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List Of Common WW2 Weapons

List of common WW2 weapons

This page lists the common infantry weapons used by the various armies engaged in World War II.

Australia

- Owen Gun — submachine gun
- Austen - submachine gun

Finland

- Lahti L-35 semi-auto pistol
- M/28-30 M/28-30 bolt-action rifle
- Suomi M-31 submachine gun
- Lahti-Saloranta 26 light machine gun

France

- Lebel bolt-action rifles
- Berthier bolt-action rifles
- MAS-36 bolt-action rifle
- FM-24/29 light machine gun

Germany

- Walther P38 Pistol
- Luger semi-auto pistol
- 9 mm Pistole 35(p) semi-auto pistol
- Mauser Karabiner 98k bolt-action rifle
- Gewehr 43 semi-auto rifle
- MP18 submachine gun
- MP40 submachine gun
- Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifle
- MG34 general-purpose machine gun
- MG42 general-purpose machine gun
- Panzerfaust disposable rocket launcher
- Panzerschreck rocket launcher
- Panzerbüchsen anti-tank rifle
- Model 24 Stielhandgranate, the "Potato masher" defensive grenade
- SMi-35 and SMi-44 S-mine
- MP44 Assault rifle, shoulder-fired, bolt-action

Italy

- Beretta 34 semi-auto pistol
- Beretta 1938A Beretta 1938A submachine gun
- Carcano 91 rifle
- Breda 30 light machine gun

Japan

- Nambu Type 14 semi-auto pistol
- Arisaka Type 38 Rifle and Type 99 Rifle
- Katana Sword (for officers)
- Type 96 Light Machine Gun
- Type 99 Light Machine Gun
- Type 92 Heavy Machine Gun
- Type 1 Heavy Machine Gun
- Model 97 hand grenade
- Type 100 submachine gun

Poland

- Vis pistol
- kb wz.98a rifle
- kbk wz. 29 rifle
- rkm wz. 28 light machine gun
- ckm wz. 30 heavy machine gun
- kb ppanc wz.35 anti-tank rifle

- Nagant revolver
- TT-33 semi-auto pistol
- Mosin-Nagant 1891/30 rifle
- SVT-40 semi-auto rifle
- SKS-45 semi-auto rifle
- PPD-40 submachine gun
- PPSh-41 submachine gun
- PPS-43 submachine gun
- DP-28 light machine gun
- Maxim M1910 heavy machine gun

United States

- Colt M1917 New Service .45 ACP Revolver
- Colt M1911
- Springfield 1903 rifle
- Thompson M1
- M3 SMG
- M1 Garand rifle
- M1 Carbine
- M1918A2 BAR
- Browning Model 1919 machine gun
- M2 machine gun
- Bazooka rocket launcher

United Kingdom

- Bren light machine gun
- Enfield revolver
- Lee-Enfield rifles
- Lewis machine gun
- No. 36M fragmentation grenade
- No. 68 Grenade, AT Anti tank grenade
- No. 69 concussion grenade
- No. 75 AT Hawkins Grenade
- PIAT anti-tank weapon
- Lanchester submachine gun
- Sten submachine gun
- Vickers machine gun
- Webley revolver
- Lewis bomb

World War II

, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atom bomb. From top going counterclockwise: Allied landing on D-Day 1944, the Nuremberg Rally 1936, the Nagasaki atom bomb 1945, the Soviet flag over the Reichstag in Berlin 1945 and the Gate of Auschwitz.]] World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a mid-20th Century conflict that engulfed much of the globe and is accepted as the largest and deadliest continuous war in human history. It was the first time that a number of newly developed technologies, including nuclear weapons, were used against either military or civilian targets. World War II resulted in the direct or indirect death of anywhere from 50 to 60 million or more people, over 3% of the world population at that time. It is estimated to have cost more money and resources than all other wars combined: about 1 trillion US dollars in 1945 (adjusted for inflation; roughly 10.5 trillion in 2005), not including subsequent reconstruction [http://www.historychannel.com/worldwartwo/?page=triumph5]. The outcomes of the war, including new technology and changes to the world's geopolitical, cultural and economic arrangement, were unprecedented. The conflict began by most Western accounts on September 1 1939 with the German invasion of Poland (the Pacific war is taken to have started on July 7 1937 with the Japanese attack on China) and lasted until mid-1945, involving many of the world's countries. Virtually all countries that participated in World War I were involved in World War II. Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939 and Canada followed on September 10, 1939. The United States entered the conflict in December of 1941 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Summary

Attributed in varying degrees to the Treaty of Versailles, the Great Depression, and the rise in nationalism, racism, fascism, National socialism, Japanese imperialism, and militarism, the causes of the war are a matter of debate. The war was fought between the Axis Powers and the Allies. The Axis initially consisted of an alliance between Germany and Italy, which later expanded to include Japan and Eastern European countries such as Romania and Bulgaria. Some of the nations that Germany conquered sent military forces, particularly to the Eastern front. Among the expeditionary forces that joined Germany were forces from Vichy France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain (though Spain was itself a neutral country) and armies of Russians and Ukrainians under the command of the general Andrey Vlasov. The Allies were initially the United Kingdom, including the Commonwealth, France and Poland, later joined by the USSR, the United States of America and China. Fighting occurred across the Atlantic Ocean, in Western and Eastern Europe, in the Mediterranean Sea, Africa, the Middle East, in the Pacific and South East Asia, and it continued in China. In Europe, the war ended with the surrender of Germany on 8 May 1945 (V-E and Victory Days), but continued in Asia until Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945 (V-J Day). At least 50 million people died as a result of the war. This figure includes acts of genocide such as the Holocaust and General Ishii Shiro's Unit 731 experiments in Pingfan, incredibly bloody battles in Europe and the Pacific Ocean, and massive bombings of cities, including the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan and the firebombing of Dresden (and even worse but less known) of Pforzheim in Germany. Few areas of the world were unaffected; the war involved the "home front" and bombing of civilians to a new degree. Atomic weapons, jet aircraft, rockets and radar, the blitzkrieg, or "lightning war", the massive use of tanks, submarines, torpedo bombers and destroyer/tanker formations, are only a few of many wartime inventions and new tactics that changed the face of the conflict. Post–World War II Europe was partitioned into Western and Soviet spheres of influence, the former undergoing economic reconstruction under the Marshall Plan and the latter becoming satellite states of the Soviet Union. This partition was, however, informal; rather than coming to terms about the spheres of influence, the relationship between the victors steadily deteriorated, and the military lines of demarcation finally became the de facto country boundaries. Western Europe largely aligned as NATO, and Eastern Europe largely as the Warsaw pact countries, alliances which were fundamental to the ensuing Cold War. In Asia, the United States' military occupation of Japan led to Japan's democratisation. China's civil war continued through and after the war, resulting eventually in the establishment of the People's Republic of China. The war sparked a wave of independence for colonies of European powers, who were exhausted from fighting the war. There was a fundamental shift in power from Western Europe to the new superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, though there were few actual boundary changes. __TOC__

Causes

People's Republic of China]] Main articles: Causes of World War II, Events preceding World War II in Europe, Events preceding World War II in Asia The causes of World War II are naturally a debated subject, but a common view, particularly among the allies in the early post-war years, ties them to the expansionism of Germany and Japan: Germany had lost wealth, power and status following the First World War and the expansion was to make Germany great again.
- In Germany there was a strong desire to escape the bonds of the World War I Treaty of Versailles, and eventually, Hitler and the Nazis assumed control of the country. They led Germany through a chain of events: rearmament, reoccupation of the Rhineland, a merger with Austria (Anschluss), incorporation of Czechoslovakia and finally the invasion of Poland.
- In Asia, Japan's efforts to become a world power and the rise of militarist leadership (in the 1930s the government in Japan was undermined as militarists rose to power and de facto gained totalitarian control) led to conflicts with first China and later the United States. Japan also sought to secure additional natural resources, such as oil and iron ore, due in part to the lack of natural resources on Japan's own home islands.

