Weapons 22/02/20 any of the weapons the soldiers of the Wehrmacht it was dangerous to shoot
Despite a deserved reputation as the creators of many best samples of military and civilian equipment, the German engineers couldn’t foresee everything. Even the most massive and formidable weapon, which, it seemed, had to be thought out every detail, the application was not perfect: the soldiers had difficulties when using it and were forced to somehow compensate for the shortcomings of the means at hand to avoid serious injuries.
For example, an automatic assault rifle StG-44 – “shturmgevera”, which many mistakenly think is the prototype of a Kalashnikov. This machine had flaws that made it not very easy to operate: unreliable shutter, the design of the stock do not allow to use the machine if it is damaged and inconvenient for shooting out of the trench; in addition, the magazine release StG-44 was located so that you can easily accidentally press it and lose the store; same thing with safety button. Another drawback – metal handguard (the part of the lodges of the machine, covering the trunk). In contrast to the same AK handguard “shturmgevera” was made not of wood but of metal, which at a high rate of fire it quickly and was very hot. Arrow threatened to burn his hands and he was forced to either hold the machine with one hand and store or use small gloves, just winter gloves, cooking mitts, or other devices to protect the hands.
Even more popular and famous German automatic weapons with which the infantry of the Wehrmacht portrayed in almost every film about world war II is a submachine gun MP-40. During the war, they were issued more than 2 million units, so almost every German in the army, faced with its features – for example, with strong vibration of this weapon and a small sighting range (up to 400 m). As “shturmgevera”, MP-40 is strongly and rapidly heated when firing long bursts. Therefore, in this case, the users had to use protective equipment, or limit itself to short bursts of three or four shots.
in the next version of the submachine gun MP-41 – Hugo Schmeisser finished with the box weapons and the consequences of overheating has ceased to be a threat to the shooter. However, this sample is not wide spread because of the litigation of the designer’s copyright on the design of the Mr-41 with the firm of ERMA. Therefore, there was then the MP-43, later renamed StG-44, but, as already stated above, this weapon was once again “defenseless” against overheating.
Actually, trunks was troubled not only manual German small arms and some machine guns. The most recognizable German machine gun world war II – the MG-42, also “suffered” from this. After using three machine-gun belts (50 rounds) it was necessary (for the user) to change the barrel. Interchangeable barrels wore, along with ammunition for the machine gun. It was also associated with overheating – heated metal may be deformed, and then the gun jammed. To replace the heated barrel and not get burned, the gunners also wore gloves or use rags. The same precaution is observed when loading in the gun the new tape.
Some samples of German weapons demanded more serious protection than oven mitts and gloves. German Bazooka, the “Panzerschreck” (or “terror tanks”) was equipped with a special metal shield protecting the gunner from hot exhaust gases that are coming out when firing directly towards the face of the soldier. But before the advent of the “Panzerschreck”, firing on the tanks reactive cumulative grenades, the Wehrmacht was armed with similar weapons without guard – “Offeror”. With him the Germans suffered to protect persons from the exhaust I had put on his gas mask, hindering the normal work of the gunner. By the way, and with the data onthe gonne need to use gloves not to get burned.
But the most flammable weapons of the Wehrmacht, which the soldiers did not like was the flamethrower. Of course, the flamethrower itself is a threat to those who use it. Not to palitsya due to a sudden breakdown or by their own negligence, uses his flamethrower had to wear protective suits. However, they actually rarely did, as they immediately learned flamethrower and tried to destroy it. Everything else, flamethrowers were heavy (36 kg) and strongly reduced mobility of the soldier. Often on the battlefield, soldiers had to pay (sometimes a small and sometimes at the highest price) in hindsight the makers of their weapons.
Konstantin Dmitriev
Source:
© Russian Seven
Recommended statesalaska… Share: Comments Comments on the article “what weapons the soldiers of the Wehrmacht it was dangerous to shoot” Please log in to leave a comment! br>
Share on Tumblr
