After the First World War (1914-1918), the Treaty of Versailles prohibited the Germans from developing or producing any weapons, including tanks, submarines and automatic weapons. But with the Nazis coming to power in the 1930s and the revival of the German army, most of the limitations under the Treaty were circumvented by the authorities, having begun rearmament for a new world war. By this time, German military strategists had developed the concept of a lightweight portable multi-purpose machine gun.
Air instead of water
For some time, this decision was MG-13. Introduced in 1930, it was a rethinking of the air-cooled Dreyse Model 1918 water-cooled machine gun. It was powered by a 25-round magazine or a 75-round drum and was adopted by the German army as a standard machine gun. Ultimately, the machine gun was installed on tanks and Luftwaffe aircraft, but in general it turned out to be costly to manufacture and allowed firing at a speed of only 600 rounds per minute. Therefore, this model was withdrawn from service in 1934 and sold out or put into storage.
Swiss version
The relative failure that befell the MG-13 required additional tests. Rheinmetall-Borsig, a weapons manufacturing company since 1889, has set up the Solothurn shadow company in neighboring Switzerland to circumvent the restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles and continued work on a new air cooling system. During World War I, as a rule, machine guns were cooled by water, which complicated their maintenance and transportation. The tests took place from the early 1930s and soon ended with the creation of an improved model.
She became 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 continuation of the development of the line. The MG-15 was soon produced, which proved to be very useful as a defensive aircraft weapon and received large orders after the official adoption of the Luftwaffe.
Maschinengewehr 34
The further evolution of this line gave birth to the legendary MG-34 - a 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 an arms engineer Volmer.
The German army quickly approved the new machine gun, and it was adopted during 1936. Initially, Mauserwerke AG was engaged in its production, but soon it merged with Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG and Waffenwerke Brunn. A total of 577, 120 units were manufactured from 1935 to 1945.
Main characteristics
In the basic configuration, the dimensions of the MG-34 machine gun are very 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 recoil pulse of the muzzle recoil amplifier. MG-34 - a machine gun, the caliber of which was specially selected for the proven 7.92x57 Mauser rifle cartridge. The rate of fire of these early models was 600–1000 rounds per minute with the possibility of choosing a single or automatic firing mode. The initial speed reached 762 m / s, which made it possible to hit the target at distances up to 1200 m. This distance could be increased using a specially designed machine for using weapons as a heavy machine gun. The sight is standard, in increments of 100 m to 2000 m.
Ergonomic design
MG-34 machine gun has a linear design, in which support for the shoulder and the barrel are on the same imaginary line. This is done in order to ensure more stable shooting, but not only. The stock is an ergonomic extension on the back of the box, while the box itself is a bit “hunchback” with a thin profile. The feed and ejection openings are easily distinguishable from the front and the handle is lowered in the usual way. In front of the box is a perforated casing covering the barrel inside it. At the muzzle is a conical flame arrester. When used as an infantry support weapon, a folding bipod is fastened under the casing, expandable at the junction. A machine gun of this length requires frontal support, especially when the shooter is in a prone position.
Air cooling
This type of weapon has one drawback - the dependence on natural cooling by the air circulating around the barrel during firing. Therefore, the barrel is placed inside the perforated casing so that such cooling takes place, but this solution does not allow continuous fire, which is extremely necessary for weapons of support or suppression. Short supervised lines were the rule for such machine guns. Every 250 rounds, the barrel had to be changed, and its total service life was 6, 000 rounds. To facilitate its change, German engineers provided for the possibility of unlocking the receiver and “turning” it out of the casing. The shooter gained access to the barrel inside the casing through the open rear of the unit and could remove it for replacement. Then a new cold barrel was inserted, and fire resumed as usual.
Shooting modes
The fire opens when you press the trigger, which consists of two parts. The top section is marked with the letter E (Einzelfeuer) and is responsible for single shots, and the bottom is marked with the letter D (Dauerfeuer) and is designed for automatic fire. Thus, the fighter can control the stock of ammunition and barrel heating.
Ammunition
The MG-34 nutrition was also given special attention. In a stationary state, a weapon is usually fed with a 50-round round drum or a 75-round double drum of a saddle type (MG-15 design legacy). To ease the load when used as a portable support weapon, a 50-cartridge belt was used. If necessary, it could be connected to other tapes up to a full charge of 250 rounds. 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, they were armed with various parts of the German army - from special troops to infantry. One machine gun served calculation, consisting of at least two people. One fired and carried weapons in battle, and the other was responsible for the ammunition, helped with the ribbons and worked on eliminating delays. If necessary, they could be helped by additional team members - to carry additional barrels, machine tools or additional ammunition.
Handyman
Structurally, the MG-34 is a machine gun so tactically flexible that it quickly adopted all the 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-charging belts. Fire speed has always been a weapon's strength, but shooters preferred single shots or very short bursts for greater accuracy.
A high rate of fire was necessary when the MG-34 machine gun (a photo of it is in the review) served as an anti-aircraft gun for destroying low-flying enemy aircraft. For this, a machine with an anti-aircraft counter was attached, front and rear anti-aircraft sight sights.
The MG-34 heavy machine gun (see photo in the article) for continuous fire was attached to the Lafette 34. This assembly included an integrated buffer mechanism that stabilized it during firing. In addition, an optical sight was installed on the receiver for better tracking and hitting a 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. Any debris on the battlefield could damage the exact mechanics of the device, so it was so important to strictly observe the maintenance mode to clear the weapon of everything that could potentially lead to its stopping at the most inopportune moment.
Fatal Perfectionism
Another drawback of the MG-34 was the common 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 needed by 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 to perform their various functions. Good weapons turned out to be too tender in harsh military conditions, which led to the development of a simplified version - the equally legendary MG-42 release of 1942.
Modifications
MG-34 - a machine gun, work on the improvement of which was carried out during the war. The MG-34m was distinguished by a heavy casing, since it was supposed to be used as anti-personnel weapons mounted on many German armored vehicles. The prototype MG-34s and its final version MG-34/41 received shortened trunks (about 560 mm) to increase the rate of fire as an anti-aircraft machine gun and fired only with automatic fire. MG-34/41 was supposed to replace MG-34, but this did not happen due to the appearance of the effective MG-42 series. MG-34/41 was never officially adopted, although it was produced in some quantities.
MG-34 Panzerlauf served as a tank machine gun. These models used a heavier casing with much fewer holes. The stock was removed for a more compact profile in a limited space inside German armored vehicles. Nevertheless, a conversion kit was carried on board, which made it possible to quickly turn the Panzerlauf into a light ground machine gun in case the vehicle had to be abandoned. The kit includes a bipod, butt and scope.
One of the latest modifications to the MG-34 is the MG-81 machine gun, a defensive anti-aircraft weapon that replaced the obsolete MG-15. MG-81Z (Zwilling) became a branch of this line, essentially connecting two MG-34s with a common trigger. The design was changed in such a way as to allow machine gun power on both sides. Its rate of fire reached an impressive 2, 800–3, 200 rounds per minute. Production of this series was limited, as the MG-34s was more needed in other areas.
Although the MG-34/42 machine gun appeared in 1942, the production of the MG-34 was not interrupted 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, it is and could not achieve its rather high performance and, ultimately, played the role of complementing the classic design of the 1930s.
