Weaponry and Tactics WW2 Automatic Weapons: American vs German 2017-07-04

chelloveck submitted a new resource:

WW2 Automatic Weapons: American vs German - WW2 Army training film comparing American and German Automatic Weapons.

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I fondly remember serious weapons training where we learned every past and present small arms that we might ever have to face. Some of those German weapons were very well designed and still to be feared! We also did our own informal comparisons and had a lot of fun running and gunning with many of these "Old" icons. My personal fav's, the 03A3 Springfield, M-98 Mauser in 7X57 with the ski jump rear sight, the Type 99 Arisaka, and the Lee Enfield. If I had to choose a weapon from WW-II, it would certainly be the King of All Battle Rifles, The legendary M-1 Garand!!!! Great Post Chello, brings back many fun memories

 

We had German weapons at Eglin AFB back in the 1950's and I was present when some were fired, MG 42 was very impressive, their aircraft mounts were very impressive , fast rate of fire for the MG and some really nice lite cannon.

 

The longevity of the MG42 (MG3 now) is something. The M2 has had a longer/broader run but in the somewhat more competitive world of GPMGs that a number of nations still field the MG42/3 says it was probably ahead of its time. It's service here in Aus was however quite limited.

 

Folks can say what they will, but the Germans made some fine hardware for war. If Hitler had done a few things differently and had more patience things could've very well turned out differently.
The MP44/StG44 is the grandfather of the modern "Assault Rifle". I've never had the chance to fire one, but have held a couple.
Longevity is the proof in the puddin' and like Andy mentioned the MG42 is still making it's presence felt. My favorite is the MG34. I own one of each and I will reach for the 34 first every time. The 98 Mauser is an excellent rifle, proven by the fact that so many have been sporterised and are still sought after even after all this time.
The P08 is a good pistol and points well. Highly sought after as a war prize it's main fault as a service weapon is that it's complicated. Lots of machine time to produce and not the easiest to take down/reassemble is the main reasons that led to the P38 IMO. German small arms of WWII give me a gun stiffy-thanks for the resource Chell