Assault Rifles

Discussions on the small arms used by the Axis forces.
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Paul Timms
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Assault Rifles

#1

Post by Paul Timms » 12 Oct 2002, 13:25

I have just purchased a squad of wargames figures armed with the assault rifle. My questions are:

Were they widely issued ?
Did they only go to elite units ?
When issued would a whole squad be armed with them or just 1 or 2 men to beef up squad firepower ?

Thanks

Paul

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Daniel L
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#2

Post by Daniel L » 12 Oct 2002, 13:46

If you refer to the sturmgewehr I can tell you this. 425,977 sturmgewehrs were made. The first unit to recieve sturmgewehrs was the SS Wiking division. The weapon was issued to both elite units such as the waffen ss and to volksgrenadier units. The weapon was intended to replace both the rifle and the smg. It was meant that certain stosstruppe platoons were to have only sturmgewehrs but I don't know if this ever happened. It was more common that some men in the squad had the sturmgewehr, mostly leaders I guess. This is all out of memory so I might be wrong on some things.

regards


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HJ Division Grenadier
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#3

Post by HJ Division Grenadier » 13 Oct 2002, 11:03

Thats more or less correct.
The assault rifle was not meant to replace all other weapons in general. It would not for instance be a replacement for the rifle, this is due to the fact of accuracy, the g43 would have been the replacement for the k98 if this would have ever been achievable, the mp44 was not accurate enough, this is why it had its own ammunition, the kurz round, when trying to fire a full size round the gun was simply uncontrollable, a k98 or g43 gave far more accuracy over a far greater distance.

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Daniel L
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#4

Post by Daniel L » 13 Oct 2002, 11:28

I just remember that I read that the sturmgewehr was a high priority weapon for the volksgrenadier units. By the way, tell us about the figures you bought?

regards

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Johan Elisson
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#5

Post by Johan Elisson » 13 Oct 2002, 20:16

It would not for instance be a replacement for the rifle, this is due to the fact of accuracy, the g43 would have been the replacement for the k98 if this would have ever been achievable, the mp44 was not accurate enough, this is why it had its own ammunition, the kurz round, when trying to fire a full size round the gun was simply uncontrollable, a k98 or g43 gave far more accuracy over a far greater distance.
The StG44 had equal accuracy at distances up to 300 meters and only slightly poorer accuracy at distances up to 600 meters. (According to Taktik im Russlandfeldzug, Eike Middeldorf) Of course, it was not meant to give the StG44 with ZF to snipers, but I believe that the StG44 was able to replace K98 in ordinary Schützengruppe.

/Johan

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Paul Timms
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Wargames units

#6

Post by Paul Timms » 13 Oct 2002, 20:27

Charlie D.S.,

I have recently purchased a load of stuff off ebay including 6 late war wehrmacht all with stg44, also the SS have a few. Most of the figures are battlefield which do some wonderful obscure stuff. I have Handschar (see my other recent post), Karstjaeger, Volksturm and a load of SS. However i'm not sure what make the Stg44 guys are.

Are you a wargamer or modeller ??


Paul

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Daniel L
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#7

Post by Daniel L » 13 Oct 2002, 20:33

I have to agree with Johan here. One of the main resons why Hitler opposed the sturmgewehr was that he thought that there was still a need for a rifle. The sturmgewehr 44 with zf's were probably issued to marksmen, I haven't seen a picture of one yet.

Paul, I don't know anything about battlefield. What scale is it? I model mostly 1/72 but also 1/35.

regards

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Paul Timms
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Battlefeld Miniatures

#8

Post by Paul Timms » 15 Oct 2002, 20:27

Charlie D.S.

Battlefield are a small British manufacturer mostly doing German stuff with some Russian or Brit/American Para. They do a little equipment (AT, Jeeps) all in 20mm.

Paul

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