German MG-34. Machine gun of World War II

After the First World War (1914-1918), the Treaty of Versailles forbade the Germans to develop or produce any weapons, including tanks, submarines and automatic weapons. But with the coming to power of the Nazis in the 1930s and the revival of the German army, most of the restrictions under the Treaty were bypassed by the authorities, starting rearmament for a new world war. By this time, German military strategists had developed the concept of an easy portable multipurpose machine gun.

Air instead of water

For some time this decision was MG-13. Introduced in 1930, he became a rethinking machine gun during the First World War with water cooling Dreyse Model 1918, modified for air. It was powered by a 25-charge magazine or 75-charge drum and was adopted by the German army as a standard machine gun. Ultimately, the machine gun was mounted on tanks and Luftwaffe aircraft, but as a whole proved to be expensive in production and allowed to fire at a rate of only 600 rounds per minute. Therefore, this model was removed from service in 1934 and sold or placed in storage.

Swiss version

The relative failure that befell the MG-13 required additional tests. The company Rheinmetall-Borsig, engaged in the production of weapons since 1889, to circumvent the restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, organized the creation in neighboring Switzerland of the shadow company "Solothurn" and continued work on new air cooling. During the First World Machine Guns, as a rule, they were cooled by water, which complicated their service and transportation. The tests took place from the early 1930s and soon resulted in the creation of an improved model.

It was the "Solothurn MG-30", created in 1930. The machine gun was used in neighboring Austria and Hungary, as well as in Germany, but the German authorities wanted to get more convenient and portable weapons, prompting the development of the line. Soon was produced MG-15, which proved to be very useful as a defensive aviation weapon and received large orders after the official acceptance of the Luftwaffe.

Maschinengewehr 34

Further evolution of this line gave birth to the legendary MG-34 - machine gun, also known as Maschinengewehr 34, combining the best qualities of all previous models, including the MG-30 and MG-15. The result was so revolutionary that it became the first real single machine gun - a multi-purpose combat weapon capable of performing several functions without changing its basic design. Its creator was named engineer-gunner Volmer.

The German army quickly approved a new machine gun, and it was adopted for service during 1936. Initially, it was Mauserwerke AG, but soon it merged with Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG and Waffenwerke Brunn. In total, from 1935 to 1945, 577,120 units were manufactured.

Main characteristics

In the basic configuration, the dimensions of the MG-34 machine gun are quite impressive: its length is 1219 mm with a standard barrel of 627 mm and the weight is 12.1 kg. It uses a unique short stroke with the rotation of the sliding shutter from the kickback pulse of the muzzle pullback amplifier. MG-34 - a machine gun, the caliber of which was chosen specially for the tested 7.92x57 rifle cartridge Mauser. The rate of fire of these early models was 600-1000 rounds per minute with the option of selecting a single or automatic shooting mode. The initial speed reached 762 m / s, which made it possible to hit the target at distances of up to 1200 m. This distance could be increased with the help of a specially designed machine for using the weapon as a heavy machine gun. The sight is standard, with a step of 100 m to 2000 m.

Ergonomic design

The MG-34 machine gun has a linear design, in which support for the shoulder and trunk are on one imaginary line. This is done to ensure more stable shooting, but not only. The application is an ergonomic extension on the back of the box, whereas the box itself is a little "humped", with a thin profile. The feed and ejection holes are easily distinguishable from the front and the handle is lowered in the usual way. In the front of the box is a perforated casing, covering the trunk inside it. At the bar is a conical flame arrester. When using infantry support as a weapon, a collapsible bipod is attached under the casing, which is pushed apart at the junction. A machine gun of this length requires front support, especially when the shooter is in the prone position.

Air cooling

Weapons of this type have one drawback - the dependence on natural cooling of air circulating near the barrel during the shooting. Therefore, the barrel is placed inside the perforated casing, so that such cooling takes place, but this solution does not allow long-term fire, which is extremely necessary for support weapons or suppression. Short controlled queues were the rule for such machine guns. Every 250 shots the barrel had to be changed, and its overall service life was 6,000 shots. To facilitate its replacement, German engineers provided for the possibility of unlocking the receiver and "turning it" out of the casing. The shooter had access to the trunk inside the casing through the open back of the assembly and could have removed it for replacement. Then a new cold barrel was inserted and the fire resumed normally.

Shooting modes

The fire opens when you press the trigger, which consists of two parts. The upper section is indicated by the letter E (Einzelfeuer) and is responsible for single shots, and the lower section is marked with the letter D (Dauerfeuer) and is intended for automatic fire. Thus, the fighter can control the stock of ammunition and heat the barrel.