Participants

iron ore and Joseph Stalin, during the Yalta Conference in 1945]] Main article: Participants in World War II The belligerents of the Second World War are usually considered to belong to either of the two blocs: the Axis and the Allies. A number of smaller countries participated in the war, though often under occupation or as proxies of one of the large powers. The Axis Powers consisted primarily of Germany, Italy, and Japan, which split the Earth into three spheres of influence under the Tripartite Pact of 1940, and vowed to defend one another against aggression. This replaced the German-Japanese Anti-Comintern Pact of 1936 that Italy had joined in 1937. Spain's fascist government led by Francisco Franco was a great asset in trade to the Axis powers during the war. A number of smaller countries were counted among the Axis powers. Among these were Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovenia, and arguably Finland. Among the Allied powers, the so-called Big Three were the United Kingdom (from September 3 1939), the Soviet Union (from June 1941) and the United States (from December 1941). China had been at war with Japan since 1937. 1937 On August 23, 1939, just before the war broke out, the USSR and Germany signed the non-aggression Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which, among other things, divided Eastern Europe into regions of influence. But Germany violated the pact when it invaded the USSR in 1941. Similarly, the US had the (much older) unilateral Monroe Doctrine, which stated that Europe should not interfere in the Americas and in turn the U.S. would not interfere in European affairs (including wars). But the U.S. entered the war after first Japan and then Germany declared war on it and launched direct attacks on its navy, shipping and other interests. Many other countries, including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Thailand and Yugoslavia are also considered important Allies, although some of these were conquered and occupied by Axis forces or even officially joined the Axis as a result of coercion. Countries that attempted to remain neutral in the conflict were often viewed with suspicion by the participants, and often pressured to make contributions to the most influential power in their neighbourhood. Sovereignty was often difficult to maintain as many countries that did not directly participate in the conflict nevertheless held vested interests in seeing a particular side prevail. For example, neutral Switzerland was generally considered to be "Allied-friendly", while neutral Spain was considered "Axis-friendly", despite the fact that neither country openly proclaimed any alliances. Such situations allowed neutral countries to become hotbeds of espionage. It is important to note as well, that Sweden's participation in the war was negligable due to specific relations with the German state at the time.

A debated starting date

On which date World War II started is a debated subject; historians do not all agree on which event signified the start of the war. The most common date used is 1 September 1939, marking the German invasion of Poland which resulted in the British and French declarations of war two days later. Other candidates include the Japanese invasion of China on 7 July 1937 (the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War) or the entry of Hitler's armies to Prague in March 1939. Some historians argue that the Italian occupation of Ethiopia (The Second Italo-Abyssinian War) which lasted seven months in 1935-1936 was the actual start of World War II. There are some historians that argue the war started on the start of the Manchurian Incident on 18 September 1931.

Chronology 1937-45

Main articles: European Theatre of World War II, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II, Pacific War, End of World War II in Europe

1937: Second Sino-Japanese War

On 7 July 1937, Japan, after occupying northeastern China as Manchuria in 1931, launched another attack against China near Beijing (see Marco Polo Bridge Incident). Rather than retreating swiftly as in engagements with the Japanese before, the Chinese government declared war on Japan, marking the official start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, which would soon become part of the World War. In December 1937, the capital, Nanking (now Nanjing), fell and the Chinese government moved its seat to Chongqing for the rest of the war. Surprised by the unanticipated level of resistance from China, the Japanese forces committed brutal atrocities against civilians and POWs when Nanking was occupied (see Nanjing Massacre), killing up to 200,000 civilians within a month. In Europe, the peace was uneasy, with Germany annexing Austria and Czechoslovakia, and taking apparent aim at Poland.

1939: War breaks out in Europe

Poland]] Main articles: Polish September Campaign, Phony War War broke out in Poland on 1 September 1939, with the German invasion of Poland. France and the United Kingdom honoured their defensive alliance of March 1939 by declaring war two days later on 3 September. Australia and New Zealand declared war the same day, although through the quirk of the international date line, New Zealand then Australia were the first to declare war on Germany. Canada followed a week later, on 10 September. Only partly mobilised and with troops inadequately equipped with largely outdated weapons (which included large numbers of horse-mounted cavalry), and without the anticipated support of French or British forces, Poland unsurprisingly fared poorly against the Wehrmacht's superior numbers and "blitzkrieg" tactics. In accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Red Army invaded Poland from the east on 17 September. Hours later, the Polish government escaped to Romania. The last Polish Army unit was defeated on 6 October. As Poland fell, the British and French were either caught unaware of German intentions or had not allowed themselves to believe that Germany would invade Poland. Germany paused to regroup during a period that would be termed "the Phony War", or the "Sitzkrieg", which lasted until May 1940. Polish forces continued to fight the Axis powers after their country fell. A prominent example was the assistance of Polish pilots during the Battle of Britain. The Soviet Union, due to its treaty relationship with Nazi Germany, did not fight the fascists: Stalin was happy to have those he felt were his natural and true enemies—the capitalist West and Nazi Germany—fight each other. Indeed, the Soviets had their partisans in the U.S., working alongside Nazi sympathisers, advocate that the U.S. remain neutral in the war, a position that the majority of Americans, reluctant to join in what they saw as "someone else's war," welcomed. Battle of Britain There were isolated engagements during the "Phony War" or "Sitzkrieg" period, including the sinking of HMS Royal Oak in the anchorage at Scapa Flow and Luftwaffe bombings of the naval bases at Rosyth and Scapa Flow. The Kriegsmarine pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee was sunk in South America after the battle of the River Plate. The Tripartite Pact was signed between Germany, Italy, and Japan on 27 September, 1940, formalising their alignment as the "Axis Powers". The Soviet Union invaded Finland on 30 November 1939, beginning the Winter War, which lasted until March 1940 with Finland ceding territory to the Soviet Union.

1940: The war spreads

Winter War Main Articles: Norwegian Campaign, Battle of France, Battle of Britain, North African Campaign, Balkans Campaign Europe: Germany invaded Denmark and Norway on 9 April 1940, in Operation Weserübung, ostensibly to counter the threat of an Allied invasion from the region. Heavy fighting ensued on land and at sea in Norway. British, French and Polish forces landed to support the Norwegians at Namsos, Åndalsnes and Narvik, with most success at the latter. By late June, all Allied forces had been evacuated, and the Norwegian Army surrendered. France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were invaded on 10 May, ending the Phony War and beginning the Battle of France. The Allies had hoped to establish a static continuous front and were ill-prepared for the German Blitzkrieg tactics. In the first phase of the invasion, Operation Yellow, the Wehrmacht's Panzergruppe von Kleist bypassed the Maginot Line and split the Allies in two by driving to the English Channel. Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands fell quickly against the attack of Army Group B, and the British Expeditionary Force, trapped in the north, was evacuated at Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo. German forces then invaded France itself, in Operation Red, advancing behind the Maginot Line and near the coast. While some units from the French army were still fighting, a number of top politicians and military leaders decided that it would be better to surrender given the situation; France signed an armistice with Germany on June 22 1940, leading to the establishment of the Vichy France puppet government in the unoccupied part of France. In June 1940 the Soviet Union occupied Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, and annexed Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina from Romania. Not having secured a rapid peace with the United Kingdom, Germany began preparations to invade with the Battle of Britain. Fighter aircraft fought overhead for months as the Luftwaffe and Royal Air Force fought for control of Britain's skies. The Luftwaffe initially targeted RAF Fighter Command but turned to terror bombing London. The Luftwaffe was not successful, and Operation Sealion, the proposed invasion of the British Isles, was abandoned. Similar efforts were made, though at sea, in the Battle of the Atlantic. In a long-running campaign, German U-Boats attempted to deprive the British Isles of necessary Lend Lease cargo from the United States. The U-Boats reduced shipments considerably; however, the United Kingdom refused to seek peace, with Prime Minister Winston Churchill stating that "We shall never surrender". President Roosevelt announced a shift in the American stance from neutrality to "non-belligerency". The Mediterranean: Italy invaded Greece on 28 October 1940, from bases in Albania. Although outnumbered, Greek forces successfully repelled the Italian attacks and launched a full-scale counter-attack deep into Albania. By mid-December they had liberated one-fourth of Albania. The North African Campaign began in 1940; Italian forces in Libya attacked British forces in Egypt. The aim was to make Egypt an Italian possession, especially the vital Suez Canal. British, Indian and Australian forces counter-attacked (see Operation Compass), but this offensive stopped in 1941 when much of the Commonwealth forces were transferred to Greece to defend it from German attack. However, German forces (known later as the Afrika Korps) under General Erwin Rommel landed in Libya and renewed the assault on Egypt. Italian troops invaded and captured British Somaliland in August 1940. On the other hand, the Italian declaration of war challenged the British supremacy of this sea, a supremacy hinged on Gibraltar, Malta and Alexandria. While Gibraltar was never under direct attack, Alexandria and to a deadlier degree Malta were hit repetitively by Axis attacks, the thrusts towards the Suez Canal for the former, and the 1940/42 Blitz for the latter, which made the island of Malta the most heavily bombed place on earth. Asia: In 1940, Japan occupied French Indochina (Vietnam) upon agreement with the Vichy Government, despite local Free French, and joined Axis powers Germany and Italy. These actions intensified Japan's conflict with the United States and the United Kingdom, which reacted with an oil boycott.

