French, who produced P38 pistols for their own needs until mid-1946.

The Spree-Werke GmbH received the code "cyq", which changed to "cvq" in 1945.

LUGER P.08

German mountain shooter with pistol P.08

German soldier aiming with a Parabellum pistol

Pistol Luger LP.08 caliber 9 mm. Long barrel model with sector sight

WALTHER PPK - criminal police pistol. Designed in 1931, it is a lighter and shorter version of the Walther PP pistol.

WALTHER PP (PP is short for Polizeipistole - police pistol). Developed in 1929 in Germany chambered for 7.65 × 17 mm, magazine capacity 8 rounds. It is noteworthy that it was from such a pistol that Adolf Hitler shot himself. It was also produced chambered for 9×17 mm.

Mauser HSc (pistol with self-cocking trigger, modification "C" - Hahn-Selbstspanner-Pistole, Ausführung C). Caliber 7.65 mm, magazine for 8 rounds. Adopted by the German army in 1940.

Pistol Sauer 38H (H from it. Hahn - "trigger"). The letter "H" in the model name indicates that the pistol used an internal (hidden) trigger (short for the German word - Hahn - trigger. Adopted in 1939. Caliber 7.65 Brauning, magazine for 8 rounds.

Mauser M1910. Designed in 1910, it was produced in versions for different cartridges - 6.35 × 15 mm Browning and 7.65 Browning, the magazine holds 8 or 9 rounds, respectively.

Browning HP. Belgian pistol developed in 1935. The letters HP in the model name are short for "Hi-Power" or "High-Power"). The pistol uses a 9 mm parabellum cartridge, magazine capacity 13 rounds. FN Herstal, which developed this pistol, produced it until 2017.

RADOM Vis.35. Polish pistol adopted by the Polish army in 1935. The pistol uses a 9mm Parabellum cartridge, magazine capacity 8 rounds. During the occupation of Poland, this pistol was produced for the German army.

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Georgy Shpagin and Alexei Sudayev gave the Soviet soldier a simple and reliable weapon

throughout Russia and Eastern Europe there are monuments to Soviet soldiers. And if this is a monumental figure of a soldier, then in his hands he almost always has. This weapon, which has become one of the symbols of Victory, is easily recognizable thanks to the disk magazine. And although most experts recognize the PPS designed by Sudaev as the best submachine gun of the Second World War, the Great Patriotic War is associated precisely with the massive, charismatic, very Russian Shpagin assault rifle.

THE THORNY WAY OF AUTOMATION

First World War showed that in the collision of huge masses of armed people, the density of fire is a more important factor than the accuracy of shooting. It required a rapid-fire, compact weapon with a large portable ammunition, convenient both in the offensive and in defense, in the limited space of the trench and the street. Thus, a machine gun and an automatic (self-loading) pistol were combined in one sample. By the end of the war, in some warring countries they even managed to be adopted.

In Russia, in 1916, a submachine gun designed by Vladimir Fedorov chambered for 6.5 mm was adopted, which was soon renamed into an automatic rifle.

Since then, we have called all automatic weapons chambered less than a rifle. The first machines were produced in small quantities and were quite capricious. Until 1925, 3200 of them were produced, and in 1928 they were removed from service. The reason is the need to make a special 6.5 mm cartridge. But most importantly, a 7.62-mm light infantry machine gun of the Degtyarev system of the 1927 model of the year (DP27) appeared.

Directly, submachine guns in the Soviet Union began to be created from the mid-1920s. The command of the Red Army came to the conclusion that the revolver is only suitable for self-defense, and for active combat operations, all junior and middle command personnel should be re-equipped with submachine guns. The first PP of the Tokarev system of the 1927 model of the year was created for a revolver cartridge. But then it was recognized that the cartridge should be the same for an automatic pistol and a submachine gun, that is, a Mauser cartridge of 7.62 mm caliber, which has been loved since the Civil War.