Fighting

The MG-34 was also given special attention. In a stationary state, the weapon, as a rule, is powered by a 50-round round drum or a 75-charge double-drum of the saddle type (legacy of design MG-15). To alleviate the load, using a 50-cartridge belt as a portable weapon. If necessary, it could be connected to other tapes up to a full charge of 250 cartridges. However, the use of tape loads the mechanism and reduces the rate of fire.

Machine-gun calculation

After the MG-34 was tested in practice, it was armed with various parts of the German army - from special troops to infantry. One machine-gun served the calculation, consisting of at least two people. One led shooting and carrying weapons in combat, and the other was responsible for ammunition, helped with the ribbons and dealt with delays. If necessary, they could be assisted by additional team members - to carry additional trunks, machines or additional ammunition.

Handyman

Structurally MG-34 - machine gun is so tactically flexible that he quickly adopted all possible combat functions. But his main purpose was to support the infantry. For this, the machine gun was equipped with a bipod, and the soldiers used 50-charge tapes. The speed of fire has always been the strength of the weapon, but the shooters preferred single shots or very short turns for greater accuracy.

A high rate of fire was necessary when the MG-34 machine gun (the photo of it is in the review) served as an anti-aircraft for the destruction of low-flying enemy aircraft. For this purpose, a machine with a zenith rack, an anterior and a rear sight of the anti-aircraft gun was attached.

Heavy MG-34 machine gun (photo: see article) for continuous fire was attached to the Lafette 34. This assembly included a built-in buffer mechanism that stabilized it during the shooting. In addition, the receiver was equipped with an optical sight for better tracking and hitting the target at a distance.

MG-34 is a machine gun, the device of which allows its quick disassembly in the field, which makes it possible to clean, lubricate and repair it in a short time. The exact mechanics of the device could damage any garbage on the battlefield, so it was so important to strictly follow the maintenance mode to clear the weapon of anything that could potentially lead to its stopping at the most inopportune moment.

Fatal perfectionism

Another drawback of the MG-34 was the general problem of all pre-war firearms: production according to high quality standards, which require a lot of time, cost and effort. This led to the fact that the MG-34 machine gun was constantly in short supply throughout the war, as it was necessary for all German services on all fronts. In the end, five plants were forced to manufacture it, and additional resources, time and energy were spent on creating add-ons for performing their various functions. Good weapons proved to be too gentle in the harsh military conditions, which led to the development of a simplified version of the equally legendary MG-42 of the 1942 edition.

Modifications

MG-34 - a machine gun, the work on the improvement of which was conducted during the war. MG-34m was characterized by a heavy casing, as it was supposed to be used as an anti-personnel weapon installed on a lot of German armored cars. The prototype MG-34s and its final version MG-34/41 received truncated trunks (about 560 mm) to increase the rate of fire in the role of an anti-aircraft machine gun and were fired only by automatic fire. MG-34/41 was supposed to replace MG-34, but this did not happen due to the appearance of an effective series of MG-42. MG-34/41 was never officially adopted, although it was produced in some quantity.

MG-34 Panzerlauf served as a tank machine gun. These models used a heavier casing with a much smaller number of holes. The application was removed for a more compact profile in conditions of limited space inside German armored cars. Nevertheless, a re-equipment kit was transported on board, which made it possible to quickly turn Panzerlauf into a ground light machine gun if the vehicle had to be abandoned. The set includes a bipod, butt and a sight.

One of the latest modifications of the MG-34 is the MG-81 machine gun, a defensive anti-aircraft weapon that replaced the outdated MG-15. MG-81Z (Zwilling) became a branch of this line, in essence, connecting two MG-34s with a common trigger. The design was modified in such a way as to allow the machine gun food from both sides. His rate of fire reached an impressive 2,800-3,200 rounds per minute. Production of this series was limited, since MG-34s was more necessary on other sites.

Despite the fact that in 1942 the MG-34/42 machine gun appeared, the production of the MG-34 did not stop until the end of the war in Europe in May 1945. Although the MG-42 was intended to replace the MG-34 as a front-line weapon, he And was unable to achieve its fairly high performance and, ultimately, played the role of supplementing the classical design of the 1930s.

World Recognition

The German MG-34 machine gun was used not only by Germany and not only during the Second World War. His counterparts quickly spread around the world. Among the countries whose armies they took into service were Algeria, Angola, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Finland, Guinea-Bissau, Hungary, Israel, Korea, North Vietnam, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and Turkey. The machine gun was used during the civil war in China (1946-1950), the Arab-Israeli conflict (1948), the war in Korea (1950-1953), Vietnam (1955-1975). Until now, it can be found in remote places, where this legendary weapon still enters battle.