1941: The war becomes global

Main articles: Eastern Front, Continuation War, Attack on Pearl Harbor Europe: Attack on Pearl Harbor Yugoslavia's government succumbed to the pressure of Italy and Germany and signed the Tripartite Treaty on 25 March 1941. This was followed by anti-Axis demonstrations in the country and a coup which overthrew the government and replaced it with a pro-Allied one on 27 March 1941. Hitler's forces then invaded Greece and Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941. Hitler reluctantly sent forces to assist Mussolini's forces in their attempt to capture Greece, principally to prevent a British build-up on Germany's strategic southern flank. With these new troops the Axis succeeded in driving the Greek forces back. British troops were diverted from North Africa to assist with the defence but failed to prevent Greece's capture. On 20 May 1941, the Battle of Crete began when elite German paratroopers and glider-borne mountain troops and some 1300 aeroplanes launched a massive airborne invasion of the Greek island of Crete. Crete was defended by an group of about 43,000 Greek, New Zealand, Australian and British troops, not all of them fully equipped. The Germans attacked the island simultaneously on the three airfields. Their invasion on two of the airfields failed, but they successfully captured one, which allowed them to reinforce their position by landing reinforcements. After a week it was decided that so many German troops had been flown in that there was no way to defeat them, and about 17,000 Commonwealth soldiers were evacuated. However, over 10,000 Greek and 500 Commonwealth troops remained at large and caused problems for the German occupiers. The Germans may have suffered well over 15,000 casualties. So heavy were the losses that Hiler decided never to launch an airborne invasion again. General Kurt Student would later say, "Crete was the grave of the German parachutists". The Allies, on the other hand, came to the conclusion that every major invasion should be supported by paratroopers. Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the largest invasion in history, commenced on 22 June 1941. The "Great Patriotic War" (Russian: Великая Отечественная Война, Velikaya Otechestvennaya Voyna) had begun with surprise attacks by German panzer armies, which encircled and destroyed much of the Soviet's western military, capturing or killing hundreds of thousands of men. Soviet forces came to fight a war of scorched earth, withdrawing into the steppe of Russia to acquire time and stretch the German army. Industries were dismantled and withdrawn to the Ural mountains for reassembly. German armies pursued a three-pronged advance against Leningrad (modern-day St Petersburg), Moscow, and the Caucasus. Having pushed to occupy Moscow before winter, German forces were delayed into the Soviet Winter. Soviet counter-attacks defeated them within sight of Moscow's spires, and a rout was only narrowly avoided. Some historians identify this as the "turning point" in the Allies' war against Germany; others identify the capitulation of the German Sixth Army outside Stalingrad (modern-day Volgograd) in 1943. The Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union began with Soviet air attacks shortly after the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, on 25 June, and ended with an armistice in 1944. The Soviet Union was joined in the war by the United Kingdom but not by the United States. The Mediterranean again: In June 1941, Allied forces invaded Syria and Lebanon, capturing Damascus on 17 June (see Syria-Lebanon campaign). Meanwhile, Rommel's forces advanced rapidly eastward, laying siege to the vital seaport of Tobruk. Australian and other Allied troops in the city resisted all until relieved, but a renewed Axis offensive captured the city and drove the Eighth Army back to a line at El Alamein. Asia: The Sino-Japanese War El Alamein Main article: Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) A war had begun in Asia years before World War II started in Europe. Japan had invaded China in 1931. By 1937, war had broken out as the Japanese sought control of China. Roosevelt signed an unpublished (secret) executive order in May 1940 allowing U.S. military personnel to resign from the service so that they could participate in a covert operation in China: the American Volunteer Group, also known as Chennault's Flying Tigers. Over a seven-month period, Chennault's Flying Tigers destroyed an estimated 600 Japanese aircraft, sunk numerous Japanese ships, and stalled the Japanese invasion of Burma. With the United States and other countries cutting exports to Japan, particularly fuel oil, Japan planned a strike on Pearl Harbor on Sunday, 7 December 1941, to cripple the U.S. Pacific Fleet while consolidating oil fields in Southeast Asia. It is hard to determine whether the Japanese intended to release an advance declaration of war, however, as means of coordinating secret directives with public communication, particularly during a weekend in the U.S., were limited. Despite what warning signs remained, the attack on Pearl Harbor achieved military surprise and dealt severe damage to the American Fleet's battleships, though the primary targets, aircraft carriers, remained safely at sea. The next day, Japanese forces arrived at Hong Kong, which later led to the surrender of the British colony on Christmas Day (known to locals as 'Black Christmas'), as well as launching numerous attacks on British and American outposts across the Pacific. Asia: The United States enters the war
Main article: Attack on Pearl Harbor Attack on Pearl Harbor On 7 December 1941, Japanese warplanes commanded by Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo carried out a surprise air raid on Pearl Harbor, the largest U.S. naval base in the Pacific. The Japanese forces met little resistance and devastated the harbour. This attack resulted in 8 battleships either sunk or damaged, 3 light cruisers and 3 destroyers sunk as well as damage to some auxiliaries and 343 aircraft either damaged or destroyed. However the attack failed to strike targets that could have been crippling losses to the US Pacific Fleet such as the aircraft carriers which were out at sea at the time of the attack or the base's ship fuel storage and repair facilities. The survival of these assets have led many to consider this attack a catastrophic long term strategic blunder for Japan. The following day, the United States declared war on Japan. Simultaneously to the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan also attacked U.S. air bases in the Philippines. Immediately following these attacks, Japan invaded the Philippines and also the British Colonies of Hong Kong, Malaya, Borneo and Burma with the intention of seizing the oilfields of the Dutch East Indies. In a matter of months, all these territories and more fell to the Japanese onslaught. The British island fortress of Singapore was captured in what Churchill considered one of the most humiliating British defeats of all time. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Germany declared war on the United States on 11 December 1941, even though it was not obliged to do so under the Tripartite Pact of 1940. Hitler made the declaration in the hopes that Japan would support him by attacking the Soviet Union. Japan did not oblige him, and this diplomatic move proved a catastrophic blunder which gave President Franklin D. Roosevelt the pretext needed for the United States joining the fight in Europe with full commitment and with no meaningful opposition from Congress. Some historians mark this moment as another major turning point of the war with Hitler provoking a grand alliance of powerful nations, most prominently the UK, the USA and the USSR, who could wage powerful offensives on both East and West simultaneously.

