Probably, everyone who is familiar with the history of the Great Patriotic War and is interested in Russian small arms knows about the DS-39 machine gun. Developed by an experienced designer Degtyarev, who gave the Russian army a RPD, he stood in service for a very short time, although he had certain advantages. What should you know about him?
History of creation
The conversation about the need to create a new easel machine gun for the Russian army began in 1928. Not surprisingly, the only weapon in this niche was the world-famous Maxim. However, due to the water cooling system and its heavy weight, it did not meet the requirements of modern mobile warfare.
The famous designer Vasily Alekseevich Degtyarev started to work and by the end of 1930 he submitted to the experts a prototype of a machine gun. Like any experimental weapon, it had certain shortcomings, which were eliminated and improved over several years - until 1939. Unfortunately, the shortcomings were not finally eliminated, it was necessary to launch an unfinished machine gun into production, because in the east Japan was rattling with weapons, and in the west the much more dangerous enemy, the Third Reich, was drawing strength.
From 1939 to 1941, more than ten thousand machine guns were fired, which were sent almost immediately to active military units. At first, weapons were used during the Soviet-Finnish war, and then in the Great Patriotic War.
Specifications
In order for the reader to have a better idea of these weapons, it is worth giving the characteristics of the DS-39 machine gun.
It was developed under the standard 7.62 x 54 mm cartridge for its time - the same as that used in the Maxim machine gun and the Mosin rifle. Very powerful, it has proven itself almost half a century ago.
The machine gun itself weighs 14.3 kilograms. But with a machine tool and a shield, the mass reached 42.4 kilograms - quite a lot. The machine weighed 11 kilograms, and the shield - 7.7. To this should be added a cartridge box weighing 9.4 kilograms. By the way, during the development of Degtyarev refused the standard tripod machine designed by Kolesnikov, developing a lightweight analogue instead. The shield provided the best protection for the machine gunner. It had only a small aiming gap, and was also equipped with a special bracket that allows you to install an optical sight.
Together with the machine, the length of the machine gun was 1, 440 millimeters, while the machine gun itself had a length of 1, 170 millimeters.
Battle range
As mentioned above, the DS-39 machine gun used cartridges of 7.62 x 54 mm. In combination with a long barrel, this provided a serious aiming range, high breakdown power.
The initial speed of the bullet was 860 meters per second. When using a light bullet, a machine gun allowed to hit the enemy at a distance of up to 2.4 kilometers. If a bimetallic heavy bullet was used, this distance increased to 3 kilometers. So the aiming range of the DS-39 turned out to be on top - not all easel machine guns of that time could boast such impressive characteristics.
It is important that the combat rate of fire was quite high - more than 300 rounds per minute.
Food was carried out using a metal tape for 50 rounds or canvas for 250. The metal tape was heavier and less capacious. But when using it, the risk of uneven supply of a cartridge and, as a result, delays during shooting was sharply reduced. And when using the canvas, this happened quite often, if one machine gunner had to shoot without a second number, which would feed the tape.
Important advantages
Giving a description of the DS-39, one cannot fail to mention some of the important advantages that a machine gun possessed.
Of course, one of the main ones mentioned above is high power and a serious battle distance. Moreover, he no longer had water cooling, like the Maxim machine gun, but more modern - air. This significantly reduced weight and increased mobility. It was the outdated "Maxim" that was the main competitor to the Degtyarev machine gun, therefore, comparisons will go further with it.
Relatively simple reloading increased practical rate of fire. A simple and convenient aiming increased the ability to hit the target even for not the most experienced shooters. To achieve such results when using the machine gun "Maxim", it was necessary to train the machine gunner for a long time.
The plus turned out to be low weight. For comparison: only 42 kilograms versus 64 kilograms of “Maxim”.
The machine had a special design that allows you to shoot from a knee or lying down. This proved to be very convenient when equipping a safe and convenient firing position.
In general, the design resembled a light machine gun DP-27, which was well known in the army. Of course, this similarity could also be attributed to the advantages, since it allowed to simplify the process of familiarization with new weapons.
Main disadvantages
Alas, despite the important advantages, the Degtyarev machine gun had many serious drawbacks. One of them was the lack of reliability. Even after many years of improvements, it was not possible to completely get rid of them.