In parallel, the design of a self-loading (automatic) rifle (carbine) for the personnel of the Red Army was going on. In 1936, the Simonov automatic rifle (ABC-36) was adopted. But two years later, it was replaced by the Tokarev self-loading rifle (SVT-38). After the Soviet-Finnish war, its modernized version of the SVT-40 appeared. They wanted to equip the entire Soviet army with it.

SVT-38

Until now, there is an opinion that the SVT turned out to be a bad weapon with a lot of flaws, it did not justify itself and was discontinued with the start of the war. Just as unsuccessful was the attempt to make her sniper rifle. Due to poor accuracy in October 1942, its production was stopped, returning to the good old "mosquito", which only switched to the PU optical sight developed for SVT.

However, the ballistics of the Tokarevsky self-loading was quite decent, and the famous sniper Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko, who destroyed 309 Nazis, hunted with the SVT-40. The simple and reliable design of the rifle failed only with poor maintenance and improper operation. But for the not very literate peasants, who formed the basis of the personnel of the Red Army, this turned out to be beyond understanding.

Another thing is the Germans, who highly valued this weapon. They even officially adopted the captured SVT under the index 258 (r) - SVT-38 and 259 (r) - SVT-40. They also used the sniper version. They had no complaints about the rifle. Moreover, according to her model, they tried to make their G-43 (W). And the famous designer Hugo Schmeisser borrowed from Tokarev a gas-operated reloading system for his Sturmgever. After the war, the Belgians used the SVT locking system in the design of the FN FAL automatic rifle, which is still in service in a number of countries.

G-43

She used SVT until the end of the war and did not express any complaints. Claims to the reliability of the rifle appeared at the end of 1941, when the quality of all products generally fell, and older soldiers were drafted into the army. In 1941, 1,031,861 copies of the SVT were produced, in 1942 - only 264,148. In October 1942, the sniper SVT was discontinued. But in the usual version they continued to produce, albeit in small quantities. Moreover, an automatic version of the AVT rifle was launched into the series.

AWT

But according to the operating rules, automatic firing from this light rifle could only be carried out in short bursts in rare cases: "with a lack of light machine guns and in exceptional moments of the battle." The soldiers did not follow this rule. Moreover, proper care of the rifle mechanism was not provided. And the troops stopped receiving high-quality lubricant, without which the automation began to fail, stick in the cold, etc. So this very good weapon was compromised.

The history of the SVT has shown that a weapon for our soldier should be extremely simple, durable, unpretentious in operation and extremely reliable.

The production of SVT and AVT continued until 1945, since the need for rapid fire weapons remained high until the end of the war. Only on January 3, 1945, by a decree of the State Defense Committee of the USSR, SVT and AVT were discontinued. Two weeks later, the production of the Mosin rifle was terminated by the same decree. Immediately after the war, Tokarevsky rifles were withdrawn from the troops and handed over to warehouses. But part of the SVT was then transferred to hunters-traders. Some are still in operation and do not cause any complaints, since hunters treat their weapons responsibly.

In Finland, SVT is highly valued and is considered an excellent weapon with high combat qualities. Local experts simply do not perceive criticism against her and are surprised that in Russia this weapon is so compromised. The Finns, with their cult of weapons, are very sensitive to the rules for handling weapons, so they simply do not know the weaknesses of the SVT.

SVT-40

The main reasons for the decline in the production of SVT during the war were its high cost and complexity of manufacture. All parts were produced on metalworking machines, a large consumption of metal, including alloy steel, was required. To understand this, it is enough to compare the selling price of the SVT in the official price list of 1939 - 2000 rubles with the price of some machine guns: "Maxim" without a machine tool with spare parts - 1760 rubles, a DP machine gun with spare parts - 1150 rubles, aviation machine gun ShKAS wing - 1650 rubles. At the same time, the rifle mod. 1891/30 cost only 166 rubles, and its sniper version with a scope - 245 rubles.