1942: Deadlock

Franklin D. Roosevelt] Main articles: Battle of Stalingrad, Operation Torch Europe: In 1942, an aborted German offensive was launched towards the Caucasus to secure oil fields, and German armies reached Stalingrad. The siege of Stalingrad continued for many months, with vicious urban warfare leading to high casualties on both sides. At night, the Soviet forces were resupplied from the east bank of the Volga, and the Wehrmacht forces were eventually ground down; especially after Hitler diverted the armour of the Sixth Army to the Caucasus. In November a Soviet offensive encircled Sixth Army. By early February 1943, it was clear that the Sixth Army would have to surrender. Hitler promoted General Friedrich Paulus, who was in charge of the German forces, to Field Marshal in the vain hope it would deter him from surrendering. It did not, and he surrendered completely on 2 February. The results were the destruction of the city, millions of casualties, and the collapse of Germany's Sixth Army as a viable fighting force. Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels responded with his Sportpalast speech to the German people. Some historians cite this as the European war's "turning point". The Mediterranean: Sportpalast speech Sportpalast speech (432nd Squadron) damaged by flak somewhere over Algeria during the North African Campaign in 1942.]] The First Battle of El Alamein took place between 1 July and 27 July 1942. German forces had advanced to the last defensible point before Alexandria and the Suez Canal. However, they had outrun their supplies, and a Commonwealth defence stopped their thrusts. The Second Battle of El Alamein occurred between October 23 and November 3, 1942, after Bernard Montgomery had replaced Claude Auchinleck as commander of the Commonwealth forces, now known as the Eighth Army. Erwin Rommel, German commander of the Afrika Corps, known as the "Desert Fox", was absent for this battle because he was recovering from jaundice back in Europe. Commonwealth forces took the offensive, and although they lost more tanks than the Germans began the battle with, Montgomery was ultimately triumphant. The western Allies had the advantage of being close to their supplies during the battle. In addition, Rommel was getting little or no help by this time from the struggling Luftwaffe, which was now more tasked with defending Western European air space, and fighting the Soviet Union, than providing Rommel with support in North Africa. After the German defeat at El Alamein, Rommel made a successful strategic withdrawal to Tunisia. During the Arcadia Conference from December 1941 to January 1942, the Allied leaders concluded that it was essential to keep Russia in the war. This consideration led to the overall strategy "Germany First"; i.e. giving priority of knocking out Germany before Japan. This decision resulted in a long debate as to where and when to open a Second Front against Germany. The American Chiefs of Staff favoured a cross-channel (France) amphibious operation in the summer. The British opposed this because of insufficient landing craft and logistical problems. It was also thought that American forces were in a process of expansion, organisation and exercise, not capable yet of fighting an experienced German army. Only if Russia collapsed would they approve a main landing in France. Churchill put forward the idea of a small invasion in Norway or landings in French North Africa. The plan for landings in Africa was approved in July 1942. Operation Torch was headed by General Dwight Eisenhower. The aim of Torch was to gain control of Morocco and Algiers through simultaneous landings at Casablanca, Oran and Algiers, followed a few days later with a landing at Bône, the gateway to Tunisia. The operation was launched on 8 November 1942. The first wave was almost entirely American troops, because it was thought that the French would react more favourably to Americans than British. It was hoped that the local forces of Vichy France would put up no resistance and submit to the authority of Free French General Henri Giraud. In fact, resistance was stronger than expected but still sporadic. In Algiers, 400 members of the French resistance captured much of the city, though it was retaken before Allied forces could arrive. The Vichy commander, Admiral Darlan, negotiated an end to hostilities, against orders from the Vichy government. He was allowed to retain local control by the Allies, to the annoyance of Free French leaders. Hitler invaded and occupied Vichy France in response. Rommel's Afrika Corps was not being supplied adequately because of the loss of transport shipments caused by Allied—mostly British—navies and air forces in the Mediterranean. This lack of supplies and air support destroyed any chance of a large German offensive in Africa. Ultimately, German and Italian forces were caught in the pincers of a twin advance from Algeria and Libya. The withdrawing Germans continued to put up stiff defence, and Rommel defeated the American forces decisively at the Battle of Kasserine Pass before finishing his strategic withdrawal back to the meagre German supply chain. Inevitably, advancing from both the east and west, the Allies finally defeated the German Afrika Corps on May 13 1943. Some 250,000 Axis soldiers were taken prisoner. Asia: 1943]] In May 1942, a naval attack on Port Moresby, New Guinea, was thwarted by Allied navies in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Had the capture of Port Moresby succeeded, the Japanese Navy would have been within striking range of Australia. This was both the first successful opposition to Japanese plans and the first naval battle fought only between aircraft carriers. The two sides suffered roughly equal losses. A month later the invasion of Midway Island was prevented by decoding secret Japanese messages, and hence alerted U.S. naval leaders that Midway was the Japanese target. American pilots sunk four Japanese carriers, which the Japanese industry could not replace swiftly. The loss of many planes and skilled pilots (many of them took part in Pearl Harbor) was also difficult to redress. The Americans lost one carrier and fewer planes. It was a complete victory for the Americans, and the Japanese Navy was now on the defensive. However, in July an overland attack on Port Moresby was led along the rugged Kokoda Track. This was met with Australian militia, many of them very young and undertrained, fighting a stubborn rearguard action until the arrival of Australian regulars returning from action in North Africa, Greece and the Middle East. But amazingly, the outnumbered and untrained Australian 39th battalion defeated the 5,000-strong Japanese army. This was one of the most significant victories in Australian military history. Even prior to the American entry to the war, the Allied leaders had agreed that priority should be given to the defeat of Nazi Germany. Nonetheless, U.S. forces began to attack captured territories, beginning with Guadalcanal Island, against a bitter and determined Japanese defence. On 7 August 1942, the United States assaulted the island. In late August and early September, while battle raged on Guadalcanal, an amphibious Japanese attack on the eastern tip of New Guinea was met by Australian forces at Milne Bay, and the Japanese land forces suffered their first conclusive defeat. On Guadalcanal, the Japanese resistance failed in February 1943. A substantial element of the Asian campaign was played out, starting in 1942, in the Aleutian Islands. For detailed information, see World War II: Aleutian Islands.