The rather complicated cartridge feeding system was not very successful - the cartridges or the empty cartridge case were often deformed, because of which it was necessary to cease fire in order to eliminate the breakdown. Of course, during the battle this would be excessive luxury - the enemy would not give the machine gunner a few minutes for quiet work to bring the weapons ready. True, the problem was solved by the use of steel shells on cartridges for the DS-39 machine gun. But the army mainly used softer brass sleeves. This was a serious blow to the popularity of the machine gun.
When using a heavy bullet, the cartridge often simply disintegrated - strong recoil led to the fact that subsequent cartridges disintegrated. This also led to the need to disassemble the machine gun.
Negative reviews often came from the troops, caused by the inability to use weapons at low temperatures or in high dust conditions - the machine gun simply wedged.
That is why, despite the numerous advantages of the new weapon, it never gained much popularity, failing to become the only machine gun of the Red Army.
Two fire modes
Developing the DS-39, the designer Degtyarev provided for the possibility of firing not only at ground targets, but also at air targets. Yes, this machine gun could well be used to destroy low-flying enemy aircraft. For this, a special shooting mode was even designed.
The weapon had two modes - 600 rounds per minute and 1200. High rate of fire significantly increased the ability to destroy a fast-moving target. To increase the speed of fire, a special spring buffer installed in the back plate was used.
The transition from one mode to another was carried out very easily and quickly - just turn the handle of the buffer device located on the bottom of the receiver.
Interchangeable barrel
The barrel overheated from long firing is a serious problem for any machine guns, starting from the “Maxims” of the late 19th century and ending with the most modern counterparts.
She did not bypass the DS-39. After 500 rounds the barrel overheated, which led to the expansion and sharp decrease in the power of the shot - the bullet simply fell out of the barrel, flying at best several tens of meters. It is simply impossible to wait until the barrel cools down. Therefore, the designer provided the ability to quickly change the barrel. It was equipped with a special wooden handle to avoid burns. Moreover, the replacement of the barrel from an experienced machine gunner took only half a minute! Of course, this provided much greater firepower than using a single barrel. During that time, while the second barrel was heating up, the first already managed to cool down and could be reinstalled.
Where was the machine gun made
The first machine gun samples came off the assembly line in Kovrov. However, later the manufacturer DS-39 was replaced. Already in 1940, production was moved to Tula.
Unfortunately, the outbreak of war led to the fact that part of the production was seized, part destroyed. And only a part was saved, evacuated and assembled in a new place. But the production of an easel machine gun is difficult, therefore, to supply the army with powerful defensive weapons, it was decided to return to the production of Maxim machine guns again, fortunately, the equipment was not destroyed, but mothballed. As a result, during the war years, many of these heavy, massive, but powerful and reliable machine guns came off the assembly lines, more than once allowing them to maintain their positions even with the fierce pressure of the enemy.
The fate of the weapon
As mentioned above, the weapon went into production unfinished, with many not completely eliminated flaws. In the early years of the war, there was no opportunity to modify it and put it into production for obvious reasons.
However, in 1943 they again returned to the question of DS-39. Moreover, this direction was personally supervised by I.V. Stalin, who was well aware of the importance of the availability of high-quality and reliable machine guns in the troops.
A special commission was convened to re-examine the machine gun’s potential. However, the decision of the commission was quite unexpected. Indeed, in addition to the DS-39, she considered other options. One of them was the machine gun of an unknown designer Goryunov. To everyone’s surprise, it turned out that his machine gun surpasses the analogue from a venerable colleague in almost everything: reliability of the structure, survivability of parts, and failure-free operation.
In a personal meeting with Degtyarev, Stalin asked him what he himself thought about this. Vasily Alekseevich, without hesitation, said that the Goryunov machine gun would increase the combat efficiency of the army, which means that preference should be given to him.
Thus ended the short and not very successful career of the DS-39.
Who used
Of course, the USSR became the main user of the machine gun. However, over time, 10 thousand machine guns sent to the units were lost during the fighting or out of order. For a long time they held out in partisan units.
But during the fierce battles of 1941, Finland captured about 200 machine guns, which were put into service and were used until the very end of the war. There is information that about 145 machine guns were stored in mobilization warehouses even after World War II until 1986, when they were finally decommissioned.
Finally, many captured machine guns fell into the hands of Wehrmacht soldiers. Here they were called MG 218. True, they were not used at the front line, but mainly by security and police units in the occupied territories.