Since the beginning of the war, it was necessary to equip tens of millions of people at the front and in the rear with small arms. Therefore, the production of a cheap and simple Mosin rifle was restored. Its production soon reached 10-12 thousand pieces per day. That is, a whole division was armed daily. Therefore, there was no shortage of weapons. One rifle for three was only in the construction battalion in the initial period of the war.

BIRTH OF PPSh

Shpagina became another reason for abandoning the mass production of SVT. On the vacated production areas, large-scale production of PPSh began.

The submachine gun in the Red Army at first did not find recognition. In 1930, it was noted that it was declared unfit for military operations in Germany and the USA, it is used only by the police and internal security. However, the head of armaments of the Red Army, Ieronim Uborevich, petitioned for a competition and the production of a trial batch of PP. In 1932-1933, 14 different samples of the submachine gun passed state tests. On January 23, 1935, by order of the People's Commissar of Defense, the Degtyarev submachine gun mod. 1934 (PPD).

PPD-34

However, PPD was made almost piece by piece. The "cavalrymen" from the People's Commissariat of Defense considered the PP unnecessary, if not harmful. Even the improvement of the PPD did not help. However, the Artillery Directorate of the Red Army insisted on the widespread introduction of the submachine gun.

PPD-38/40

In 1939, it was noted that it was advisable to introduce a submachine gun into service with certain categories of fighters of the Red Army, the NKVD border guard, machine gun and gun crews, airborne troops, drivers, etc. However, in February 1939, the PPD was withdrawn from service, withdrawn from the troops and handed over to warehouses. The persecution of the submachine gun was also facilitated by the repressions against its supporters - Tukhachevsky, Uborevich and others. The people of Voroshilov who came to their place were opponents of the new. PPD has been discontinued.

Meanwhile, the war in Spain proved the need for a submachine gun in the army. The Germans have already tested their MP-38 in battle,

took into account the identified flaws and modernized in the MP-40. And the war with Finland clearly showed that in the conditions of wooded and rough terrain, a submachine gun is a necessary fire weapon for close combat.

The Finns effectively used their Suomi PP, arming them with maneuverable groups of skiers and individual soldiers acting independently. And now the failures in Karelia began to be explained by the absence of ... submachine guns in the troops.

At the end of December 1939, the PPD was again put into service, already in the PPD-40 variant, and production was urgently restored. At the request of Stalin, who really liked the capacious round store "Suomi", the same drum is being developed for the PPD-40. In 1940, they manage to produce 81,118 submachine guns.

The talented self-taught gunsmith Georgy Semenovich Shpagin (1897-1952) at the beginning of 1940 began to develop his own version of a submachine gun. He set the task of maintaining the high tactical and technical data of the PPD, but making his weapon easier to manufacture. He perfectly understood that it was impossible to re-equip a mass army on the basis of labor-intensive machine-tool technologies. This is how the idea of ​​a stamp-welded design was born.

This idea did not meet with the support of colleagues, only doubts. But Shpagin was convinced of the correctness of his thoughts. By that time, new technologies of hot stamping and cold pressing of high precision and purity of processing had already been introduced in mechanical engineering. Electricity appeared. Georgy Shpagin, who graduated from only a three-year school, but was closely familiar with production, proved to be a true innovator. He not only created the design, but also developed the basics of the technology for its mass production. It was a revolutionary approach to the design of small arms.

Already in August 1940, Shpagin personally made the first sample of a submachine gun. It was a blowback system. Relatively speaking, after the shot, the recoil threw the bolt - a steel "blank" weighing about 800 g. The bolt captured and ejected the spent cartridge case. Then a powerful return spring sent it back. Along the way, the bolt captured the cartridge supplied from the disk magazine, drove it into the barrel and pricked the primer with a striker. A shot was fired, and the entire cycle of shutter movements was repeated. If at this time the trigger was released, the shutter was fixed in the cocked state. If the hook remained pressed, the magazine with a capacity of 71 rounds was completely emptied in about five seconds.