1943: The war turns

World War II: Aleutian Islands Main articles: Battle of Kursk, Italian Campaign Europe: Russia: After the victory at Stalingrad, the Red Army launched a series of eight offensives during the winter, many concentrated along the Don basin near Stalingrad, which resulted in initial gains until German forces were able to take advantage of the weakened condition of the Red Army and regain the territory it lost. In July, the Wehrmacht launched a much-delayed offensive against the Soviet Union at Kursk. Their intentions were known by the Soviets, and the Battle of Kursk ended in a Soviet counteroffensive that threw the German Army back. Italy is invaded: Newly captured North Africa was used as a springboard for the invasion of Sicily on 10 July 1943. On 25 July Mussolini was fired from office by the King of Italy, allowing a new government to take power. Having captured Sicily, the Allies invaded mainland Italy on 3 September 1943. Italy surrendered on 8 September, but German forces continued to fight. Allied forces advanced north but were stalled for the winter at the Gustav Line, until they broke through in the Battle of Monte Cassino. Rome was captured on 5 June 1944. Mid-1943 brought the fifth and final German Sutjeska offensive against the Yugoslav Partisans before the invasion and subsequent capitulation of Italy, the other major occupying force in Yugoslavia. Partisans, Louisville (CA-28), Portland (CA-33) and Columbia (CL-56) into Lingayen Gulf, Philippines, January 1945.]] Asia: (1943–45) Australian and U.S. forces then undertook the prolonged campaign to retake the occupied parts of the Solomon Islands, New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, experiencing some of the toughest resistance of the war. The rest of the Solomon Islands were retaken in 1943, New Britain and New Ireland in 1944. As the Philippines were being retaken in late 1944, the Battle of Leyte Gulf raged, arguably the largest naval battle in history. The last major offensive in the south-west Pacific Area was the Borneo campaign of mid-1945, which was aimed at further isolating the remaining Japanese forces in South East Asia and securing the release of Allied POWs. Allied submarines and aircraft also attacked Japanese merchant shipping, depriving Japan's industry of the raw materials it had gone to war to obtain. The effectiveness of this stranglehold increased as U.S. Marines captured islands closer to the Japanese mainland. The Nationalist Kuomintang Army, under Chiang Kai-shek, and the Communist Chinese Army, under Mao Zedong, both opposed the Japanese occupation of China but never truly allied against the Japanese. Conflict between Nationalist and Communist forces emerged long before the war; it continued after and, to an extent, even during the war, though more implicitly. The Japanese had captured most of Burma, severing the Burma Road by which the Western Allies had been supplying the Chinese Nationalists. This forced the Allies to create a large sustained airlift, known as "flying the Hump". U.S. led and trained Chinese divisions, a British division and a few thousand U.S. ground troops cleared the Japanese forces from northern Burma so that the Ledo Road could be built to replace the Burma Road. Further south the main Japanese army in the theatre were fought to a standstill on the Burma-India frontier by the British Fourteenth Army (the "Forgotten Army"), which then counter-attacked, and having recaptured all of Burma was planning attacks towards Malaya when the war ended.

1944: The beginning of the end

British Fourteenth Army, 6 June 1944]] Main articles: Battle of Normandy, Operation Bagration, Operation Market Garden, Battle of the Bulge On "D-Day" (6 June 1944) the western Allies invaded German-held Normandy in a pre-dawn amphibious assault spearheaded by American (82nd and 101st), British (6th) and Canadian paratroops, opening the "second front" against Germany. The allies suffered large casualties during the beach assault. German artillery batteries pounded the beaches. But the airborne divisions took out the guns from the rear, enabling the seaborne troops to break inland. Hedgerows aided the defending German units, and for months the Allies measured progress in hundreds of yards and bloody rifle fights. An Allied breakout was effected at St.-Lô, and the most powerful German force in France, the Seventh Army, was almost completely destroyed in the Falaise pocket while counter-attacking. Allied forces stationed in Italy invaded the French Riviera on 15 August and linked up with forces from Normandy. The clandestine French Resistance in Paris rose against the Germans on 19 August, and a French division under General Jacques Leclerc, pressing forward from Normandy, received the surrender of the German forces there and liberated the city on August 25. By early 1944, the Red Army had reached the border of Poland and lifted the Siege of Leningrad. Shortly after Allied landings at Normandy, on 9 June, the Soviet Union began an offensive on the Karelian Isthmus that after three months would force Nazi Germany's co-belligerent Finland to an armistice. Operation Bagration, a Soviet offensive involving 2.5 million men and 6,000 tanks, was launched on 22 June, destroying the German Army Group Centre and taking 350,000 prisoners. Finland's defence had been dependent on active, or in periods passive, support from the German Wehrmacht that also provided defence for the chiefly uninhabited northern half of Finland. After the Wehrmacht retreated from the southern shores of the Gulf of Finland, Finland's defence was untenable. The Allies' armistice conditions included further territori

Submachine gun

A submachine gun is a firearm that combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the ammunition of a pistol, and is usually between the two in weight and size. They were first experimented with in the form of stocked pistols being turned fully automatic in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The first dedicated designs were developed in the latter stages of WWI both as improvement on earlier stocked pistols, and to offer an advantage in trench warfare. They rose to prominence as a front-line and commando weapon during WWII, and are now widely used by police and paramilitary organizations. They are ideal for close-range combat in enclosed urban environments, where a weapon's range and accuracy is less important than the ability to easily and instinctively spray a target with bullets. They were also popularized in the 1920's and 30's as weapon of choice of gangsters. Submachine guns lack long-range power and accuracy compared to higher power rifles, limiting their use in the open. Stocked automatic weapons firing pistol rounds were developed around the same time during World War One, by Italy, Germany, and the U.S.

History

gangster The submachine gun (sometimes abbreviated SMG) appeared during the later stages of WWI and was a product of trench warfare. By 1918 fighting in the trenches had become a clumsy and brutal art, involving grenades, pistols, sharpened entrenching tools, and bayonets. The Italians were the first to have a submachine gun in the war, the Beretta 1918, which beat the Bergman MP18 by a couple of months to service in 1918. It had a traditional wooden stock, a 25 round box magazine, and fired at 900 rounds per minute. Its development was aided by the Villar Perosa (introduced in 1915), sometimes called the first SMG because it fired a 9mm pistol round; originally intended as a aircraft weapon, it also saw use by infantry, as an LMG. The Germans had been using heavier versions of Luger pistols, equipped with larger capacity snail magazine, and longer barrel; these were semi-automatic. A stocked purposed designed automatic pistol was worked on by Bergmann, which by 1918 had developed the MP18. The MP18 was used in large numbers by the stormtroopers which, in conjunction with appropriate tactics, achieved some notable successes in the final year of the war. They were not enough to prevent Germany's collapse in November 1918. The Thompson SMGs had been in development at the same time and even earlier as the Bergman and Beretta, but development was put on hold in 1917, when the US and the weapon's designer entered the war. The design was completed afterwards and used a different internal system from the MP18 or Beretta, but it had missed its chance to be the first purpose-designed SMG to enter service. It would however go on to serve as the basis for later weapons and have the longest active service life of the three. In the inter-war years the submachine gun became notorious as a gangster weapon; the iconic image of zoot-suited James Cagney types wielding drum-magazine Thompson SMGs (often called "Tommy gun") caused some military planners to shun the weapon. It was also used by the police, and many criminals favored the BAR, It was nevertheless gradually accepted by many militaries, with many countries developing their own designs over the period, especially in the 1930's. In the USSR, the PPD34 and PPD34/38, were developed. In France the MAS 35 was developed into the MAS 38. In Germany some improvements on the MP18 were employed, namely the MP28/II and the MP34. Also, Nazi Germany adopted the MP38, unique in that it used no wood and a folding metal stock, though it used similar amount of stampings as the MAS. Italy further developed a number of its own designs (see List of Italian submachine guns), with similar attempts at improvements in lower production cost, quality, or weight. List of Italian submachine guns During the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in 1939, the MP38 production was still just starting and only a few thousand were in service, but it proved very popular especially in towns and cities. From it, the nearly identical, but safer and cheaper to make, MP40 was developed; about a million MP40's were made in WW2. The MP40's design used even more stampings, and less important metals such as aluminium, but still managed to be lighter because it avoided some of the heavier machined parts of the MP38. Britain adopted the Lanchester submachine gun, based on the MP28/II. However the cost of manufacture was and rate of production led to the much simpler, cheaper and faster to make Sten guns. The Sten was so cheap to make that near the end of WWII, Nazi Germany made a few thousand of a copy of the design. Britain also used many M1928 Tommy Guns early on (the one of the intra-war period with a drum magazine), and also many of the improved version M1 (the one seen only with a stick magazine). After the war, the Sten would be replaced by the Sterling submachine gun. America and its allies used the Thompson SMG, especially the simplified M1 version that did away with the Tommy's drum magazine and some of the machined parts. Because it was still expensive to produce, the M3 "Grease Gun" was adopted in 1942, followed by the slightly improved M3A1 in 1944. The M3 was not necessarily more effective, but was made with cheap stamped metal, making it much more affordable. It could be configured to fire either .45 ACP ammunition, which the Thompson and M1911 pistol also fired, or the 9 mm Parabellum, widely used by Allies and Axis. It would be among the longest serving of the SMGs designed during the war, being produced into the 1960s and serving in US forces officially into the 1980s. By the end of WW2, the USSR had fielded the largest number of submachine guns, with whole infantry battalions being armed with little else. Even in the hands of conscripted soldiers just out of basic training, the volume of fire produced by massed SMGs could be overwhelming. After WW2, the submachine gun's popularity in the military continued but began a slow decline, primarily being replaced by assault rifles, which filled a niche between the SMG and the battle rifle. However, they continued to be used significantly by police and special operations forces.

