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1/35 GERMAN MACHINE GUN TROOPS

1:35 German Machine Gun Troops Kit

Item: TAM35038
Dimensions: (H x W x L) 0.0 x 0.0 x 0.0
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1:35 German Machine Gun Troops Kit
Item #35038

DESCRIPTION
About the German Machine Gun Troops

At about the middle of the 1930's, the German Army organized
offensive infantry corps which had machine guns and machine
pistols as the nucleus of their small arms. The infantry division
contained three regiments as its main body. Each regiment
consisted of three battalions, which had four infantry companies
each. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd companies each had twelve light
machine guns, sixteen machine pistols, three light mortars and
two antitank guns. The 4th company, which was called machine-gun
company, was equipped with twelve (later sixteen) heavy machine
guns and six medium mortars.

The machine guns that gave birth to and constituted the
background of such organization were the well-known model 34
(MG-34) and model 42 (MG-42).

In 1934, Mauser completed a new machine gun of 7.92 mm calibre
based on the Swiss Solothurn 30 machine gun then used by the
Austrian Army. The new machine gun employed the Solothurn
mechanism such as the air-cooled recoil operation system and the
selective fire lever between continuous fire and single fire. It
was linear and slender in appearance. Muzzle brake was fixed to
avoid vibration and recoil caused by high cyclic rate of fire (up
to 900 rounds per minute) that was one of the advantages of the
mechanism. The gun was of the belt-fed type. Belts containing 50
rounds each were carried in a gun belt box with a capacity of 300
rounds.

Immediately after completion, the new machine gun was adopted by
the German Army. Officially designated model 34 machine gun
(MG-34), the weapon was mounted on a great number of combat
vehicles and military planes as well as used by infantry corps.
The MG-34 later showed activity in all theatres of war.

In 1942, the Model 42 machine gun (MG-42) first appeared in the
battlefield. The MG-42 was a remodeled version of the MG-34 and
better suited for mass production. Since pressing process was
largely used to facilitat manufacture, it is said that even a
small factory was able to produce it. The MG-42 had considerable
improvements in performance over the MG-34. The rate of fire was
much higher and reached 1,500 rounds per minute. In addition, the
MG-42 was durable enough to withstand changes in temperature and
rough handling in the battlefield. It showed its excellent
performance that was never affected by such conditions. The
Germans used the same machine gun as a heavy machine gun or a
light machine gun according to its tactical use. The former was
so called when used on a tripod for support fire and the latter
was so called when used on a hipod as an offensive weapon for
infantry.

Accessories for the weapon used as a light machine gun consisted
of 300 round gun belt boxes, 50 round saddle drum magazines,
spare barrels, tool kit and machine oil. When used as a heavy
machine gun, the weapons had additional accessories as follows:
telescopic sight, tripod, tripod container, single AA mount,
antiaircraft ring sight, etc. (A sunshade was also added to the
accessories when the gun was used in the tropics.)

Machine guns posessed by the Germans totalled 126,800 in number
at the outbreak of World War II but they increased to 231,000 in
January 1945 near the end of the war. This shows what great
importance the German Army attached to its machine guns.