SturmGewehr 44 (7.92x33mm)
May 5, 2003
9:00 PM CST
Fighting on the Russian Front during WWII, the German infantry discovered that their basic tenet of tactics—a machine-gun protected by riflemen using bolt-action rifles—was of little use against the human wave attacks of the Russians. Also, the combat range was shorter, so what was really needed was a rifle which could fire at full-auto (with a selector switch for semi-auto).
Shorter range also meant you didn’t need that powerful a cartridge, either, so the Germans modified their venerable 8x57mm cartridge into a shorter cartridge, the 7.92x33mm (8mm or 7.92mm Kurz.
The only problem was that Hitler had forbidden any development of any new rifles—but submachine-guns were okay, so the inventive engineers of the CG Haenel and Walther companies called their new rifle the “Machinenpistole 43”. The story goes that the subterfuge was discovered when Hitler asked a junior officer what the soldiers at the front needed most of all, and the officer blurted out, “More of those wonderful MP-43s!”
When Hitler saw the new battle rifle demonstrated, he gave it a better name: SturmGewehr 44 (Assault Rifle 44), thus providing future generations of gun-fearing wussies with a cool name with which to frighten the ignorant and the gullible.
The Haenel model (created by the great Hugo Schmeisser) was found to be better than Walther’s, so the Haenel design was adopted for production. Just under half a million were made before the end of the war.
Here’s the StG-44, with its 16½” barrel and 30-round magazine:
The gun weighed about 12lbs, fully loaded, and fired the stubby new cartridges at about 500rpm. Its effective range was specified at 800 yards (that was a bit of a stretch—I’ve seen the ballistics—500 yards was more like it).
Okay, there were several shortcomings in the design, practically speaking: the StG-44 was way too heavy, its buttstock too brittle for CQB (close-quarter battle) scenarios, and the long magazine made firing from the prone position almost impossible.
Nevertheless, the StG-44 was the first assault rifle, and its design and combat specifications paved the way for all future rifles of its type. In fact, the StG-44 action led to one of the world’s most famous assault rifles, which we’ll look at tomorrow.