Modern

special operations Following World War II, the role of submachine guns was greatly diminished with the introduction of modern compact assault rifles, such as the CAR-15 and Heckler & Koch HK 53. Submachine guns are still used by special forces, air crews, armored vehicle crews, counter-terrorist units, and Naval personnel. Submachine guns lend themselves to moderation with suppressors, particularly so in cases where the weapon is loaded with subsonic ammunition. The Sten and modern-day Heckler & Koch MP5 have all been manufactured with quiet, integral silencers, and such weapons are favourites of special forces and police units. Prominent recent examples of the submachine gun are the Israeli Military Industries Uzi submachine gun, the Heckler & Koch MP5 series, the Ingram MAC-10, the Skorpion, the Sterling and the FN P90 (itself part of a new generation of 'personal defence weapons', firing cartridges intermediate in power between a pistol and assault rifle round). A small number of pistols have been available in fully-automatic or burst-fire variants, such as the Glock 18, the Stechkin, the Beretta 93R and the Heckler & Koch VP70.

Legality

In the United States, submachine guns have been categorized as NFA weapons (also known as Title II weapons), so being because they are regulated under the National Firearms Act of 1934 and as amended by Title II of the Gun Control Act of 1968. NFA firearms can be legally owned only if state and local law permit it, all the proper paperwork is submitted and approved, and a one time tax of $200 is paid. Certain submachine guns have also been available in specially-modified semi-automatic form, with non-removable 16 inch (406 mm) barrels and receivers modified so as to prevent conversion into a fully-automatic firearm; in this case, the submachine guns are treated as rifles, and are not subject to further regulations beyond those required for ownership of a rifle. In Europe, Switzerland allows the private ownership of semi-automatic submachine guns as sporting firearms. Fully automatic submachine guns may only be owned by collectors and may not be fired in fully automatic mode. Compare machine pistol, carbine.

Famous submachine guns

carbine
- Thompson submachine gun .45
- MP38 9 mm; MP40 9 mm
- M3 SMG aka Grease Gun .45
- Sten gun 9 mm
- IMI Uzi 9 mm
- HK: MP5 9 mm (also 10 mm and .40 S&W); MP7 4.6 mm
- Beretta PM12 9 mm
- FN P90 5.7 mm
- Glauberyt 9 mm
- Owen Gun 9 mm
- Skorpion
- MAC-10
- PPSh-41

FinlanD

Finland.

Pistol

A pistol or handgun is a usually small firearm that can be used with one hand. There are three commons types of pistols: single-shot pistols, revolvers, and automatic pistols. In the 15th century the term "pistol" was used for small knives and daggers which could be concealed in a person's clothing. By the 18th century the term came to be used exclusively to refer to small firearms, or additionally, and more recently, similar devices designed for the aimed discharge of projectiles by the force of gas pressure stored by means other than chemical ("air pistol"). Although all handguns are generally referred to as pistols, some restrict the term "pistol" to single-chamber handguns, such as semiautomatic or single-shot pistols, as opposed to multichambered revolvers or multibarreled derringers, and use handgun for the broader category. The term may be derived from the French pistole (or pistolet), which, in turn, comes from the Czech píšťala (flute or pipe, referring to the shape of a Hussite firearm). Other suggestions have been made—that it comes from city of Pistoia, Italy, where perhaps a manufacturer was one Camillio Vettelli in the 1540s; or that early pistols were carried by cavalry in holsters hung from the pommel (or pistallo in medieval French) of a horse's saddle. Pistols are used mainly by police officers, military personnel, or civilians who want a compact defensive weapon, or for shooting sports. Some specialized pistols are also used for hunting. Where available, semiautomatic pistols have become the weapon of choice for civilians, making them widely used outside of the police and military realms where they first became popular over the revolver. For some military usage, the widespread introduction of body armor has rendered most pistols ineffective. Personal defense weapons are beginning to replace them in some situations. Hunting pistols often have longer barrels than a typical police or military pistol, and are often equipped with telescopic sights. Consequently, they are generally less concealable and some cannot be carried in a holster.

Varieties of pistol

holster Nowadays there are three main varieties of pistol: "automatic" self-loading pistols and revolvers being by far the two most common types, followed distantly by single-shot hunting or target pistols. In a pistol the "chamber," in which the cartridge is held for firing is the rearmost portion of the barrel. Thus the term "pistol" technically excludes revolvers, although this distinction is often ignored in colloquial usage, where revolvers are commonly referred to as "pistols."

Revolvers

barrel] Revolvers feed ammunition via the rotation of a cartridge-filled cylinder, in which each cartridge is contained in its own ignition chamber, and is sequentially brought into alignment with the weapon's barrel by a mechanism linked to the weapon's trigger (double-action) or its hammer (single-action). These nominally cylindrical chambers, usually numbering between five and nine depending on the size of the revolver and the size the cartridge being fired, are bored through the cylinder so that their axes are parallel to the cylinder's axis of rotation; thus, as the cylinder rotates, the chambers revolve about the cylinder's axis.

Automatic pistols

cylinder, a semiautomatic pistol from late 1990s]] Automatic pistols use the recoil or gas energy of each round to cycle the action, extract the spent case, and load the next cartridge. While the term automatic pistol is correctly applied to a semi-automatic pistol, the term automatic rifle almost always refers to a rifle capable of fully automatic fire. Due to the confusion this inconsistent naming convention causes, the term semi-automatic or self loading is becoming more common, to prevent confustion with machine pistols, which are pistols capable of fully automatic or burst mode fire. Automatic pistols may be either hammer or striker fired. Hunting and target pistols are generally single action, while defensive and military handguns made since World War II are generally double action for the first shot, single action for the rest. Some of the latest handguns now offer various trigger modes, including double-action only or a partially pre-cocked striker or hammer, and some even offer the option of changing the mode of operation with the turn of a switch.

Machine pistols

A machine pistol is generally defined as a firearm designed to be fired with one hand, and capable of fully automatic or selective fire. While there are a number of machine pistols such as the Glock 18 and later models of the Mauser C96, these are rare; the light weight and small size of a machine pistol make them difficult to control, making the the larger, heavier submachine gun a better choice in cases where the small size of a machine pistol is required. Most machine pistols have the ability to attach a shoulder stock (the Heckler & Koch VP70 would only fire single rounds unless the stock was attached) while others, such as the Beretta 93R, add a foreward handgrip. Either of these additions technically create a legal non-pistol under the US National Firearms Act, as pistols are by definition designed to be fired with one hand. The addtion of a stock or forward handgrip are considered design changes that create either a short barreled rifle or an any other weapon, and therefore such additions are generally only found on legal machine guns.

Stopping Power

Ballistics and elementary physics easily show that small arms have no "stopping power" in terms of knocking someone back from its recoil. If it did, the recoil would break the shooter's wrists. Standing enemies logically fall when any weapon takes away their strength to stand. One of the great myths about handguns is that they have true "stopping power." Handguns are comparatively anemic weapons due to the velocity of the bullets which cause low velocity wounding. Stopping power is the quality in a handgun projectile that forces a violent attacker to cease aggressive momentum when hit.

Advantages of Pistols

Pistols are smaller, lighter, faster to bring to bear, and sometimes have more safety features than other firearms. Being an emergency self-defense weapon for use under 10 meters, the effectiveness of the weapon is not comparable to the accuracy or firepower of long guns.

