The British infantry are pinned down by the heavy weight of German small arms fire ...
Most of these British soldiers above are using the Lee-Enfield Rifle, No.4 Mk I. The No. 4 was derived from the iconic SMLE Mk III of WW1 fame (often known as "Smelly") - there is also one of these in one of the pictures (I'll leave you to find it
). The Mk III and No.4 used the fast-operating Lee bolt-action and 10-round magazine capacity, which enabled a well-trained rifleman to perform the "mad minute" firing 20 to 30 aimed rounds in 60 seconds, making the Lee-Enfield the fastest military bolt-action rifle of the day.
The current world record for aimed bolt-action fire was set in 1914 by a rifle instructor in the British Army — Sergeant Instructor Snoxall — who placed 38 rounds into a 12-inch-wide (300 mm) target at 300 yards (270 m) in one minute. Several WW1 accounts tell of British troops repelling German attackers who subsequently reported that they had encountered machine guns, when in fact it was simply a group of well-trained riflemen armed with SMLE Mk III rifles.
Unlike the SMLE, the No.4 barrel protruded from the end of the forestock. The No.4 also had a "floating barrel" that improved accuracy.
The standard German rifle in WW2 was the Karabiner 98 Kurz - or K98 for short. It was one of the final developments in the long line of Mauser military rifles. Although supplemented by semi- and fully automatic rifles during WW2, it remained the primary German service rifle until the end of the war. Millions were captured by the Soviets and were widely distributed after the war as military aid to Communist / Marxist revolutionary movements and nations around the world. A considerable number of Soviet-captured K98 rifles were found in the hands of Vietcong guerrillas and People's Army of Vietnam (NVA) soldiers by US, South Vietnamese and ANZAC forces during the Vietnam war.
The German soldier in the two pictures above is using the iconic MP 40 sub machine gun. This was a descendent of the earlier MP 38 design, but simplified with certain cost-saving alterations, notably in the more extensive use of stamped steel rather than machined parts.
The MP 40 was often called the "Schmeisser" by the Allies, after weapons designer Hugo Schmeisser. Schmeisser had designed the MP 18, which was the first mass-produced sub machine gun which extensive service at the end of the First World War. He did not, however, design the MP 40. Despite the impression given by popular culture, particularly in war films and video games, MP 40s were generally issued only to paratroopers and platoon and squad leaders; the majority of German soldiers carried Karabiner 98k rifles. However, later experience with Soviet tactics - such as the Battle of Stalingrad where entire units armed with sub machine guns outgunned their German counterparts in short range urban combat - caused a shift in tactics, and by the end of the war the MP 40 and its derivatives were being issued to entire assault platoons on a limited basis.
There were never enough MP 40s to go around, because raw material and labour costs made it expensive to produce alongside the Kar98 rifles, which, for troops finding themselves more and more in assault roles, meant that the Russian PPSh-41 was sometimes scavenged from the battlefield to fill the need - see below.
The German soldier above is using a Russia PPSh-41 sub machine gun. After the German Army captured large numbers of these guns during WWII, a program was instituted to convert the weapon to the standard German sub machine gun cartridge – 9mm Parabellum. The Wehrmacht officially adopted the converted PPSh-41 as the MP41(r); unconverted PPSh-41s were designated MP717(r) and supplied with 7.63x25mm Mauser ammunition (which is dimensionally identical to 7.62x25mm, but slightly less powerful). German-language manuals for the use of captured PPShs were printed and distributed in the Wehrmacht.
The PPSh-41 suffered from a problem with its unreliable drum magazine. Initially made of stamped metal only 0.5 mm thick it was prone to deformation leading to jams. It was also relatively expensive to produce and fairly slow to fill. It was mostly superseded by a simpler box-type magazine holding only 35 rounds (see picture below), although an improved drum magazine made from 1 mm thick steel was also introduced in 1944.
To be continued …
Of course I want to see more but does this mean the TankFest thread is finished?