During disassembly, the machine opened into only five parts. It didn't require any tool. A fiber shock absorber, later made of leather, dampened the blows of a massive bolt in the rearmost position, which significantly lengthened the service life of the weapon. The original muzzle brake, which also served as a compensator, improved stability and increased the accuracy of fire by 70% relative to the RPM.

At the end of August 1940, field tests of the Shpagin submachine gun began. The survivability of the structure was tested by 30 thousand shots. The PCA worked flawlessly. A full check showed that the machine passed the test, no damage was found in the details. Moreover, after such loads, he showed quite satisfactory results in the accuracy of firing bursts. Shooting was carried out with thick lubrication and dustiness and, conversely, after washing all moving parts with kerosene and a dry compound. 5000 shots were fired without cleaning the weapon. Of these, half - single, half - continuous fire. It should be noted that the parts were mostly stamped.

At the end of November, comparative tests of the Degtyarev submachine guns taken from the gross production, Shpagin and Shpitalny took place. In the end, Shpagin won. Here it will be useful to provide some data. Number of parts: PPD and Shpitalny - 95, PPSh - 87. The number of machine hours required for processing parts: PPD - 13.7; Spiral - 25.3; PCA - 5.6 hours. Number of threaded places: PPD - 7; Shpitalny - 11, PPSh - 2. The new manufacturing technology gave great savings in metal and significantly accelerated production. Alloy steel was not required.

On December 21, 1940, the Defense Committee under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution on the adoption by the Red Army of the Shpagin submachine gun of the 1941 model. Before the start of the Great Patriotic War only six months left.

Serial production of PPSh began only in September 1941. Prior to that, it was necessary to prepare documentation, develop technical processes, manufacture tooling, simply allocate production facilities and premises. For the whole of 1941, 98,644 submachine guns were manufactured, of which 5,868 were PPDs. In 1942, 16 times more submachine guns were produced - 1,499,269 pieces. Moreover, the production of PPSh could be established at any mechanical enterprise with suitable stamping equipment.

In the autumn of 1941, Stalin personally distributed the new machine guns. By January 1, 1942, the active army had 55,147 submachine guns of all systems. By July 1, 1942 - 298,276; by January 1, 1943 - 678,068; by January 1, 1944 - 1,427,085 pieces. This made it possible to have a platoon of machine gunners in each rifle company, and a company in each battalion. There were also battalions entirely armed with PPSh.

The most expensive and difficult to manufacture part of the PPSh was a disk (drum) store. Each machine was equipped with two spare magazines. The magazine consists of a magazine box with a lid, a drum with a spring and a feeder, and a rotating disk with a spiral comb - a snail. On the side of the body of the store there is an eyelet that serves to carry stores on the belt in the absence of bags. The cartridges in the store were located in two streams along the outer and inner sides of the spiral ridge of the snail. There were 39 rounds in the outer stream, 32 in the inner stream.

The process of filling the drum with cartridges required some effort. The first step was to remove the drum cover. Then, with a special key, it wound up two turns. After filling the snail with cartridges, the drum mechanism was removed from the stopper, the lid was closed.

Therefore, in 1942, Shpagin developed a box-shaped sector magazine with a capacity of 35 rounds for the PPSh. This dramatically simplified loading, and the machine became less cumbersome. The soldiers usually preferred the sector store.

During the war, about 6.5 million PPSh were manufactured. Since 1942, it was produced even in Iran specifically for the USSR. On these samples there is a special stamp - the image of the crown.

Hundreds of thousands of front-line PPSh consumed a huge amount of pistol cartridges. Especially for them, it was necessary to urgently develop cartridges with new types of bullets, since the submachine gun performs other tasks than just a pistol. This is how armor-piercing incendiary and tracer bullets appeared. At the end of the war, a cartridge with a bullet with a stamped steel core went into production, which increased the penetrating effect and saved lead. At the same time, the production of cartridges in a bimetallic (coated with tombac) and steel sleeve without any coating began.