Pistols and gun control

Smaller pistols can also be easily concealed on a person—a trait that is particularly useful to people wishing to carry a handgun for self-protection or for those planning on committing crimes. Larger handguns, including many hunting pistols, are often much longer and thus less concealable. For these reasons, handguns are a particular focus of gun control advocates, and in many jurisdictions their ownership is much more heavily regulated than long arms. Opponents of gun control sometimes argue that wide legal ownership of pistols, including the right to carry them concealed, actually deters crime rather than increases it. They also argue that gun crimes are a small minority of all violent crimes. See the main gun control article for more details on this debate.

Other related info

In the 1780s, Alessandro Volta built a toy electric pistol ([http://ppp.unipv.it/Volta/Pages/eF5struF.html]) in which an electric spark caused the explosion of a mixture of air and hydrogen, firing a cork from the end of the gun.

External links

- [http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg00-e.htm Modern Firearms - Handguns]
- [http://www.enemyforces.com/firearms.htm ArmsWorld Firearms]
- [http://smith-wesson.com/page/orl2/Home.html Smith and Wesson Firearms]
- [http://www.nazarian.no/wepc.asp?lang=0&group_id=1 Nazarian`s Gun`s Recognition Guide on Pistols] Category:Handguns Category:Personal weapons ko:권총 ja:拳銃

Suomi M-31 SMG

The Suomi-konepistooli M31 (Submachine gun M31) was a direct descendant of the M-26, which was introduced to the public in 1925. It was often abbreviated to just Suomi M31. The M-26 was made by a Finnish company called "Konepistooli Osakeyhtiö" (Submachine gun stock company); founded by A.J.Lahti, Captain V. Korpela, Lieutenant Koskinen and [unknown]. The weapon was designed by Lieutenant Koskinen and Weapon smith/master Aimo Johannes Lahti (1896 - 1970). The Suomi M-31 SMG went into production in 1931. Most of these weapons were bought by the Finnish Army. When the Winter War started, the Finnish army had about one thousand of these weapons.

External links

- [http://guns.connect.fi/gow/suomi1.html Gunwriters] Category:Submachine guns Category:World War II submachine guns ja:スオミM1931短機関銃

Light machine gun

at Babadag Range, Romania, on July 15, 2000]] A light machine gun (LMG) is a categorization type, or class of machine guns that are generally lighter than other of machine guns of its period, and usually designed to be carried by an individual soldier, but sometimes with an assistant. In practice, they are either automatic rifles (machine rifles) or medium machine guns with a bipod, a stock, and sometimes a pistol grip. Modern light machine guns are often lighter caliber, in addition to being lighter weight. Usually an LMG, or LMG version of a firearm is intended to act as a support weapon in that it can generate a greater volume of continuous fire than the usual firearms carried by infantry soldiers, but at the cost of greater weight and higher ammunition consumption. While it is usually possible to fire an LMG "from the hip" or on the move, they are much more accurate when fired from a prone position, especially when using a bipod. They are often designed to be used with magazines, not belts, but some, such as the M249, use both. Light machine guns are often used as squad automatic weapons.

Examples

These were either exclusively LMG's, or had a LMG version.
- Madsen machine gun
- M1909 Benet-Mercie (.30-06)
- ZB vz.26 (7.92mm x 57mm
- Bren (L4) machine gun
- Chauchat machine gun
- Lewis machine gun
- RPD (7.62 x 39 mm)
- RPK (7.62 x 39 mm)
- RPK-74 (5.45 x 39 mm)
- Brno series
- M249 (5.56mm)
- Colt Automatic Rifle (5.56mm)

Berthier

There are two notable Frenchmen of this surname.
- Louis Alexandre Berthier, general, Marshal of France.
- Pierre Berthier, geologist.

FM-24/29

The FM 24/29 was a light machine gun in use by the French army from 1924. It replaced old LMGs like the Chauchat, Hotchkiss and Saint Etienne of 1907. Ammunition was initially 7.5 x 57 mm, but was changed to 7.5 x 54 mm in 1929 to avoid accidents in case a German 8 x 57 mm should be introduced. Category:Light machine guns Category:Machine guns of France Category:French World War II weapons

Walther

Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen is a German arms manufacturer. For more than 100 years, Walther has created major breakthroughs in the development of pistols. Many have become legendary, like the PPK and the P99 — both weapons of choice for the fictional character James Bond — and the P38, often used by Nazi movie villains.

Firearms

- Pistols
- Walther PPK
- Walther P38
- Walther P99
- Walther P22
- Rifles
- Walther G22
- Walther WA2000

External links

- [http://www.carl-walther.de/ www.carl-walther.de/]
- [http://www.waltheramerica.com/ www.waltheramerica.com/] Category:Firearms manufacturers ja:ワルサーP38

Luger (Pistole Parabellum)

The Parabellum-Pistole (Pistol Parabellum), popularly known as the Luger pistol is semi-automatic self-loading pistol introduced by Deutsche Waffen und Munitions Fabriken starting in the 1890s. It existed primarily as a popular military and civilian handgun of the early 20th century. The basic design and its variants have been well known under a variety of popular and military designations (e.g. Ordonnanzpistole 00). In modern times it has been popularized through its use by Germany during WWII, though it was used by many other countries and its most prolific period of use was earlier in the century. Its very notable in firearms history for being the firearm the 9 mm Parabellum was introduced with, though the type has been chambered for a variety of rounds. It is a toggle lock pistol based on principles by Hiram Maxim. It is semi-automatic, removable magazine-fed, and operates on the short-recoil principle. The pistol, designed by Georg Luger, was an evolution of the earlier Hugo Borchardt design, the Borchardt C-93. The Luger-Borchardt was introduced in 1898.

Design

The Parabellum pistol was manufactured to very high standards and thus has a very long service life, far in excess of 100 years with proper maintenance and care- though this actually more dependent on how many rounds are fired. As a result of precision engineering tolerances, ergonomic grip angle and shape, good trigger pull, and a design where the barrel remains aligned in constant relation to the axis of the frame during operation (no tipping as in Browning designs), Parabellums are very accurate pistols. The first Parabellum pistols fired the 7.63x25 mm Borchardt pistol cartridge, which was relatively weak.

Service

The Swiss Army evaluated the Parabellum pistol and after a change to the more potent Parabellum or 7.65×23 mm cartridge (.30 Luger in USA), it was adapted in 1900 as its military sidearm, and designated as the Ordonnanzpistole 00 or OP00. In 1900 the US purchased 1000 Lugers (in 7.65) for field trials, on the heals of a Late 1890s/1900 competition that included the Colt M1900, Steyr Mannlicher M1894, and an entry from Mauser. Later, a small number were sampled in the then brand new, more powerfull 9 mm round. Field experience in the Philippines and ballistic tests would result in a requirment for even bigger/larger rounds. Further trials and testing by the US of a variety of pistols, including a DWM entry, would eventually lead to adoption of the M1911. The DWM entries in the later (1906) competition in .45 ACP are among the rarest of all handguns. DWM, Savage, and Colt were the final three contenders (others having been eliminated). DWM withdrew for reasons that are still debated- though the Army did place a order for 200 more samples. In any case, the final stages of the competition were left to Colt and Savage. The Luger did go on to be a popular civilian firearm in the U.S. for the next two decades. However, only the orginal 1900 models have the eagle stamp, and are worth more to collectors. 1904 the Parabellum pistol was accepted by the German Navy, and in 1908 (Pistole 08) by the German Army after the caliber was changed to 9mm Parabellum as the 7.65 mm Parabellum cartridge was considered as being too weak. It replaced the older Reichsrevolver being in service until then. The Pistole 08 Parabellum was the standard sidearm for the German army during both world wars, but was being replaced by the Walther P38 by 1938. By that time the Parabellum pistol was simply too expensive for military use due to its high standard of manufacturing. At that time Mauser was manufacturing both the Walther P38 (under the BYF code) and the Pistole 08. Several Parabellums were also found in the hands of Soviet officers. Reasons for the demise of the Parabellum pistol's military career have been its dislike of dirt and dust resulting in malfunctions and its inability to fire various types of ammunition as it was designed for a specific power level. The Walther P-38 was less problematic in these fields. Although obsolete in many ways today, the Luger is still sought after by collectors both for its sleek design, good accuracy, great durability and to some extent by its connection to Imperial and Nazi Germany. In Switzerland, the OP00 is still being used in sports shooting events because of its accuracy. Production of the Pistole 08 ended when Mauser refurbished a lot of Parabellums in 1999 for the pistol's 100 years anniversary, although they do still produce a limited number each year for sales to collectors. Thousands of Parabellums were brought back as souvenirs by American GIs after World War II, and are still in circulation. Despite the fact that Parabellums are by no means rare, Collectors often find themselves paying over AUD$1,000 for a WWI or WWII dated example, which has led to the production of modern replicas by several companies, inlcuding the American Eagle range produced by Mitchell Arms.

