Mg 34 and Mg 42 Machine Guns - McNab Chris
Mg 34 and Mg 42 Machine Guns - McNab Chris With the MG 34, the German Wehrmacht introduced an entirely new concept in automatic firepower - the general-purpose machine gun (GPMG). Yet simply by…
Specifikacia Mg 34 and Mg 42 Machine Guns - McNab Chris
Mg 34 and Mg 42 Machine Guns - McNab Chris
With the MG 34, the German Wehrmacht introduced an entirely new concept in automatic firepower - the general-purpose machine gun (GPMG). Yet simply by changing its mount and feed mechanism, the operator could radically transform its function. In itself the MG 34 was an excellent weapon: an air-cooled, recoil-operated machine gun that could deliver killing firepower at ranges of more than 1,000m.
During World War II, the MG 34 was superseded by a new GPMG - the MG 42. On its standard bipod it was a light machine gun, ideal for infantry assaults; on a tripod it could serve as a sustained-fire medium machine gun. More efficient to manufacture and more robust, it had a blistering 1,200rpm rate of fire.
Nicknamed 'Hitler's buzzsaw' by Allied troops, it was arguably the finest all-round GPMG ever produced, and alongside the MG 34 it inflicted heavy casualties. Featuring specially commissioned full-colour artwork and drawing upon numerous technical manuals and first-hand accounts, this study explores the technological development, varied roles and lasting influence of the revolutionary MG 34 and MG 42 machine guns and their postwar successors.