Without a doubt the best machine gun of the war and still used today by several countries today.Taking a break from my usual barrage of Vietnam photos of late...
Here you go, THE greatest squad level support weapon of WWII, the MG42, we the Allies didn't have anything that came close to this. Hence why it's configuration and attributes were copied in many post-war machine guns like the M60.
You can see the variability of the weapon, in the first snap, it's a standard LMG configuration, in the next as a HMG...
Without a doubt the best machine of the war and still used today by several countries today.
The rate of fire was 1200-1500 rounds per minute giving it twice the fire power of anything comparable that the allies used.
When combined with its “stand” and a telescopic sight this weapon was deadly
beyond 4700 meters or 5100 yards. However most of the encounters were between 200 and 2000 yards.
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Without a doubt the best machine of the war and still used today by several countries today.
The rate of fire was 1200-1500 rounds per minute giving it twice the fire power of anything comparable that the allies used.
When combined with its “stand” and a telescopic sight this weapon was deadly
beyond 4700 meters or 5100 yards. However most of the encounters were between 200 and 2000 yards.
View attachment 159695
Geez, imagine the bravery of Allied soldiers facing these on an open beach with no cover.
So it’s pretty easy to see from the video that the only issue with this weapon was carrying the amount of ammo that was needed to sustain it, in a lengthy combat encounter . It consumed boxes of ammo at a crazy rate and if you ever carried one you’d see that humping two or three ammo boxes around was definitely a chore do to their weight.
Fucking insane rate of fire.
Like all German WW2 stuff just the coolest looking and sinister...I'm not much into firearms, but I must admit I've always been fascinated by the “Fallschirmgewehr 42” used by German paratroopers.
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Burt,So it’s pretty easy to see from the video that the only issue with this weapon was carrying the amount of ammo that was needed to sustain it, in a lengthy combat encounter . It consumed boxes of ammo at a crazy rate and if you ever carried one you’d see that humping two or three ammo boxes around was definitely a chore do to their weight.
Tim
Would you happen to know how many men comprised a crew for each gun?
I’m thinking that it had to be 4 or 5 .
One for the gun , one for the stand , and two or three others for the ammo .
Yes- 2 kinds of Hiwis (POW volunteers for the Germans)Burt,
If the mg used as HMG , each gun need 9 men crews to operate the system. When used as LMG , as less as 3 men crews were needed: gunner ,assistant gunner and ammo carrier, later two able to carry 8 boxes of ammunition for max.
And at east front, they use Russian volunteers (recruited from pows) carrying ammo box for them, each guy carry two boxes.
Jeff , the 14th Waffen Grenadier , they were collaborator all the way.Yes- 2 kinds of Hiwis (POW volunteers for the Germans)
There was this kind who were actual POWs transporting ammo and digging trenches or whatever:
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and then ones like these fine 14th SS Ukranians:
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or these fine Trawniki Ukranian volunteers:
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Censored?Yes- 2 kinds of Hiwis (POW volunteers for the Germans)
There was this kind who were actual POWs transporting ammo and digging trenches or whatever:
View attachment 159753
and then ones like these fine 14th SS Ukranians:
View attachment 159755
or these fine Trawniki Ukranian volunteers:
View attachment 159757
So it’s pretty easy to see from the video that the only issue with this weapon was carrying the amount of ammo that was needed to sustain it, in a lengthy combat encounter . It consumed boxes of ammo at a crazy rate and if you ever carried one you’d see that humping two or three ammo boxes around was definitely a chore do to their weight.
Tim
Would you happen to know how many men comprised a crew for each gun?
I’m thinking that it had to be 4 or 5 .
One for the gun , one for the stand , and two or three others for the ammo .
Here's the Wikipedia article I was banned from:Hi Burt,
This is one of the rare times when Wikipedia does a really good job. The info on here was written by someone who knows their onions. Excellent stuff about gun teams in the various configurations of MG42 useage...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_42
Here's the Wikipedia article I was banned from:
Panzer ace - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
It used to be just a list of tank commanders and their kill scores- as is the case with flying aces most of the list was Germans with incredible scores. A group of gentlemen just couldn't stand giving Germans any credit so the article was changed completely around to a slush of incomprehensible bullshit. If you know anything about Wikipedia you will know that all of the history articles are political but some much more than others. The one on Panzer Aces is a weird example of this slant going completely off the rails. A simple list with all of those German names was not to be allowed!
An example of Wikipedia doing a horrible job.
Perfectly said- and when I noticed the Panzer Ace article being changed from a simple (mostly German) list to an explanatory article on why Panzer aces didn't exist I entered an editing war which I lost completely.Jeff, lots of people get "funny" about German aircraft and tank kills during the war because they are massively larger than those on the Allied side. German scores dwarf Allied scores due to the fact in the wartime German forces that for the most part (apart from leave) you fought until the war ended or you were maimed or killed.
Once again there's that difference between the attitude of the Allied citizen soldier's government (he has a tour of duty before he returns to civilian life) and the German wartime government's attitude towards their soldiers (he was a weapon of war belonging to the state and that was his sole purpose from the time he wore the uniform. He would do this duty until victory or defeat).