Operation

The Parabellum uses a jointed arm (the joint is called a knee, or in German "Kniegelenk" (knee joint)) that locks in the extended position; it is also called a toggle action, as opposed to the slide actions of almost every other semiautomatic pistol. Upon recoiling with the barrel, a cam strikes the knee joint, causing the arm to hinge and the cartridge case to extract, beginning the firing sequence again. It is an interesting artifact of post-World War II ammunition development that, within the United States, Parabellum have often been maligned as unreliable and jam-prone. This is because typical factory-spec American 9mm ammunition is nowhere near as hot as German military-spec ammunition—modern loadings in Europe are typically closer to old military loads. The American down-loading of 9mm ammunition is commonly attributed to early issues with slide breakage in Beretta 92 pistols (recently adopted as the M9), although it is now agreed upon that the failures were due to extremely heavy use and questionable manufacturing by subcontractors. As things stand, the ammunition which Lugers were designed to feed falls into +P or +P+ SAAMI specs for 9mm ammunition. In the first World War, as submachine guns were found to be efficient in trench warfare, under the various types of Pistols tried to convert as machine pistols ("Reihenfeuerpistolen"), also the Pistole 08 was examined; however, unlike the Mauser C96 which was converted in great numbers to Reihenfeuerpistole, the 08 proved to have too high a cadence when used in full-auto fire.

External links

- [http://www.worldoflugers.com/ World of Lugers] ja:ルガー Category:Semi-automatic pistols Category:World War I infantry weapons Category:World War II German infantry weapons

9 mm Pistole 35(p)

Vis (Polish designation pistolet wz. 35 Vis, German designation 9 mm Pistole 35(p), sometimes also incorrectly referred to as Radom in English sources) is a 9 mm caliber, single action, semi-automatic pistol. Originally designed by Piotr Wilniewczyc and Jan Skrzypiński in 1930. In 1936 it was adopted as the standard handgun of the Polish Army. Considered by many to be one of the finest handguns ever produced, it is highly prized among collectors of firearms.

History

The design was generally based on John Browning's Colt M1911A1, operating on the short-recoil principle, with the barrel being cammed down and away from the locking lugs in the slide. Unlike M1911, the barrel was not cammed by a link, but by a ledge of sorts, which contacts a portion of the barrel and forces it down as it is moved rear with the slide by the recoil force, in a similar way, as in Browning's new FN HP pistol. The handgun was prepared in late 1930 and at the beginning of 1931 the first pistols were ready for testing. Initially it was named WiS (an acronym of the constructors' names), later the name was changed to a latinized version: Vis (meaning power in Latin). Latin The tests proved that the handgun was very accurate and stable while at the same time remained reliable after more than 6000 shots. The Vis was generally regarded as one of the best military pistols of that period. Production started in the State Armory in Radom in late 1935 and the following year it was introduced as the standard weapon of Polish infantry and cavalry officers. Successively, other units were to be equipped and by 1942 all other handguns were scheduled to be withdrawn from service. By mid-1938 it was introduced to the armored and air forces. Before the Polish September Campaign, approx. 49,400 (out of 90,000 ordered) were delivered to the army. After the Polish defeat in 1939 the Germans took over the Radom Armory and continued production of the Vis under the new name of 9 mm Pistole 35(p). Up to 1945 between 312,000 and 380,000 were produced and used by the German paratroopers and police. paratroopers For fear of Polish technicians working in the Armory supplying the Home Army with the weapons, the barrel production was moved to the Steyr works in Austria. However, underground production of Vis barrels was started in Warsaw and several hundreds of Vis pistols were delivered to the Home Army and used extensively, among others, during the Warsaw Uprising. In 1944 all production was moved to the Steyr works in Austria. The Vis remained in production until April 1945. Vis pistols made after 1939 were issued in four different series, each with small modifications to simplify production. Generally, the wartime Vis were of much lower quality than the original, degrading towards the end of the war. After the war the production of the pistol was not continued, as the army of the People's Republic of Poland used the Soviet TT-33 pistol, considered by many to be inferior to the Vis. In August 1992 the Lucznik Arms Factory in Radom reintroduced the Vis pistol and produced a small series on the basis of the original plans and specifications, mainly for the collectors' market.

References

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External link

- [http://hem.passagen.se/dadkri/Vis35.htm Vis on Polish Firearms Page] Category:Semi-automatic pistols Category:World War II military equipment of Poland Category:World War II infantry weapons

Karabiner 98k

The Karabiner 98k was a bolt action rifle adopted as the standard infantry rifle in 1935 by Nazi Germany and one of the final developments from the long line of Mauser rifles.

Description

A bolt-action rifle with Mauser-type action holding five rounds of 7.92x57 mm on a stripper clip with an internal magazine. It was derived from the earlier rifles, namely the Karabiner 98b which had itself been developed from the Mauser Model 1898. The Gewehr 98 or Model 1898 took its principles from the Lebel Model 1886 rifle with the improvement of a metallic magazine of five cartridges. See Mauser for more. The rifle was noted for its good accuracy and effective range of up to 500 meters. For this reason it was also used with a telescopic sight as a sniper rifle which extended the effective range to about 800 m when used by a skilled marksman. The 98k had the same disadvantages as all other turn-of-the-century military rifles: being comparatively bulky and heavy, and the rate of fire was limited by how fast the bolt could be operated. It was designed to be used with a bayonet and to fire rifle grenades. A version with a folding stock was introduced in 1941 to be used by airborne troops. Since it was shorter than the earlier carbines, it was given the designation Karabiner 98 Kurz, meaning Short Carbine Model 98. It was the standard rifle, though submachine guns were often preferred, especially for urban combat where the rifle's range was not very useful. Towards the end of the war the 98k was being phased out in favor of the MP44, which fired a less powerful round but could be used like a submachine gun in close-quarters and urban fighting. Despite this, the Mauser Kar-98k rifle was still produced and used in large quantities by the Germans during World War 2 a

List of common WW2 weapons

See also

World War II

Summary

Causes

Participants

A debated starting date

Chronology 1937-45

1937: Second Sino-Japanese War

1939: War breaks out in Europe

1940: The war spreads

1941: The war becomes global

1942: Deadlock

1943: The war turns

1944: The beginning of the end

Submachine gun

History

Modern

Legality

Famous submachine guns

See also

FinlanD

Pistol

Varieties of pistol

Revolvers

Automatic pistols

Machine pistols

Stopping Power

Advantages of Pistols

Pistols and gun control

Other related info

See also

External links

Suomi M-31 SMG

External links

Light machine gun

Examples

See also

Berthier

FM-24/29

Walther

Firearms

External links

Luger (Pistole Parabellum)

Design

Service

Operation

See also

External links

9 mm Pistole 35(p)

History

References

External link

Karabiner 98k

Description