SUDAEV'S DESIGN

The Shpagin submachine gun, which quite satisfied the infantrymen, turned out to be too bulky for tankmen, scouts, sappers, signalmen and many others. In conditions of mass production, it was also required to reduce the metal consumption of weapons and simplify their production. In 1942, the task was to create a submachine gun that was lighter and easier to manufacture, while being reliable. Its mass should not exceed 3 kg, and the rate of fire should be within 400-500 rounds per minute (PPSh - 900 rounds / min.). The bulk of the parts had to be made of sheet steel with a thickness of 2-3 mm without subsequent machining.

Aleksey Ivanovich Sudayev (1912-1946) won the competition among designers. As noted in the conclusion of the competition commission, his teaching staff "has no other equivalent competitors." For the production of one copy, 6.2 kg of metal and 2.7 machine hours were required. The mechanics of the PPS worked, like that of the PPSh, due to the recoil of the free shutter.

The release of a new submachine gun was launched in besieged Leningrad at the Sestroretsk Tool Plant named after Voskov under the leadership of Sudayev. The first samples were made in December 1942. Serial production began in 1943. During the year, 46,572 PPS were manufactured for parts of the Leningrad Front. After the elimination of certain identified shortcomings and their elimination, the new machine was put into service under the name “Sudayev submachine gun arr. 1943".

In the troops of the teaching staff, he immediately received a high rating. It was in no way inferior to PPD and PPSh, it was lighter and more compact. However, its production was transferred to enterprises not adapted for the mass production of weapons. It was decided not to touch the established production of PPSh. It is for this reason that the Sudaevsky submachine gun is not as famous as the PPSh. The famous gunsmith Mikhail Kalashnikov assessed the teaching staff as follows: “It can be said with all responsibility that the submachine gun A.I. Not a single foreign sample could compare with it in terms of simplicity of device, reliability, non-failure operation, and ease of use. For high tactical and technical and combat properties Sudaevsky weapons, combined with their small dimensions and weight, were very fond of paratroopers, tankers, scouts, partisans, and skiers.

PPS weight without magazine - 3.04 kg. Weight with six equipped magazines - 6.72 kg. The bullet retains its lethal force at a distance of up to 800 m. During the war, approximately half a million copies of the PPS were produced. Rate of fire - 700 rds / min. The initial speed of the bullet is 500 m / s. For comparison: starting speed bullets of the German MP-40 - 380 m / s. The magazine of the German submachine gun for 32 cartridges was recommended to fill only up to 27 pieces, because when fully loaded the spring began to release, and this led to delays in firing. The advantage of the German design was a lower rate of fire. But the aiming range was limited to 50-100 meters. The effective fire of the MP-40 did not actually exceed 200 meters. A steel sheet with a thickness of 2 mm was not pierced by a bullet even at close range, leaving only a dent.

The quality of the weapon is also indicated by its, so to speak, “copy coefficient”. In Finland, in 1944, they adopted the M-44 submachine gun - a copy of the PPS under the 9-mm parabellum cartridge. They were produced about 10 thousand pieces, which is not so small for Finland. Finnish peacekeepers in the Sinai in 1957-1958 were armed with these submachine guns.

In Poland, PPS was produced under license, and on its basis, a WZ 43/52 sample with a wooden butt was developed in 1952. In China, it was produced at several enterprises with slight differences under the single name "sample 43", then - "Type 54". In Germany, already copied from the Finnish M-44, in 1953 it was adopted by the gendarmerie and border guards under the symbol DUX 53, later modified into DUX 59.

In Hungary, they generally tried to combine PPS and PPSh in the 53M design, which was produced in small batches, since it turned out to be not very successful.

Over six million submachine guns of various models were produced in the Soviet Union during the war years. This is four times more than in Germany.

Victor Myasnikov

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